Queen Elizabeth Reportedly Made This Critical Comment About Meghan Markle’s Wedding Dress

It’s one of the most anticipated moments of any royal wedding: the dress worn by the bride. So much excitement and intrigue surrounds such a gown that some designers have gone to extreme measures to ensure that the ensemble is kept under wraps. For example, the husband-and-wife team behind Princess Diana’s 1981 gown, David and Elizabeth Emanuel, gave the piece a designated code name—and even hired security to ensure that no one got a preview of the dress. When it came to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2018 nuptials, while they didn’t need to go to such extreme lengths to protect the gown, there was still a great deal of public interest around the piece. And on the big day—May 19, 2018—the actress finally revealed the dress: a boatneck gown designed by Givenchy’s Clare Waight Keller. However, it appears there was one important person who wasn’t entirely pleased with Meghan’s selection.

According to the Daily Mail, Ingrid Seward, a royal editor and biographer, wrote that Queen Elizabeth disapproved of Meghan’s wedding dress. “The Queen never voiced her true opinions except to her close confidants, such as Lady Elizabeth Anson, or Liza as she was known to her friends,” she wrote. “She told me that the Queen had made only one remark about Meghan and Harry’s wedding and that was that Meghan’s Givenchy wedding gown was ‘too white.'” To the monarch, the actress’s dress was not “appropriate” for someone who was remarrying, Seward said, according to the outlet.

Meghan was reportedly very involved in creation of her dress, working in partnership with the designer to bring her vision to life. “The Duchess and Ms. Waight Keller worked closely together on the design, which epitomizes a timeless minimal elegance referencing the codes of the iconic House of Givenchy,” Kensington Palace said in an Instagram post after the gown had been revealed. Even though the monarch may not have been pleased with the color of the bride’s dress, she did choose to lend the actress some jewels for her big day. “The veil is held in place by Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau tiara, lent to Ms. Markle by The Queen,” Kensington Palace reported in a 2018 press release. “The diamond bandeau is English and was made in 1932, with the entre brooch dating from 1893.”

Following the ceremony, the actress donned a different ensemble for her reception, opting for a Stella McCartney halter-neck sheath gown. “I am so proud and honored to have been chosen by the Duchess of Sussex to make her evening gown and represent British design,” McCartney told WWD at the time. “It has truly been one of the most humbling moments of my career, and I am so proud of all the team on this stunning sunny royal day.”