True Royal Family ‘Disrupter’ Revealed And It’s Not Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle faces criticism often for influencing Prince Harry to do things differently and seemingly break from royal tradition. However, a royal correspondent claims that she certainly wasn’t the first person to shake things up within the monarchy, as a few others before her also certainly tried to change things up.

According to Express UK, ITV Royal Correspondent Chris Ship says that prior to Markle, the real “disrupter” in the family was Prince Philip—followed closely behind by the Duchess of Sussex’s own late mother-in-law, Princess Diana.

“If you are going to introduce an element of different into the Royal Family you are always going to rub up against some opposition somewhere,” he said. “I think the courtiers are slightly different to what they used to be in the sort of 30s and 40s—they are not all ex-military, they are not all white and from private school anymore.”

Ship revealed that Prince Philip was the first to shake things up, and could be called the “disrupter of the 1950s,” while Princess Diana was seen as the disrupter for the 1980s and 90s. However, while Markle may be seen as that person for this generation of the monarchy, Ship says she still isn’t as influential with her changes as her predecessors.

“In the same way you could say Diana was the disrupter in the 1980s and 90s and perhaps Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, could be a disrupter now. Although, she is slightly lower down,” he explained. “The Duke of Edinburgh is married to the Queen and right at the top and Diana was married to the heir to the throne. I think that level of disruption is actually quite good because the Royal Family does have to move.”

In fact, it’s previously been reported that Prince Philip has played a key role in influencing the royal family to change over the decades, because he is known for always pushing royal boundaries—including one where he was present in the delivery room when Queen Elizabeth was in labor with their youngest son, Prince Edward.

That was a change that was also encouraged by Queen Elizabeth herself, meaning that some of the royal family’s traditions have been broken prior to Markle’s arrival in the fold.