While Meghan Markle was still a working royal, King Charles, who was Prince of Wales at the time, had a bizarre nickname for the Duchess

King Charles had a rather bizarre nickname for Meghan Markle, when she was still a working royal and he was Prince of Wales.

While Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has been given a slew of unflattering nicknames by the media, Charles acknowledged her mental toughness with his own nickname for his daughter-in-law

The then Prince Charles christened Meghan as ‘Tungsten’ due to her being ‘tough’ and ‘unbending’ and while the nickname was unusual, Charles believed it was a compliment to her tenacity and it soon stuck.

The royals have been renowned for giving each other nicknames in private, and Charles felt it only right that Meghan was treated the same when she became part of the family with her marriage to Prince Harry. The new moniker was nothing new for Meghan as she was christened Rachel but decided to use her middle name.

Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle The Duchess of Sussex in 2023 ( 
Image:
zz/NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx)

Speaking about when Charles began using the nickname, a palace source told the Mail On Sunday’s Charlotte Griffiths in June 2018 : “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.”

In Katie Nicholl’s 2022 book The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown, she revealed more details about the nickname. She claims that Charles found Meghan to be “resilient” and was able to hold her own. Charles labelled Meghan a “breakout star” as Meghan came across as “polished, passionate, and funny”.

An impressed Charles reportedly told friends: “She is so intelligent and so nice. She makes Harry happy. We could not like her more.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are said to be “upset and bruised” following a scathing Vanity Fair article published last week, with claims that “things aren’t good for them right now.”

The feature, titled ‘Inside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Big Business Ambitions, 5 Years After Their Royal Exit’, scrutinised the Sussexes’ post-royal endeavours. It included allegations such as someone from Meghan’s circle exploring a potential post-divorce book deal, and assertions that Beyoncé declined an invitation to appear on Meghan’s former podcast Archetypes.

This has left the Royal couple feeling “upset and bruised,” according to Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield, who spoke to Sky News Australia.

Schofield revealed that the couple were particularly disturbed by the piece, stating: “It is my understanding that they are upset over it [and] I’m being told that things aren’t good for them right now, between Meghan’s show being postponed, which I’ve heard was Netflix’s idea, and just the idea that she has worked so hard to rebrand herself and here comes a very respected publication reiterating some of the nastiest claims about her.”

She added, “So I think they are bruised and they’re sitting back trying to figure out how to process going forward.”