Meghan Markle’s decision not to attend the coronation ceremony next month will spare the royal family from having to rehash an embarrassing debate over which crowns the Duchess is entitled to wear.
Buckingham Palace confirmed this afternoon that Prince Harry will attend the historic ceremony next month without his wife.
Duchess of Sussex, 41 years old Will stays home at the couple’s home in Montecito with 1-year-old Lilibet and Archie, whose fourth birthday is on the same day as the party.
Ahead of the coronation, which will take place in Westminster Abbey on May 6, the palace has already confirmed that Queen Camilla will wear Queen Mary’s tiara – made by Garrard & Co for Mary of Teck in 1911.
The Princess of Wales, 41, is also expected to wear a tiara for the ceremony – after wearing the Cambridge Lovers necklace, which was a wedding gift to Princess Diana, at her first state banquet since inheriting her new title in November 2022.
The sparkling tiara that Meghan wore to her wedding was Queen Mary’s diamond ring, which Harry’s grandmother the Queen lent her from the Royal Collection.
However, an announcement this afternoon saved Buckingham Palace from a possible repeat of the controversy over Meghan Markle’s wedding tiara, which has been dubbed the “Gateway Crown”.
In late 2018, it was reported ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets’ exclaims Prince Harry over his late grandmother Angela Kelly’s personal clothing.
It was alleged that Meghan wanted to wear an emerald tiara – but the Queen instead opted for a diamond tiara worn by her great-grandmother, Queen Mary, in 1932.
The authors of the 2020 biography Quest for Freedom, Omid Scobie and Caroline Durand, have claimed that Harry felt Angela Kelly deliberately dragged her feet while trying to help decide what to wear, the sun mentioned.
According to an inside source in the royal family, the Queen is said to have told Prince Harry: ‘Meghan can never have what she wants. You get what you gave me of a crown.
“The Queen also asked why Meghan would need a veil at the wedding, given that it would be her second marriage,” the source claimed, adding, “Meghan can be tough.”
In his brilliant autobiography Spear, which hit shelves earlier this year, Prince Harry reveals his side of the “crown gate” and denies squealing into the Queen’s personal closet.
The Duke claims his mother’s sisters had earlier offered Meghan one of the Princess of Wales’ tiaras.
Queen Angela Kelly’s wardrobe allegedly did not respond to Harry’s messages about Meghan’s chosen one
In his memoirs, Harry denied saying what was previously reported: ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets’
Meghan was impressed and spent hours and hours with her wedding dress designer to get the scalloped edges of her veil to match Spencer’s tiara.
But shortly before the wedding in May 2018, Harry said the Queen had ‘reached out’ to the couple, offering Meghan access to her collection of tiaras.
Harry says: She even invited us to Buckingham Palace to try them on. I remember her saying, “Come on.”
Harry says it was an “exceptional morning”.
They are taken to his grandmother’s dressing room, next to her bedroom – a place Harry had never visited before.
Photo of Princess Diana in the Spencer family tiara in 1983. Meghan had planned to wear the Spencer tiara before the Queen offered to loan it from the royal collection for her wedding.
Harry also claims there have been ‘spirited arguments in the back corridors of the palace over whether Meghan can – or should – wear a headscarf’
The Queen was standing alongside a jeweler who knew the history of each stone in the royal collection.
Also in the room was Lady Kelly – the daughter of a Liverpool laborer who had become indispensable to the monarch as her personal dresser and confidant, but was known to the courtiers as “AK-47” because of her strong personality.
Harry says the Queen asked Meghan to watch five stunning tiaras, including one of emerald and one of peridot.
Then the Queen told Meghan: “Crowns suit you.”
After Meghan picked one out, the Queen advised her to try the piece on with her hairdresser before the wedding day.
But Harry says when he tried to contact Ms. Kelly later for a session crown, the stylist didn’t respond.
The Queen was photographed attending London Fashion Week alongside her close friend, Angela Kelly
When he finally tracks her down, Mrs. Kelly tells him that taking the tiara from the mansion for an appointment with Megan’s hairdresser ‘couldn’t be done’ because it would require an orderly police officer to guard it.
Harry – who admits to being furious – says Kelly “eventually showed up out of the blue” at Kensington Palace to force him to sign a release form before handing over the crown.
He writes: `You repaired me with a look that made me shudder. I could read her face a clear warning. This is not over yet.
Princess Diana wore the Spencer tiara, which Meghan allegedly originally planned to wear, at her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981, and has worn it on numerous occasions after her big day.
The tiara is a family heirloom that was also worn by all of Diana’s sisters on their wedding days.
The headpiece, made by Garrards in the 1930s, has an elaborate design of stylized flowers embellished with diamonds in a silver setting.
Harry says the Queen asked Meghan to watch five stunning tiaras, including one with emerald and one with aquamarine.
The diamond and platinum bandeau tiara worn by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at her wedding was on display at a gallery at Windsor Castle
The crown is now owned by Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer.
Meghan instead wore Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau, the centerpiece of which was a 10-diamond brooch Mary of Teck received as a wedding gift from Lincoln County in 1893.
Tiara’s story was just one of the many difficulties Meghan is said to have faced while trying to outfit her wedding.
Harry claims there were ‘spirited arguments in the back corridors of the palace over whether Meghan could – or should – wear a headscarf’.
He says that wearing a veil by a divorced woman is out of the question for some courtiers.
But Harry goes on to say that “the Powers That Be have, unexpectedly, shown some resilience” and backed off.
His version of the story of the Tiara Gate shows the extent of the power wielded by the Queen’s wardrobe.
Kelly first entered the royal household as a wardrobe assistant, but she made her way up and was entrusted with the keys to the Queen’s priceless jewelry collection.
She served Queen Elizabeth II for nearly 30 years and was photographed at her state funeral on September 19.
It is said that the Queen gave a royal dispensation to allow Lady Kelly to remain in her home for the rest of her life, even after her death.
The pair have been known to exchange light-hearted banter with one another, with the Queen once jokingly telling her wardrobe “You’ve been kicked out” during a trip to Australia.
It was said that her great influence gave her great power over other senior officials and junior members of the family.
