Meghan Markle reportedly had a heated moment with a caterer over her wedding menu, forcing Queen Elizabeth II to step in and remind her about royal decorum.
On May 19, 2018, Prince Harry and Meghan tied the knot at Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Chapel in front of 600 guests, while another 2 billion people watched the ceremony from across the world.
But behind the scenes of the picture-perfect day, tensions flared between Meghan and other people involved in the royal wedding.
Meghan Markle reportedly had a heated moment with a caterer over her wedding menu
Image credits: TIME
The Duchess of Sussex reportedly “berated” a staff member over her vegan wedding menu, according to royal biographer Katie Nicholl.
“On one occasion in the run-up to the wedding, Meghan went to Windsor Castle for a menu-tasting and ended up having a tense exchange with a member of staff,” a source told Katie, according to her book The New Royals.
Image credits: Jane Barlow/PA Images
Katie wrote that Meghan was at the castle “to taste some of the dishes” and “told one of the caterers she could taste egg.”
“She got quite upset, saying that the dish was meant to be vegan and macrobiotic,” Katie wrote, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
The tense exchange reportedly prompted the queen to step in and have a word with the former Suits actress.
“Suddenly the Queen walked in and said: ‘Meghan, in this family we don’t speak to people like that,’” alleged the author’s source.
Queen Elizabeth II stepped in to have a word with Meghan about royal decorum
Image credits: The Royal Family
Meghan was nicknamed the Duchess of Difficult because she “wasn’t always great with her staff” through “absolutely no fault of her own,” royal author Tom Quinn revealed in his book Yes, Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, released earlier this year.
“She just wasn’t used to it as Harry was,” Tom wrote. “So, one minute she would be really friendly, perhaps overfriendly, hugging staff and trying to make friends with them, and the next she would be irritated by the fact they wouldn’t respond instantly at all times of the day and night.”
Image credits: The Royal Family
It turns out that the disagreement over the menu was not the only pre-wedding flare-up in the royal household.
Insiders claimed that Meghan and Kate Middleton had an altercation about the bridesmaids’ dresses, and “both women were crying their eyes out!”
“With many of these spats between sisters, brothers, or even sisters-in-law, both sides were really upset,” a royal staff member was quoted as saying in Tom’s book.
The former actress was nicknamed the Duchess of Difficult, according to a royal author
Image credits: The Royal Family
The author touched upon the infamous fight between Meghan and Kate over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress in his recent book.
“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,” the staff member went on to say, as quoted by Newsweek.
Image credits: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
The altercation over Princess Charlotte’s dress has been the subject of headlines for years.
Princess Charlotte was three years old when she joined five other young bridesmaids for her uncle Prince Harry’s nuptials.
Reports in 2018 claimed that Meghan made Kate cry over the little princess’s dress ahead of the royal wedding.
However, Meghan said it was “the reverse” that had happened, with Kate making her cry a few days before the wedding and later apologizing for the same.
Meghan and Kate Middleton had an altercation about the bridesmaids’ dresses about four days before the nuptials
Image credits: The Royal Family
“I don’t say that to be disparaging to anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding,” the American Duchess said during a 2021 chat with Oprah Winfrey.
“Yes, the issue was correct—about flower-girl dresses, and it made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings,” she told the former talk show host.
Claire Ptak, who was born in California, was chosen to make the cake for the royal wedding
Image credits: KensingtonRoyal
Kate “was upset … but she owned it, and she apologized. And she brought me flowers and a note, apologizing,” she continued. “And she did what I would do if I knew that I hurt someone, right, to just take accountability for it.”
Prince Harry wrote about the tussle between his now-wife and sister-in-law in his 2023 memoir Spare.
He said Kate told Meghan four days before the wedding that Princess Charlotte’s dress was “too big, too long, too baggy,” and she “cried when she tried it on at home.”
Image credits: Netflix
“Right, and I told you the tailor has been standing by since 8 a.m. Here. At [Kensington Palace],” Meghan replied to Kate. “Can you take Charlotte to have it altered, as the other moms are doing?
“No, all the dresses need to be remade,” Kate said in response.
When Prince Harry returned back home, he said he found Meghan sobbing on the floor.
“I was horrified to see her so upset, but I didn’t think it a catastrophe,” he wrote. “Emotions were running high, of course, after the stress of the last week, the last month, the last day. It was intolerable—but temporary. Kate hadn’t meant any harm, I told her.”
Prince Harry said he returned back home to find Meghan sobbing on the floor after her conversation with Kate
Image credits: Netflix
They eventually met with Prince William and Kate to discuss reports in the press about Meghan making the Princess of Wales cry.
“Kate got things rolling straightaway by acknowledging that these stories in the papers about Meg making her cry were totally false. ‘I know, Meghan, that I was the one who made you cry,’ the Duke of Sussex.
“I sighed. Excellent start, I thought,” he continued. “Meg appreciated the apology, but wanted to know why the papers had said this, and what was being done to correct them?”
Meghan’s recent Mother’s Day post became a hot topic online.
“Cheers to juggling it all with joy!” she said alongside a picture of herself with her son Archie and daughter Lilibet clinging onto their “mama mountain” in the photo.
Critics didn’t hold back, with one claiming, “She’s a bully and a downright nasty person”
