Meghan Markle's surprising response to Prince Charles' wedding offer

Prince Charles stepped in and offered to walk Meghan down the aisle. Photo / BBC

It was one of the most significant moments of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding. Now it's been revealed how it came to be that the bride walked herself halfway down the aisle.

The former TV star earned plenty of praise and support for her decision and enter St George's Chapel on her own, in a huge departure from tradition.

Thomas Markle Senior was originally supposed to walk his daughter down the aisle, but had pulled out of attending the wedding just days beforehand, claiming he had suffered two heart attacks after it was revealed he had colluded with paparazzi to pose for pictures.

In a new biography, Queen Of Our Times: The Life Of Elizabeth II, author Robert Hardman wrote that Prince Charles, feeling for his future daughter-in-law, extended an offer to walk her down the aisle himself in her father's absence.

However, according to a friend, he received an unexpected reply from the soon-to-be-duchess, who asked: "Can we meet halfway?"

Prince Charles stepped in and offered to walk Meghan down the aisle. Photo / BBC

The new biography also reveals for the first time how the Queen knew that Harry and Meghan weren't going to change their minds about quitting royal life and moving to the US. This was despite the Queen ordering a review of the situation 12 months after their departure, just in case they did.

When one visitor asked the British monarch if she expected them to return to royal life, she reportedly firmly replied: "Of course not. They took the dogs."

It was clear just how accurate her prediction was once Harry and Meghan's tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey aired.

In that interview, the couple lobbed bombshell accusations at the royal institution, including a claim that there had been "concerns" over their son Archie's skin colour prior to his birth.

A friend of Prince William's told Hardman that following the interview airing all over the world, he "was as low as I'd ever seen him".

Harry and Meghan during their notorious interview with Oprah Winfrey. Photo / CBS

Relations between the brothers might be extremely strained, but there's at least one member of the royal family that Harry has stayed in close contact with: his grandmother, the Queen.

"Harry adores her. She is the one who has kept the relationship going," a senior aide is quoted as saying. "He talks to her a lot, not unlike the way Prince Charles used to turn to the Queen Mother."