King Charles and Meghan Markle had a good relationship while she was still part of the Royal Family. Not much is known of Charles’ feelings about her nowadays, but one can imagine it’s quite a strained relationship. Still, the king has had a nickname for her, and it’s not one you’d imagine.

King Charles, then Prince Charles, was quite surprised when he found out his son, Prince Harry, was dating Meghan Markle. At first, as claimed in royal experts Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s book Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of the Modern Royal Family, he had no idea that Harry was dating Meghan.

According to the authors, the first time he heard about their relationship was a mere 20 minutes before it was made public. King Charles and his staff at Clarence House were said to have been left “crushed” by the surprise news regarding Harry’s new girlfriend.

Interestingly, though, this wasn’t necessarily because Harry was Charles’s son, but rather more because Charles feared it would overshadow his royal duties.

The then-Prince of Wales was about to embark on a sensitive tour of the Middle East. King Charles and his staff at Clarence House were said to have been left “crushed” by the surprise news regarding Harry’s new girlfriend.

King Charles & Meghan Markle

Interestingly, though, this wasn’t necessarily because Harry was Charles’s son, but rather more because Charles feared it would overshadow his royal duties.

“It was a critical moment that had been in the works for months,” Scobie and Durand wrote in the book. “A statement from Kensington Palace condemning the Press and, in the same breath, confirming Harry’s new girlfriend would all but eliminate coverage of Prince Charles’s tour of the Gulf.”

The royal authors added: “The team at Clarence House, which had spent months putting together Prince Charles’ tour in the hopes that it would be covered significantly, was crushed.”

Moreover, Scobie and Durand claimed that although King Charles was “disappointed” with the announcement’s timing, he “understood” that the couple needed to share the news about their relationship.

King Charles nickname for Meghan

As time passed, however, Charles and Meghan’s relationship grew stronger. The woman his son dated became his daughter-in-law, and Charles even followed her down the aisle as she had banned her father from attending.

Moreover, Palace insider Charlotte Griffiths wrote for the Mail that he called her “Tungsten” – a chemical element that has the highest melting point. It was a “term of endearment,” Griffiths wrote in 2018.

“Prince Charles (now King 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,” she wrote.

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