It’s funny to think now that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are one of the most famous, and infamous, couples in the world — as Serena Williams accurately joked, they only have to breathe to steal headlines from other celebrities — but once upon a time they did their best to keep their relationship a secret.
After being set up on a blind date in July 2016, Harry and Meghan immediately hit it off, but it wasn’t until that November that their Royal courtship was announced to the world. Meghan, who had an active social media presence back then, almost spilled the beans too soon, giving away the secret that Harry was desperate to keep private — unsurprisingly, given his distaste for the media.
As TheNews.com recalled, in September 2016 Meghan started sharing various photos on Instagram which all had one thing in common — she had suddenly made a beaded bracelet worn on her left wrist a part of her regular look. Royal detectives immediately recognized this as a match for one that Harry himself was pictured wearing at his own public appearances during this time. We later learned that the pair got their matching jewelry during their first trip together, to Botswana.
Those days before the whole world knew about their romance were likely happy times for Harry and Meghan, but even back then at least one member of the Royal family wasn’t won over by the future Duchess of Sussex.
Meghan Markle was branded with an unflattering nickname by a controversial Royal behind her back
Harry and Meghan didn’t start causing major headaches for the Royal family until they renounced their Royal duties and moved to the U.S. in 2020, but one senior Royal, who has since passed away, was “wary” of the prince’s choice of bride from the off, so much so that he referred to her using an unflattering nickname.
As per The Mirror (via Express), Royal author and expert Ingrid Seward has revealed that Prince Philip, Harry’s grandfather who passed away in 2021, saw the writing on the wall for the trouble to come concerning Harry and Meghan, as shown by his three-letter nickname for the former actress.
“I think he just couldn’t get away from the fact [of the] similarities between Meghan and Harry and Edward and Mrs Simpson,” Seward, author of My Mother and I, a book about the transition from Queen Elizabeth II’s reign to King Charles. “There are so many similarities which is why he used to call her The Duchess of Windsor, I mean not to her face. He used to call her dow — DoW [the abbreviation for Duchess of Windsor].”
For context, Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor was the wife of Edward VIII, Queen Elizabeth’s uncle. Much like Meghan, Simpson was an American divorcee rather than a noblewoman or Royalty so was a hugely shocking choice of bride for member of the family. In fact, Edward was actually prohibited at the time from being king, the head of the Church of England, while married to a divorced woman so he was forced to abdicate the throne and part ways with Royal life.
Philip may have been notorious for saying the wrong thing oftentimes, but to be fair to the late prince, his nickname for his granddaughter-in-law turned out to be even more accurate than he could ever have known. How times have changed since Harry and Meghan were wearing matching bracelets.