Kensington Palace's bizarre demand for Meghan Markle during her acting days

Before she married Prince Harry, Meghan Markle played paralegal Rachel Zane in the hit legal series, Suits, and, as her time on the show came to an end when her relationship with Harry became serious, it was claimed Kensington Palace introduced a number of rules for the show's writers.

Author Tom Bower's book, Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War between the Windsors, delves into life behind closed doors for the couple, reporting that he spoke to 80 people who know Harry and Meghan during this time. When Harry and Meghan's love story became headline material, the palace reportedly devised multiple rules to regulate what could be written into the show's script.

In his book, Bower writes: "Fearing the worst, from bitter experience, the Palace stepped in to control Meghan's life. Aaron Korsh was told to submit all future Suits scripts to Nick Collins, Meghan's agent."

According to him: "Scripts were thereafter forwarded to Kensington Palace for approval. Orders for changes of words were sent back from London to Los Angeles."

It is alleged that the most significant rule applied to Meghan's final scene at her 'wedding' to the character Mike on the show.

The Palace commanded that there would be no photographs taken of Meghan wearing a wedding dress, and she was required to sport a jacket over the dress when not filming.

The Suits scriptwriters also took creative liberties with the actor's final words: "Tongue-in-cheek, the Suits scriptwriters took a licence with Zane's final words before she says, 'I do.'Thinking of Harry, Meghan delivered the lines to her on-stage husband Mike, 'You are the strongest man I have ever met and you make me stronger . . . you're the husband I've always wanted and I can't wait to start our adventure together.'"

In 2023, Suits creator Aaron Korsch revealed that the Palace had also "weighed in" on parts of the show's scripts involving Meghan Markle. However, he noted that their input was minimal.

"Not many things, by the way, but a few things that we wanted to do and couldn't do, and it was a little irritating," the creator said, citing an example where the Palace enforced a line change to prevent Meghan from saying "poppycock" on screen.

"The Royal Family did not want her saying the word," he said.

"They didn't want to put the word poppycock in her mouth. I presume because they didn't want people cutting things together of her saying c**k." As a result, the writers replaced "poppycock" with "b******t".

However, the Telegraph claimed that these changes were suggested by Meghan's agent, not the Palace itself, it has been reported.

It comes as Meghan Markle has returned to acting eight years after she quit the film industry. According to Variety, Markle is making a cameo as herself in the Amazon MGM Studios production Close Personal Friends. The film stars Lily Collins, Brie Larson, Jack Quaid, and Henry Golding.