King Charles and Meghan Markle reportedly shared a warm relationship during her time as a working royal. These days, it’s unclear how he truly feels about her, and it’s easy to imagine the relationship has become strained. Still, the king once had a nickname for Meghan — and it’s definitely not one most people would expect.
When Harry first began seeing Meghan, Charles — then Prince Charles — was taken completely by surprise. According to royal authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand in their book Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of the Modern Royal Family, Charles had absolutely no idea Harry was dating Meghan.
The authors say he first learned about the relationship just 20 minutes before the news was made public. The announcement reportedly left Charles and his staff at Clarence House “crushed.”
Interestingly, it wasn’t simply because Harry was dating someone new. The issue was that Charles feared the news would overshadow his own royal work.
At the time, he was preparing to embark on a delicate diplomatic tour of the Middle East. Months of planning had gone into it, and Charles hoped it would receive significant media coverage. Suddenly, a breaking story about Harry’s new girlfriend threatened to erase it from the headlines.
Scobie and Durand explained, “It was a crucial moment Charles had been preparing for. A statement from Kensington Palace that both condemned the press and confirmed Harry’s new relationship would overshadow Prince Charles’s tour of the Gulf completely.”
They added that the Clarence House team, who had been working tirelessly on the trip, felt “deflated” by the timing of Harry and Meghan’s announcement. Even so, Charles reportedly understood the couple’s need to make their relationship public.
Over time, however, Charles and Meghan’s bond strengthened. Meghan went from being Harry’s girlfriend to becoming Charles’s daughter-in-law. He even walked her down the aisle on her wedding day when she chose not to have her father attend.
And that’s where his unexpected nickname comes in.
According to Palace insider Charlotte Griffiths, writing for the Mail, Charles affectionately referred to Meghan as “Tungsten.” Tungsten is a chemical element known for having the highest melting point — it’s extremely strong and resilient.
Griffiths wrote in 2018:
“Prince Charles (now King Charles) admires Meghan for her strength and for the backbone she gives Harry. He needs someone with a tungsten-like toughness in his life because he can be quite sensitive. For Charles, it became a term of endearment.”
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