King Charles and Meghan Markle once enjoyed a warm relationship during her time as a working royal. While it’s unclear how he feels today, it’s fair to assume the dynamic has shifted. Even so, the king once had a surprising nickname for her — one most people wouldn’t expect.

Charles’ Initial Reaction to Harry and Meghan’s Relationship

When Prince Harry first began dating Meghan Markle, King Charles — then Prince Charles — was reportedly caught off guard. According to royal experts Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand in their book Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of the Modern Royal Family, Charles didn’t know his son was seeing Meghan until just 20 minutes before the news became public.

The authors wrote that Charles and his Clarence House team felt “crushed” by the sudden announcement of Harry’s new girlfriend.

Interestingly, their disappointment wasn’t necessarily personal. Instead, Charles worried the revelation would eclipse his own official work.

The then-Prince of Wales was preparing for an important diplomatic tour of the Middle East, and the surprise news threatened to overshadow it.

Fears the Relationship Announcement Would Dominate Headlines

Scobie and Durand explained: “It was a critical moment that had been in the works for months. 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.”

They 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.”

Even so, they wrote that Charles, despite being “disappointed” by the timing, still “understood” why Harry and Meghan felt it was necessary to go public.

Over time, Charles and Meghan’s relationship improved significantly. Meghan went from Harry’s partner to becoming Charles’s daughter-in-law — and he even walked her down the aisle when her own father was prevented from attending.

The Surprising Nickname: “Tungsten”

According to Palace insider Charlotte Griffiths in the Mail, Charles had a rather unexpected nickname for Meghan: “Tungsten,” referring to the chemical element known for having the highest melting point.

Griffiths wrote in 2018 that it was meant affectionately.

“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 explained.