The Moment Queen Elizabeth Realized Meghan Would Be 'Force Of Change,' According To Royal Correspondent

Meghan Markle was reportedly asked if she could include Queen Elizabeth II in her "Forces for Change" list for the British Vogue issue she guest-edited, but the cover went ahead without the monarch, a royal correspondent has claimed.

In 2019, a year after marrying Prince Harry, the Duchess of Sussex became the first guest editor of British Vogue's September issue in the magazine’s 103-year history and worked with editor-in-chief Edward Enninful for the issue, which featured 15 inspirational women on the cover.

The 15 "trailblazers" and "changemakers" — branded "Forces for Change" and handpicked by Markle — included actresses, models, politicians, authors and advocates for various causes, from diversity and mental health to climate change and voting rights.

"Many people who were included [in the issue] were great women, but one woman who wasn't included and truly should have been was Queen Elizabeth II," Neil Sean, a royal commentator and reporter who has been featured on Fox News, Sky News Australia and other outlets, said in a new video on his YouTube channel.

"It was suggested by the Vogue team that Queen Elizabeth should be included," he claimed, citing unnamed "people who have left the publication and are willing to speak."

Sean went on to claim that he was told the request allegedly came "directly from the editor himself, Edward Enninful."

"What I found interesting is that [the cover] went ahead without [the Queen]. ... It just didn't look good," the royal commentator continued. "[The Queen] was apparently rather miffed and a little bit upset. During that time, she'd done her very best to welcome Meghan within the family and reached out such a hand of friendship."

Sean further claimed that this was "truly the point when [the Queen] realized that Meghan was her own force of change and was going to have to be watched very closely."

International Business Times could not independently verify Sean's claims.

In a statement in 2019 obtained by People, Markle said, "These last seven months have been a rewarding process, curating and collaborating with Edward Enninful, British Vogue's Editor-in-Chief, to take the year's most read fashion issue and steer its focus to the values, causes and people making impact in the world today."

"Through this lens I hope you’ll feel the strength of the collective in the diverse selection of women chosen for the cover as well as the team of support I called upon within the issue to help bring this to light," she said of her guest-editing gig, adding, "I hope readers feel as inspired as I do, by the ‘Forces for Change’ they’ll find within these pages."

Among the women featured on the September 2019 British Vogue cover were Jane Fonda, Gemma Chan, Adut Akech, Laverne Cox, Salma Hayek and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, among others.

Less than a year after the issue was released, Markle and Prince Harry announced their decision to step back from their roles as senior working royals, which fueled speculations of a rift between the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family.

However, Markle has had nothing but kind words to say about the Queen. She spoke highly of the 96-year-old monarch during her and Prince Harry's interview with Oprah Winfrey for CBS in March 2021.

"The Queen has always been wonderful to me," the duchess said at the time.

When Prince Harry and Markle welcomed their daughter Lilibet, whom they named after Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana, in June 2021, the monarch was one of the first people to know about the child's birth and was "overjoyed," an unnamed source told Us Weekly at the time.

In April, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stopped in England to visit the Queen while on their way to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands.

The following month, they traveled back to the U.K. with their son Archie, 3, and now-1-year-old daughter to celebrate the monarch's Platinum Jubilee. Queen Elizabeth reportedly saw Archie and her namesake great-granddaughter multiple times before the Sussexes returned to California.