Meghan Markle began screening Prince Harry's public speeches almost from the moment they married - leaving him looking lost and out of his depth, according to a new royal biography.

The claims appear in "Queen Elizabeth II" by Hugo Vickers, a writer with close ties to the royal family, who chronicles the couple's troubled tenure at Frogmore Cottage, the Windsor property given to them by the late monarch after their 2018 wedding.

According to Vickers, the queen herself stepped in early. Within months of the couple moving in, she pulled Markle aside over her treatment of the Windsor estate's gardening staff - a sign, Vickers suggests, that friction was building from the start.

Markle also ordered cars off a nearby sports ground after deciding the car park was an unwelcome sight from the cottage. The ground has long been part of royal life - used by figures including Prince Philip and a young Prince George, and the home pitch of a cricket team made up of household staff.

"The Duchess of Sussex refused to have cars on the sports ground because she could see them from nearby Frogmore Cottage," Vickers writes.

The book also charts how Markle's influence extended to what Harry said in public, reports Page Six.

"Observers noted that Prince Harry's speeches already had a Californian ring to them," Vickers writes. "In October 2018, they had visited Australia, deemed a successful tour, but every speech that Harry made was vetted by Meghan."

What followed, according to Vickers, was a Harry who seemed diminished.

"The following year, 2019, he appeared uncomfortable and the rapport between them looked nil. He seemed unhappy on Easter Day, and in a general sense a man who had 'bitten off more than he could chew'."

Despite the difficulties, walking away was not something Harry embraced willingly, Vickers argues. The trigger came during the couple's trip to Africa in October 2019, when Markle opened up to journalist Tom Bradby about her unhappiness. The interview set in motion a chain of events that ended with the pair leaving for Canada at Christmas.

Back in Britain, Harry sought middle ground rather than a full break.

"He was keen to discuss a way forward with the Queen. He wanted a half-in, half-out arrangement, whereby he would be self-financing but could still work for the Royal Family," Vickers writes.

Three senior courtiers - private secretaries Sir Edward Young, Sir Clive Alderton and Simon Case - gathered at Sandringham to formulate the palace's position. When Harry arrived for the summit, the answer was unambiguous: there was no partial arrangement on offer.

"Prince Harry went to Sandringham for the meeting and was told it was either all in or all out. He returned to Canada - reluctantly out."

The couple stepped back from royal duties at the start of 2020. Within three months they had settled in California. Following the publication of Harry's memoir Spare, they received notice to vacate Frogmore Cottage in early 2023.

September 2022 marked the last occasion Harry and Markle appeared together at Windsor, joining William and Kate on the castle walkabout in the days after the queen's death.

This Easter the distance between the two households was plain. The British royals gathered for a church service, while on the other side of the Atlantic, Markle put out pictures of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet hunting for Easter eggs at their Montecito property.