Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, and Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, reportedly feuded over bridesmaid dresses ahead of the 2018 Royal Wedding - with experts and employees weighing in on the so-called drama.
On May 19, 2018, Meghan, now 43, said ‘I do’ to Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, now 40, in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
The star-studded event was attended by 600 famous faces, including Elton John, Hollywood icon George Clooney, and former footballer David Beckham and his wife, fashion designer Victoria Beckham.
Despite it being a glorious day for the royal couple, there was apparently some drama behind the scenes, as revealed in Harry’s bombshell memoir, Spare.
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The autobiography, published in 2023, detailed how Meghan and Kate Middleton, 43, feuded over some ‘French Couture’ bridesmaid dresses.
According to the memoir, the mother-of-three had texted the actress four days before she was due to be married, insisting the frocks be remade.
"Meg didn't reply to Kate straight away," Harry penned. "Yes, she had endless wedding-related texts, but mostly she was dealing with the chaos surrounding her father. So the next morning she texted Kate that our tailor was standing by.
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"This wasn't sufficient," he added.
Harry says that Kate later complained that the dress designed for her daughter, Princess Charlotte, was ‘too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it on a[t] home.'
To which Meghan apparently replied: "Right, and I told you the tailor has been standing by since 8am. Here. At KP. Can you take Charlotte to have it altered, as the other mums are doing?"
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However, Kate reportedly told her-to-be sister-in-law that she needed ‘all’ of the bridesmaids’ dresses to be remade, drafting in Alexander McQueen designer Sarah Burton to back her up.
After some more back and forth between the pair, Harry wrote that he later found Meghan ‘sobbing on the floor’ of their home.
It’s understood that the next day, the Princess of Wales delivered a bouquet of flowers and a card as an apology.
However, author and royal expert Tom Quinn delivered a different take on what went down between the two women in his book, Yes, Ma'am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants.
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The journalist claimed that during the dress discussions, both Meghan and Kate said some things they ‘regretted’.
"The truth is that during the discussions about the bridesmaid's dress, Meghan said a few things she regretted and Kate said a few things she later regretted, but it was all in the heat of the moment," Tom alleged.
After remarking all the alleged comments were made ‘in the heat of the moment’, he added: "Both women were crying their eyes out!"
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Following the publication of Spare, Ajay Mirpuri - the luxury tailor who was tasked with working on the 2018 bridesmaids' dresses at the centre of the argument - told the Daily Mail that they had no knowledge that any arguments had taken place.
“If anything happened in the background, it didn't happen in front of me. But yes, weddings are stressful at the best of times — and especially one at this high level; you've got to respect that,” he told the publication.
“They were faced with a problem like anyone gets at a wedding, with last-minute hitches. I can understand why anybody would be upset if the dresses weren't fitting — it's nerve-wracking.”
Harry also used his bestselling memoir to discuss the moment he and Meghan were invited to Kate and William, the Prince of Wales’ home to ‘clear the air’ between the two couples.
After travelling to Kensington Palace ahead of their nuptials, the Suits actress was apparently asked to apologise to Kate for making a comment about her health.
It’s understood that the mother-of-two ‘offending’ the Princess of Wales by saying she must have been suffering from ‘baby brain’ after forgetting something inconsequential.
"You talked about my hormones. We are not close enough for you to talk about my hormones!,” Kate said, as per Spare.
Harry then recounted that his older brother pointed at Meghan and said: “It’s not what’s done here in Britain.”
The army veteran alleges that Meghan responded by asking the Prince of Wales to ‘take [his] finger out of [her] face’.
"Meg said she’d never intentionally do anything to hurt Kate, and if she ever did, she asked Kate to please just let her know so it wouldn’t happen again," Harry added. "We all hugged. Kind of."
Topics: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton, Royal Family, Fashion, Books
Ella Scott