The British royal family has long had a fondness for nicknames — some affectionate, some cheeky, and others, well, rather pointed.

While Queen Elizabeth II was famously known as “Lilibet” to her family and “Cabbage” to her husband, Prince Philip, not every moniker handed out within the monarchy was quite so endearing. According to royal insiders, the late Duke of Edinburgh reportedly coined a particularly biting nickname for Meghan Markle in the early days of her relationship with Prince Harry.

Royal commentator Ingrid Seward claims that Prince Philip privately referred to Meghan as “DoW” — short for the Duchess of Windsor — a nickname with deep historical baggage. The title originally belonged to Wallis Simpson, the American divorcée whose relationship with King Edward VIII led to a constitutional crisis and the eventual abdication of the throne in 1936.

The parallels between Wallis and Meghan, at least in Philip’s eyes, weren’t limited to their shared American nationality or prior marriages. Seward suggests that the Duke viewed Meghan as a similarly disruptive figure within the royal institution, warning Queen Elizabeth that there were “uncanny” similarities between the two women.

While the Queen remained publicly supportive of Harry’s new partner — reportedly even optimistic about what the couple might contribute to the Commonwealth — Philip was said to be more reserved in his assessment.

“He wasn’t simply referring to the fact that both were pencil-slim, dark-haired and glamorous American divorcées,” Seward noted in a reflection published by the Daily Mail.

The reported nickname takes on added weight considering the couple’s eventual decision to step down as senior royals and relocate to the United States — a move that, for some observers, mirrored Edward and Wallis’ retreat from royal life nearly a century earlier.

Nicknames have always played a curious role in royal culture, signaling everything from affection to private disapproval. King Charles and Queen Camilla, for instance, reportedly called each other “Fred and Gladys” in the early years of their courtship — a nod to characters in the BBC radio comedy The Goon Show. And, perhaps most famously, Prince Harry and Meghan named their daughter Lilibet in tribute to the Queen’s childhood nickname.

In the tight-knit and often tradition-bound world of royalty, pet names reveal more than just habit — they often speak volumes about status, sentiment, and, in some cases, unspoken tensions.