Prince Harry’s Clash with Palace Staff Over Meghan Markle’s Wedding Tiara Detailed in New Book

Daniel S. LevineSat, April 4, 2026 at 12:14 AM UTC

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018Credit: AARON CHOWN/POOL/AFP via Getty -

Eight years after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle married, more details about Meghan's experience selecting a tiara for her wedding have come out

In his new book, Elizabeth II, author Robert Hardman claims Harry joined Meghan when Queen Elizabeth invited her to choose a tiara to wear to their 2018 wedding, despite not being invited; in his memoir Spare, Harry said he was invited

Hardman also wrote about Harry's alleged clash with the Queen's longtime aide, Angela Kelly, over the tiara

More details about the alleged clash between Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth’s staff over the tiara Meghan Markle wore during their wedding are coming to light, nearly eight years after their nuptials.

When Meghan, 44, and Harry, 41, tied the knot at St. George’s Chapel on May 18, 2018, Meghan wore the Queen Mary Diamond Bandeau. The tiara was made in 1932 and features a detachable brooch with 10 diamonds dating back to 1893, according to the royal family website.

Harry accompanied Meghan to choose the tiara from the Queen’s collection, Robert Hardman writes in his new book, Elizabeth II, and in a Friday, April 3 Daily Mail column. The future Duke of Sussex’s decision to attend allegedly came as a surprise, Hardman writes.

“It was her lovely way of bonding with the bride,” a former staffer told Hardman of the tiara selection process. “She did it with Sophie [Rhys-Jones] and with Catherine [Middleton]. But there wasn’t that bonding with Meghan because she turned up with Prince Harry.”

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in 2018Credit: DANNY LAWSON/POOL/AFP via Getty

In his memoir Spare, Harry wrote that Meghan was initially set to wear the Spencer tiara, previously worn by his mother, the late Princess Diana. However, Queen Elizabeth then asked if Meghan wanted to wear a tiara from her collection, Harry wrote, claiming that she invited him to join Meghan to try them on.

"She offered us access to her collection of tiaras," Harry wrote. "She even invited us to Buckingham Palace to try them on. 'Do come over,' I remember her saying."

According to Harry, the Queen herself suggested that Meghan practice putting the tiara on with her hairdresser. “It's tricky and you don't want to be doing it for the first time on the wedding day,” the Queen said, Harry wrote.

This became difficult to arrange, allegedly because of the Queen’s aide, Angela Kelly, Harry claimed. Harry wrote that Kelly became unresponsive for a time, before eventually telling them that the tiara needed a “police escort” to leave the palace. When Harry agreed to arrange an orderly and a police officer to do so, Kelly “inexplicably” told Harry, “can’t be done,” according to the prince.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018Credit: Jonathan Brady - WPA Pool/Getty

"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,” Harry wrote. “Also, to my mind, Angela was a troublemaker, and I didn't need her as an enemy."

Hardman writes that Queen Elizabeth did learn of the situation and sided with Kelly, citing insiders. The late monarch was “not pleased” that Harry was contacting the palace to have the tiara sent out. “It’s not a toy,” the late queen reportedly told an insider.

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Queen Elizabeth wondered why Meghan couldn’t use a plastic tiara, as Kate Middleton had done before her wedding, and then told Kelly to ignore the phone calls, Hardman says.

According to insiders, there were two reasons the late queen wasn’t ready to let the real tiara leave the palace, Hardman writes. The first was Easter Court, which was ongoing at the time. The second reason was that little was known about the Queen Mary Diamond Bandeau’s history, so palace staff wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything unsavory about its past, per the author.

When the wedding day drew closer, Kelly finally arrived at Kensington Palace with a release form and the tiara. Harry wrote in Spare that he signed the paperwork and thanked Kelly, “though I added that it would've made our lives so much easier to have had it sooner.”

"Her eyes were fire. She started having a go at me,” Harry wrote in Spare. "'Angela, you really want to do this now? Really? Now? She fixed me with a look that made me shiver. I could read in her face a clear warning. 'This isn't over.'”

A staffer told Hardman that Meghan was “nowhere to be seen” when Kelly delivered the tiara. The staffer claims Harry “poked the box and said ‘Is that it?’ Then he stood over Angela and said he did not like her whining to his grandmother.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018Credit: Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty

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Kelly “gave it straight back,” the staffer told Hardman, adding that Kelly didn’t like Harry “getting all these people to push her when she was just doing her job.”

“She tried to tell him about the history and how it was for their own sake, but he walked out. She decided to put it down to pre-wedding nerves,” the staffer told Hardman.

Another former colleague told Hardman that all Kelly did “was try to protect them.”

Hardman’s new book, Elizabeth II, will be published on April 9 in the U.K.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”