Jodie Turner-Smith says Meghan Markle missed opportunity to modernise Royal Family

Jodie Turner-Smith thinks Meghan Markle c ould have modernised the Royal Family had she and Prince Harry not stepped away from royal life.

The actress weighed in on what could have been if the couple decided to remain in the U.K. as senior royals. She said it was a "terrible missed opportunity" for the former "Suits" star because she could have been a "great moderniser of the monarchy."

"The way in which it was not allowed to be something that really modernises that institution, and to change it to something for the better. I think that's why there's dysfunction there," Turner-Smith told Telegraph during an interview about her role as Queen Anne Boleyn in the upcoming Channel 5 series "Anne Boleyn."

The British actress also shared her stance on the monarchy and admitted that she does not consider herself a monarchist. She finds it "interesting that the institution is not changing with the time, or quickly enough."

"We have to look at things in a modern context. And only then we will recognize that certain things are archaic, and don't really serve us as a community, and are limiting us," the mum-of-one continued and added, "I think we should keep those things in stories and move on to something else in reality."

As for portraying Anne Boleyn, one of King Henry VIII's ill-fated wives, she said there were mixed reactions from fans on the casting decision due to the two women's different races. She said it was to be expected.

"Anne Boleyn is a character loved by so many and a story so well known that people are attached to the way that it looks in their own imagination. So, when you introduce something that is so contrary there's going to be resistance," Turner-Smith explained.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry quit royal life in March last year. They have since launched their non-profit organisation Archewell Foundation and now live in California with their son Archie and a baby girl on the way. In their sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey, they admitted that they left the U.K and moved to America because of the British tabloids, lack of familial support, and for the sake of their mental health.