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Prince William banned Meghan Markle from wearing the late Princess Diana’s jewellery at her wedding, a royal insider has claimed in an explosive new biography.
The Prince of Wales 42, who proposed to the Princess of Wales with his later mother’s engagement ring, is said to have been concerned about Prince Harry’s decision to marry the Suits star from the get-go.
He reportedly urged his younger brother, 39, to “cool the relationship” to give the actress a chance to adjust to royal life before committing fully.
The claims were made by royal author Rob Jobson in his biography of the Princess of Wales, where he explained that cracks were apparent in the Sussex and Wales’s relationship even before Meghan, 42, formally joined the family in 2018.
Jobson wrote: “William, still concerned by the match, even sought assurances from the Queen that his brother’s bride-to-be would not wear any jewellery in the collection once worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, even though his wife Catherine had been allowed to wear some, which would be due to her rank.”
The now heir to the throne, who was in a romantic relationship with Kate Middleton for the best part of a decade before they married, was reportedly concerned by the pace of Harry and Meghan’s relationship.
Their engagement was announced in November 2017, a year after they went public with their relationship. The pair met for the first time in June 2016.
Jobson explained: “Harry claimed that the goodwill from William and Catherine disappeared long before the build-up to his wedding.”
“William had confided to his brother that he believed it would be better to give Meghan more time to adjust to the royal way of life and suggested he cool the relationship.
“Harry felt affronted and judged it to be an insult,” Jobson added.
“As a direct result, his relationship with his brother deteriorated fast. According to Harry’s book Spare, William physically attacked him.”
Other revelations from the book include the claim that Meghan got off to a shaky start with William and Kate after she “ignored the royal hierarchy.”
“She had not so much stepped on royal toes as stamped on them,” Jobson claimed.
“When Meghan, who had forgotten her lip gloss, asked to borrow Catherine’s, the duchess was ‘taken aback’ but reluctantly handed it to her.
“According to Harry, she ‘grimaced’ after Meghan had squeezed some onto her finger and applied it to her lips.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s relationship with the Prince and Princess of Wales is now almost non-existent after the Sussexes stepped down as working royals in 2020.
Their rift with the family was solidified by a series of tell-all interviews with the press, as well as Harry’s 2023 memoir, Spare, where they claimed they were subject to several forms of mistreatment within the royal family.
One of the most shocking claims was made to Oprah Winfrey in 2021, when the couple said inidentified members of the royal family had “concerns and conversations about how dark [her baby’s] skin might be.”
In December of last year, Omid Scobie claimed in his book Endgame that the royals in question were King Charles and the Princess of Wales.
This was further elaborated on by Jobson, who wrote that Kate was instrumental in the Palace’s decision to release a statement that said “recollections may vary” about the incident.
