Kate Middleton's 'intervention' before Prince Harry married Meghan Markle

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle started dating in 2016, going on to get married in a beautiful ceremony at St George's chapel two years later and welcoming their son, Archie Harrison, soon after.

However, in a new book, Royals at War: The Untold Story of Harry and Meghan’s Shocking Split with the House of Windsor, journalists Dylan Howard and Andy Tillett claim that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, issued stark warnings to Harry about his relationship.

The authors claim that the Duke of Sussex was drawn to Meghan's 'confidence, commitment, drive and ambition' and 'subconsciously he was seeking a figure to replace the mother so cruelly torn from him at a vulnerable age.'

Harry has always had a close bond with Kate, once calling her 'the big sister I never had', and a royal source previously told the Daily Mail: 'Kate has quite a different relationship with Harry than she has with William. Harry appeals to her sillier side because he is carefree, footloose and loves banter.

'He finds things funny about people and says so... Harry is free and easy, with a 'let’s have the whole bottle' sort of attitude.

'Kate also adores the way Harry plays with her children - he is very good with them, a charming big kid and silly uncle.'

But the Duchess reportedly had concerns for her brother-in-law and the Cambridges allegedly urged Harry to 'take things slowly', with Kate said to have asked Harry if Meghan was 'the right one'.

In the book, Howard and Tillet claim that she 'gently reminded him that he was dating someone with a completely different life and past, career and it would take time, care and attention for them to integrate,' and that it was a 'well-intentioned intervention.'

Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior royals earlier this year and have since relocated to California. While there were various reports about the prince's relationship with William following the move, the brothers are reportedly 'in touch on the phone and via video calls'.