When Prince Harry began dating Meghan Markle, he wanted her to experience the world he had grown up in. What he hadn’t expected was just how badly her first encounter with his close friends would turn out.

Royal biographer Tom Bower claims that Harry’s circle branded him “nuts” after he invited Meghan to a traditional country weekend at Sandringham — an event that some of the guests later described as a “nightmare.”

A Clash of Worlds at Sandringham

For the princes, shooting weekends at Sandringham were part of royal tradition, filled with outdoor sport, long lunches, banter, and heavy drinking. Harry assumed his American girlfriend would blend in. Instead, according to Bower’s book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, the gathering revealed sharp cultural differences.

“Harry was looking forward to endless banter, jokes, and a lot of drinking,” Bower wrote. “He had not anticipated Markle’s reaction.”

The actress reportedly bristled at the humor. Bower alleged: “Without hesitation, Markle challenged every guest whose conversation contravened her values. According to Harry’s friends, again and again, she reprimanded them about the slightest inappropriate nuance. Nobody was exempt. Harry’s world would not be her world.”