{"id":90193,"date":"2025-10-19T07:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T07:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/90193\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T07:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T07:38:09","slug":"palace-insiders-gave-meghan-markle-a-cutting-nickname-after-she-married-prince-harry-which-was-a-not-so-subtle-nod-to-the-duchess-of-windsor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/90193\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace insiders gave Meghan Markle a cutting nickname after she married Prince Harry, which was a ‘not-so-subtle’ nod to the Duchess of Windsor"},"content":{"rendered":"

An insider revealed the nickname Palace staffers had for Meghan Markle<\/a> before she and Harry rescinded their royal duties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The moniker may seem innocent; however, it was a ‘not-so-subtle’ dig at the Duchess, likening her to the Duchess of Windsor, who is said to have triggered King Edward VIII’s abdication.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meghan was dubbed ‘The American’<\/a> in reference to Wallis Simpson<\/a>, the twice-divorced US socialite.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It wasn’t the only nickname Meghan earned during her stint as royalty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prince Philip<\/a> dubbed the 44-year-old ‘DOW’, short for Duchess of Windsor, also in reference to Simpson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also copped some cruel nicknames online from ‘Me-gain’ to\u00a0‘Duchess Difficult’ and ‘MeMeMeghan’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

King Charles came up with the bizarre but favourable moniker ‘Tungsten’<\/a> for Meghan because she is ‘tough’ and ‘unbending’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Royal commentator Richard Kay revealed that a palace insider told him they and their colleagues coined the nickname not long after Meghan and Harry’s wedding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Meghan <\/p>\n

Meghan Markle was dubbed ‘The American’ by the Palace after she married Prince Harry in 2018 because of her similarities to the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson<\/p>\n

\"Prince <\/p>\n

Prince Philip dubbed the 44-year-old ‘DOW’, short for Duchess of Windsor, also in reference to Simpson (pictured) who triggered the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936<\/p>\n

We call her ‘The American’,’ one figure who worked for Queen Elizabeth told the editor, adding it was a ‘not-so-subtle nod’ to the Duchess of Windsor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Simpson is one of the most controversial royal figures in modern British history, as her relationship with King Edward VIII led to his abdication in 1936.<\/p>\n

King Edward VIII abdicated as King, relinquishing his royal duties so he could marry the double-divorcee, sparking a scandal that shocked the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The couple married after Edward gave up the throne, and they were demoted and given the title of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.<\/p>\n

Simpson was widely disliked as she was viewed as a social climber and a threat to royal tradition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meghan and Simpson are often compared by royal fans and Palace insiders thanks to their outside status, previous marriages, American background and rocky relationship with the monarchy.<\/p>\n

Even Prince Philip was in on the joke, cheekily nicknaming Meghan ‘DoW’, which stood for ‘Duchess of Windsor’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to royal insider Ingrid Seward<\/a>, Queen Elizabeth approved of Meghan upon their first meeting and had hopes for what she might be able to achieve with Harry for the youth of the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

\"Prince <\/p>\n

Prince Philip was known for giving fellow royals cheeky nicknames and his moniker for Meghan was no exception as he was cautious of the actress’s similarities to Simpson<\/p>\n

But Philip had a lukewarm first impression of the actress.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘While the Queen continued to champion Harry’s new love, he warned his wife to be cautious. It was uncanny, he told her, how much Meghan reminded him of the Duchess of Windsor.<\/p>\n

‘He wasn’t simply referring to the fact that both were pencil-slim, dark-haired and glamorous American divorcees.’<\/p>\n

Meghan copped a barrage of cruel nicknames from royal commentators and followers in the press and online during her time as a working royal.<\/p>\n

However, it was King Charles who granted her a favourable epithet with a touching meaning.<\/p>\n

Tungsten was first used by Charles in the early days of Harry and Meghan’s life as working royals, according to the Mail On Sunday’s Charlotte Griffiths in June 2018.<\/p>\n

A Palace source told her: ‘Prince Charles admires Meghan for her strength and the backbone she gives Harry, who needs a tungsten-type figure in his life as he can be a bit of a softy. It’s become a term of endearment.’<\/p>\n

Tungsten is a metal that can be found on the periodic table and is known for its high melting point and core strength.<\/p>\n

\"King <\/p>\n

King Charles granted Meghan a favourable epithet with a touching meaning. He called her ‘tungsten’ after the strong metal\u00a0because she is ‘tough’ and ‘unbending’<\/p>\n

\"Charles <\/p>\n

Charles gave Meghan the name when she began officially working as a royal after allegedly noticing her ‘resilience’ and that she was able to hold her own in the public eye<\/p>\n

It is the strongest naturally occurring metal on the planet, so the name was regarded at the time as an affectionate compliment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Author Katie Nicholl shed further light on the origin of the nickname in her 2022 book The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown.<\/p>\n

She claimed that Charles gave Meghan the name when she began officially working as a royal after allegedly noticing her ‘resilience’ and that she was able to hold her own in the public eye.<\/p>\n

Despite its strengths, tungsten is also toxic to most humans and animals, so it may not have been a nickname Meghan wanted to keep in use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An insider revealed the nickname Palace staffers had for Meghan Markle before she and Harry rescinded their royal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[539,93,61,60,57311,7425,7424,4827],"class_list":["post-90193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-dailymail","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-king-edward-viii","tag-meghan-markle","tag-prince-harry","tag-royals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}