Meghan Markle famously wore Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau tiara on her wedding day to Prince Harry in 2018.
However, the sparkling heirloom famously caused a clash between the Prince, his new bride, and his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in the run-up to the ceremony at St George’s Chapel in Windsor – with recollections varying about the dispute.
Now, royal author Robert Hardman details the row in his new book, Queen Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story, serialised in the Daily Mail this week. He gives new details about the clash, claiming that tensions began when the late Queen hoped to “bond” with Meghan by offering her a tiara from her royal collection – only for the bride-to-be to show up with Prince Harry.
Hardman writes: “Another pre-wedding row, which would continue to create headlines years after the wedding, concerned Meghan’s choice of tiara. The Queen much enjoyed offering a piece from her own tiara collection to a royal bride, when required.”
He goes on to quote a royal staffer, who said: “‘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.'”
Trying on the tiara
The couple quickly favoured Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau, with Harry previously writing in his memoir, Spare, that they had tried on five tiaras, but the bandeau quickly stood out.
However, there were soon further miscommunications when they rang the palace to ask the Queen’s dresser, Angela Kelly, to send over the tiara so that Meghan could try it on. Harry claimed they never received it, nor any further response. Harry wrote in Spare: “To my mind, Angela was a troublemaker”, later adding: “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.”
However, according to Hardman’s account, there were also difficulties with the Sussexes’ behaviour.
Sources close to the palace offered a completely different version of events, asserting that Kelly “returned the tiara immediately” and that she didn’t appreciate Harry “making all those people pressure her when she was just doing her job”.
Robert Hardman writes: “As one staffer recalled: ‘There was already an atmosphere before Angela arrived. Meghan was nowhere to be seen. 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.”
© Getty ImagesInsiders told the author that word had already reached the Queen and she was displeased, reportedly telling one member of the Royal Household: “It’s not a toy”. It was said that Kate had practised with a plastic tiara from Claire’s before her wedding to Prince William, and it was not understood why Meghan could not do the same.
There were additional difficulties in procuring the tiara for trying on: The Queen was at Windsor for Easter and busy with the Royal Windsor Horse Show, while Angela Kelly was working hard to verify the tiara to ensure there was no “awkward backstory”.
Harry and Meghan’s wedding
© GettyElsewhere in his book, Robert Hardman writes of several “tensions” in the lead up to the wedding – including rows between Meghan and Kate over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid’s dress that “reduced both women to tears”.
Despite the controversial event, Meghan became the Duchess of Sussex wearing one of the most spectacular tiaras in the royal collection, marking what was very likely the most special day of her life.
The bandeau tiara, which originally belonged to Mary of Teck, has a profound history, dating back to 1932. It features a detachable floral-shaped brooch at its centre, given to the late Queen’s grandmother, Queen Mary, as a wedding present in 1893 by the County of Lincoln.
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