Nearly eight years after the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, new claims are emerging about behind-the-scenes tensions tied to the bride’s choice of tiara for the ceremony at St George’s Chapel.
According to a report by Robert Hardman, Prince Harry accompanied Meghan Markle when she viewed pieces from the collection of Queen Elizabeth II.
A former palace staff member described the monarch’s involvement in helping royal brides select tiaras as a longstanding tradition.
Robert Hardman, author of the soon-to-be published book Elizabeth II, pointed out that the traditional bonding exercise did not take place during the visit by Meghan Markle because Prince Harry was present at the appointment as well.
“It was her lovely way of bonding with the bride. She did it with Sophie [Rhys-Jones] and with Catherine [Middleton]. But there wasn’t that bonding with Meghan because she turned up with Prince Harry.”
On their wedding day in May 2018, Meghan Markle adorned herself with the Queen Mary Diamond Bandeau, which was designed in 1932 and comprised a brooch that could be removed.
In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry mentioned that before the Queen allowed Meghan Markle to borrow from her own collection of jewels, the latter had initially been interested in the Spencer tiara, which had belonged to the late Princess Diana.
The Duke of Sussex also mentioned how the Queen had urged Meghan Markle to practice wearing the tiara with the help of her stylist before the ceremony took place.
“She offered us access to her collection of tiaras. She even invited us to Buckingham Palace to try them on. ‘Do come over,’ I remember her saying. It’s tricky, and you don’t want to be doing it for the first time on the wedding day.”
It seems that the issue later turned out to be more complicated due to problems with communicating with the Queen’s dresser Angela Kelly.
Prince Harry labels Queen Elizabeth’s aide a “troublemaker” over wedding tiara dispute
After being unresponsive for a time, per Prince Harry in his book, Kelly eventually told them that the tiara had to have a “police escort” to leave the palace. When Harry agreed to arrange for an orderly and a police officer to do so, the late Queen’s aide “inexplicably” told him:
“Can’t be done.”
Prince Harry continued in his memoir:
“I considered going to Granny, but that would probably mean sparking an all-out confrontation, and I wasn’t quite sure with whom Granny would side. Also, to my mind, Angela was a troublemaker, and I didn’t need her as an enemy.”
Still, the Duke said that Queen Elizabeth got wind of what was happening, and she would then tell palace insiders that the tiara was “not a toy.” When the day of the nuptials neared, Kelly arrived at Kensington Palace with the tiara, alongside a release form.
Prince Harry said that he signed the form and thanked the late Queen’s dresser, but remarked:
“It would’ve made our lives so much easier to have had it sooner.”
This didn’t seem to sit well with Kelly, with the Duke recalling in his book:
“Her eyes were fire. She started having a go at me. ‘Angela, you really want to do this now? Really? Now? She fixed me with a look that made me shiver. I could read in her face a clear warning. ‘This isn’t over.'”
Meanwhile, another staffer told Hardman that Meghan Markle wasn’t present when Kelly finally brought the tiara. They added that Prince Harry:
“poked the box and said, ‘Is that it?’ Then he stood over Angela and said he did not like her whining to his grandmother.”
Kelly didn’t hold back, according to the source, and told the Duke that she disliked him:
“getting all these people to push her when she was just doing her job.”
The insider continued, claiming that what Kelly was doing was for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s sake and as her way to protect them.
In the end, as the Duke walked out, she downplayed it as pre-wedding nerves.
Robert Hardman’s Elizabeth II is set for release on Apr. 9.
Edited by Gladys Altamarino