Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle Cried Over Bridesmaid Dress Drama

In addition to being beautiful, memorable experiences, weddings—particularly the days leading up to them—are stressful. And when you’re hosting a royal wedding, watched by fans and critics around the world, the pressure is all the more extreme. In the years since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s May 19, 2018, wedding, much has come to light about a fight between the bride-to-be and her future sister-in-law, Kate Middleton. According to reports, the two went head-to-head over Princess Charlotte’s ill-fitting bridesmaid dress, but a new royal biography, Yes, Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, notes that the full story was never shared.

According to Newsweek, initial reports suggested that Meghan had made Kate cry as they discussed the fit of the dress; then, in her interview with Oprah in 2021, Meghan said the opposite was true—Kate had made her cry and later apologized with a bouquet of flowers and a handwritten card. Now, a royal staffer has come out to say that neither report was quite right. “I can tell you that all the papers and commentators got this wrong, the truth is that as with many of these spats between sisters, brothers or even sisters-in-law, both sides were really upset,” a source said in the new book.

The disagreement, it turns out, was a two-sided one. “The truth is that during the discussions about the bridesmaid’s dress Meghan said a few things she regretted and Kate said a few things she later regretted, but it was all in the heat of the moment,” the royal staffer explained. “Both women were crying their eyes out!”

The fit of all of the bridesmaids’ dresses—not just Princess Charlotte’s—was off, other reports note. According to the Daily Mail, tailor Ajay Mirpui and his team of four had to rework each gown. “I can understand why anybody would be upset if the dresses weren’t fitting—it’s nerve-wracking,” Mirpui said. “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.”

Ultimately, it was a stressful experience for the both the bride-to-be and the bridesmaid’s mother, and it seems royal staffers want to clear the air that neither was more to blame than the other. And knowing how much tension families typically feel in the weeks leading up to any wedding, the fight itself seems pretty standard and not out of the ordinary. An easy way to avoid a similar situation for your own nuptials? Build in fitting time (something that’s likely difficult with a royal wedding on this scale) and prioritize communication with everyone in your wedding party.