Meghan Markle thought she landed Vanity Fair cover for charity work — not Prince Harry relationship, ex-editor says

Meghan Markle was convinced she landed the cover of Vanity Fair, not for her relationship with Prince Harry, but for her charity work, former editor Graydon Carter exclusively tells Page Six.

The journalist, who started working as the magazine’s editor in 1992, recalled booking Markle for one of his final cover stories before stepping down from his role in 2017.

“Jane Sarkin, who booked our covers, came in and said, ‘We should do a cover on Meghan Markle,’” he told us.

“I said, ‘I have no idea what that is, why should we do a story on her?’” Carter said of Markle, who had already risen to fame for her role in “Suits.”

“So she said, ‘Because she’s going to marry Prince Harry.’”

The 75-year-old also recalled how Markle, now 43, challenged the reporter interviewing her once they booked her.

According to Carter, the future Duchess of Sussex told the reporter, “Excuse me, Is this going to all be about Prince Harry? Because I thought we were going to be talking about my charities and my philanthropy.”

“This woman is slightly adrift on the facts and reality,” Carter added of the As Ever founder.

The feature was notably headlined “Meghan Markle, Wild About Harry!”

Harry, 40, and Markle started dating in 2016 before getting engaged in 2017, the same year as her Vanity Fair interview. They ultimately tied the knot a year later.

The Air Mail co-founder also theorized how Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana, would feel about the renegade royal’s estrangement from his family members since he and Markle resigned from their royal duties in 2020.

“I would think she would feel great sorrow for her son to have been pulled away from his family like this, especially his brother but also his father,” he said. “Anytime someone comes between siblings that’s a disaster, horrible for a family.”

Carter then gave some insight into his experiences with Diana, whom he knew quite well and crossed paths with at several functions over the years before she died in 1997 at the age of 36.

“She was very intrigued and kept asking questions — she wanted to know how Jackie Kennedy was treated by the Kennedy family because, I think, she felt there were parallels between how Jackie was treated and the way she was treated by the royal family,” he shared.