The royal family are known for giving each other unique nicknames, and it seems King Charles’ eccentric moniker for Meghan Markle showcased how he really felt about his daughter-in-law

King Charles with Harry and Meghan(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Members of the royal family have long used unusual nicknames to refer to each other by, with each name having a sweet back story. And while many of the senior working royals have unique names they are referred to as behind closed doors, there is one bizarre nickname that has long caught the attention of eagle-eyed royal fans.

While Meghan Markle and Prince Harry stepped away from the royal family five years ago, there was a time that Meghan was seemingly quite close with her in-laws, especially her father-in-law, King Charles. When Meghan was first introduced to the King, he was reportedly blown away by her confidence.

King Charles had a unique nickname for Meghan Markle that reflected her confidence and strength(Image: Getty Images)

The relationship between Meghan and Charles grew over the years, with Charles even agreeing to walk Meghan down the aisle on her wedding day in 2018, after her own father was unable to attend the wedding in Windsor.

Before the big day, a royal insider came forward to share the unique name that Charles had for Meghan, and revealed the strange but poignant meaning behind it.

In royal expert Katie Nicholl’s book The New Royals, she explains that Charles had long admired Meghan’s strength of character and gave her a fitting nickname to reflect this, as Nicholl wrote: “Charles reportedly nicknamed his future daughter-in-law ‘Tungsten’ because of her toughness and resilience.”

This is not the first time that Charles’ initial nickname for Meghan has been reported, as in June 2018, the Daily Mail wrote that Charles called Meghan ‘Tungsten’, a type of metal because she is “tough and unbending”.

The King walks Meghan down the aisle on her wedding day

A source told the Mail on Sunday at the time: “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.”

Despite Harry and Meghan’s wedding being a grand affair attended by the entire royal family, not everyone was convinced of their union, as explosive new claims from a royal expert came to light.

According to royal authror Sally Bedell Smith, one of Queen Elizabeth ’s cousins and confidants made a series of comments about the validity of the royal couple’s relationship in the lead up to their high-profile nuptials, claiming that Meghan had “engineered” their union.

Bedell Smith wrote that Lady Elizabeth Anson said just days before the nuptials: “We hope but don’t quite think she is in love. We think she engineered it all,” adding: “It’s worrying that so many people are questioning whether Meghan is right for Harry.”

“The problem, bless his heart, is that Harry is neither bright nor strong, and she is both. Meghan is clearly brighter than Harry, but she has to be careful not to overshadow him.”

The Sussexes with the late Queen(Image: Getty Images)

According to Bedell Smith, Lady Anson said that Meghan was “full of charm” as well as “intelligent and thoughtful” when she and Harry first became engaged in 2017, but as the wedding drew closer, the relationship between the late Queen and the Sussexes soured.

Bedell Smith said Lady Anson told her that the former monarch was left ‘dismayed’ about some of the arrangements being made for the wedding and had become “very worried” about her ‘weak’ and ‘besotted’ grandson.

She claims that the former monarch had been left shocked that Harry had asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to perform the ceremony without asking the Dean of Windsor first, and that the now Duke of Sussex thought his grandmother could just “do what she wants”.

According to Bedell Smith, Lady Anson said that due to this, Harry had “blown” his relationship with his grandmother. She writes that Lady Anson told her several months before the wedding: “She [the Queen] said she was really upset. I was shocked when the Queen told me this, how she was so saddened.”

However, the author later claims that several weeks closer to the nuptials, Lady Anson told her that Harry and his grandmother had “patched things up”.