If a new royal biography is to be believed, the Queen reportedly had a good reason for denying Meghan Markle her first choice in wedding day tiara.
While rumours surrounding an alleged feud between Harry and his grandmother over the Duchess of Sussex’s wedding tiara have been circling since the couple’s 2018 nuptials, it hasn’t been until recently that Queen Elizabeth’s supposed rationale behind her decision has been detailed.
Explored in the new book Battle of Brothers: William and Harry — the Friendship and the Feuds, author and royal historian Robert Lacey has given royal fans a deeper look into the the ‘Tiaragate’ saga, including the specific reason why the Queen vetoed the emerald tiara Meghan originally wanted to wear on her big day.
Per an excerpt from the book published by the Mirror, Lacey writes:
“Unconfirmed by the palace—but not denied—we were told that the Queen felt that she had to say ‘no’ to Meghan’s first choice, a beautiful emerald headdress that was said ‘to have come from Russia.’
“This was code for a sensitive origin, meaning that the treasure was one of those that had found its way into Windsor hands through ‘undefined’ not to say dodgy channels—and for an undisclosed price—in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
“There was scandal attached. For this reason, the emerald tiara was seldom, if ever, put on public display and it would suit neither the palace nor Meghan herself that spring if newspapers started speculating about which Tsarist princess had worn the tiara and how she had been assassinated.”
According to Lacey, Prince Harry did not know about the tiara’s problematic past, and allegedly “flew into a rage” when Meghan was told she could not wear it.
“Unfortunately, Harry’s ignorance of both history and family tradition meant that he had no understanding of this subtlety,” Lacey writes.
Of course, there is typically more than one side to the story and in the royal biography Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, which focused on the Sussexes, royal authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durrand offered a another take on what transpired between Prince Harry, The Queen and Meghan Markle.
“The tiara selection went wonderfully. The Queen was very happy, Meghan was very happy,” Scobie said, according to the Mirror.
“In fact Meghan’s words when that story came out were ‘how sad, I love my tiara.'”
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