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Prince Harry became "petulant and short-tempered' with royal members of staff around the time of his 2018 wedding and "threw the tantrum" over the infamous "tiaragate" row—not Meghan Markle—a new book has claimed.
"Tiaragate" is the name coined by the British media to describe a reported argument that occurred within the royal household over the tiara Meghan was given to wear on her wedding day.
Reports at the time suggested that the bride was unhappy after her choice of an emerald tiara from Queen Elizabeth's collection was rejected. Harry reportedly then told staff that "what Meghan wants, Meghan gets."
Harry has since refuted this claim, but in his memoir, Spare, the prince conceded that there was friction surrounding the wedding tiara—just not with the queen, but with her close aide, Angela Kelly.
Veteran royal reporter Robert Jobson recounted the events surrounding Harry and Meghan's wedding, including reports of the prince's fractious temperament, in his newly published biography of King Charles III, titled: Our King: Charles III: The Man and the Monarch Revealed.
"On the surface, everything seemed fine. But William and Charles had noticed a difference in Harry, who seemed to be permanently on edge," Jobson wrote of the May 2018 wedding. "The stress seemed to be getting to the couple...Staff and family both said the normally happy and funny prince became 'petulant and short-tempered' with members of staff."
He continued: "The Queen as well as other senior aides also raised questions about why Meghan even needed a veil for the ceremony, given that this was her second marriage. The Times reported after the wedding that palace insiders had spoken of 'temper tantrums' when Miss Markle, now the Duchess of Sussex, was told that she would not be able to wear the tiara she had chosen."
Jobson goes on to state that within the context of the wider wedding tensions: "It was not Meghan who threw the tantrum, it was Harry."
Newsweek reached out to representatives of Prince Harry via email for comment.
What Prince Harry Said About "Tiaragate" in "Spare"
Prince Harry formally addressed the alleged argument surrounding Meghan's wedding tiara in his record-breaking memoir, Spare, which was published in January.
The prince claims that reports of an emerald tiara being denied to Meghan are false and that at first, Meghan was going to wear the Spencer family tiara worn by Princess Diana on her wedding day, loaned by the princess' sisters.
After Queen Elizabeth's request that Meghan wears a tiara from her personal collection, the plan changed and the bride-to-be was given the option to choose one of five styles.
"One was all emeralds. One was aquamarines," the prince wrote. "Each was more dazzlingly stunning than the last. Each took my breath."
Meghan and the queen eventually settled on an all-diamond tiara made for her grandmother, Queen Mary. The queen then told the couple that Meghan should: "'Practice putting it on. With your hairdresser. It's tricky and you don't want to be doing it for the first time on the wedding day.'"
This is where he claims tension arose between himself and the queen's right-hand-woman, Angela Kelly, who made it difficult for the couple to access the tiara for the trial.
"She was being obstructive, obviously, but for what reason?" Harry wrote. "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."
"To my mind," he continued, "Angela was a troublemaker, and I didn't need her as an enemy. Above all, she was still in possession of that tiara. She held all the cards."
Eventually, Harry recounted that Kelly turned up at Kensington Palace with the tiara and a release form "out of thin air," where he got into an argument with her after saying: "It would've made our lives so much easier to have had it sooner."
"She fixed me with a look that made me shiver," he explained. "I could read in her face a clear warning. This isn't over."
Kelly has not publicly commented on the events surrounding the wedding or on Harry's claims in Spare.
Our King: Charles III: The Man and the Monarch Revealed by Robert Jobson is published by John Blake in the United Kingdom and is available now.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more