Prince Philip Had a Three-Word Nickname for Meghan Markle That He Wouldn't 'Say To Her Face'

Meghan Markle has had her fair share of cruel nicknames, from ‘Duchess Difficult’ to ‘Mystic Meg.’ But Prince Philip’s moniker for her perhaps was the worst. A royal biographer claims the late Duke called her ‘DoW,’ short for ‘Duchess of Windsor,’ likening her to socialite and fellow American, Wallis Simpson.

US-born Markle struggled to adjust to life in the royal fold. Her disdain for royal protocols particularly didn't earn her any favors. Royal biographer Ingrid Seward, in her book My Mother and I, claimed that she reminded Prince Philip of Simpson. Speaking to GB News, Seward explained, “I think he just couldn't get away from the fact [of the] similarities between Meghan and Harry and Edward and Mrs Simpson...There are so many similarities, which is why he used to call her The Duchess of Windsor, I mean not to her face. We used to call her DoW.”

Simpson was married to Queen Elizabeth’s brother, Prince Edward, from 1937 until he died in 1972. Twice divorced, Simpson caused a scandal when her relationship with the former King became public. To marry a divorcée, then-King Edward had to abdicate his throne. Much like Edward, Harry too left royal life for his American wife. So perhaps the Duke of Edinburgh saw what was coming all along. As reported by Birmingham Live, Seward writes in her book, “One of the few wary of succumbing to (Meghan's) charm offensive... was Prince Philip. From the moment he detected her apparent similarity to Wallis, he referred to her as DoW.” Much like Simpson, Markle is also divorced, with her previous marriage ending in 2011.

Prince Philip’s moniker for Markle echoed the one given to her by his wife, Queen Elizabeth. The late Queen was not a fan of Markle when she and Prince Harry decided to step down as senior royals. Speaking to The Spectator, an anonymous source revealed that during a 2022 drinks reception at Balmoral Castle, the Queen branded Markle ‘evil.’ They explained, “It was out of character for the Queen to use such a word as 'evil' to describe Meghan, but she saw straight through her. It was a startling sentence to hear from the most forgiving woman on earth.” The brutal swipe was allegedly made when the Queen was in poor health. She passed away just a month later in September 2022.

Markle, however, received a rather sweet nickname from her father-in-law. King Charles called her ‘Tungsten’ as he found her to be a resilient and strong individual in the face of adversity. A Palace source told Charlotte Griffiths from the Daily Mail, “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.” Tungsten, the strongest naturally occurring metal on the planet, was meant as flattery.