Meghan Markle’s Wedding Tailor Reveals the Truth Behind the Bridesmaid Dress Disagreement

Ever since Prince Harry released his new memoir, Spare, on January 10, 2023, many truths have come to the surface about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s rift with the royal family and the complicated relationships within that family system. One dilemma, in particular, is centered around a bridesmaid dress debacle that bubbled up before Harry married Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018. In his new book, Harry describes a text exchange between his sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, and his now-wife over niece Princess Charlotte’s ill-fitting bridesmaid dress. The situation, which took place ahead of the couple's nuptials, supposedly left Meghan in tears. Now, the tailor who altered the dresses more than four years ago, Ajay Mirpuri, is sharing his side of the story in an interview with Daily Mail, which was published on Tuesday, January 10, 2023.

The owner of the Mirpuri Bespoke tailoring workshops in London and Switzerland clarifies that he didn’t witness any argument between Kate and Meghan firsthand, so he can’t speak on what went down between the two of them. “If anything happened in the background, it didn’t happen in front of me,” he notes.

The tailor did, however, recognize that emotions tend to run high during the wedding-planning process and that contentious moments are bound to happen, so he understands where both Kate and Meghan are coming from. “Weddings are stressful at the best of times and especially one at this high level,” he tells the outlet. “You’ve got to respect that. They were faced with a problem like anyone gets at a wedding with last-minute hitches. I can understand why anybody would be upset if the dresses weren’t fitting. It’s nerve-wracking. I feel for them all because you wouldn’t want the children to go out on a big stage in an ill-fitting dress, and that’s what they were.”

Mirpuri tells the publication in the interview that he did end up altering all six short-sleeve white dresses with full skirts for the younger bridesmaids, including Princess Charlotte’s gown. Due to the tight turnaround time, the tailor explains that the process included many long days and nights. “We had to work tooth and nail for four days, four of us working until 4 a.m. three nights in a row, to make them fit," he remembers. "We left Windsor Castle at 10 p.m. the night before the wedding. Did anyone on the day complain about the bridesmaids' dresses and how they looked? The answer is no.” In addition to Princess Charlotte, Florence van Custom and Zalie Warren (Harry’s goddaughters), Rylan and Remi Litt (Meghan’s goddaughters), and Ivy Mulroney (the daughter of Meghan’s friend) all stood by the bride’s side while she said “I do” in 2018.

In Spare, Harry provides more details behind the bridesmaid dress disagreement. The author of the book writes that Kate texted Meghan four days before the big day, telling her that her daughter’s dress doesn’t fit. “Charlotte’s dress is too big, too long, too baggy,” Harry recalls of Kate’s text message. “She cried when she tried it on at home.” According to the memoir, Meghan responded to Kate, instructing her to see the tailor at Kensington Palace, but Kate supposedly said every dress needed to be remade. Then, per the book, Meghan explained that she was under a lot of stress with the wedding, and Kate said she understood. However, the conversation continued. "I'm not sure what else to say,” another one of Meghan’s text messages said. “If the dress doesn't fit, then please take Charlotte to see Ajay. He's been waiting all day." In the end, Kate agreed. 

According to Harry, the argument caused Meghan to break down. "A short time later, I arrived home and found Meg on the floor—sobbing," Harry writes in Spare. "I was horrified to see her so upset but didn't think it was a catastrophe." The next day, Kate stopped by to apologize, and she brought flowers and a card to make amends.