Meghan Markle’s tailor speaks out about Princess of Wales bridesmaid dress row

‘I feel for them all, because you wouldn’t want the children to go out on a big stage in an ill-fitting dress,’ tailor said

Peony Hirwani
Wednesday 11 January 2023 00:38 EST
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Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton appear together at Royal Family Christmas Day service

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Meghan Markle’s tailor Ajay Mirpuri has spoken out about the row over the bridesmaid dresses between the Duchess of Sussex and Princess of Wales.

In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry revealed the text exchange between his wife and Kate Middleton about the infamous Givenchy bridesmaid dresses for his and Meghan’s 2018 wedding.

Harry recalled that Meghan received a text from Kate about the dresses needing to be altered.

He claimed that Meghan told Kate that their tailor, Mirpuri, would be making his way to the Kensington Palace. However, he claimed that this response “wasn’t sufficient”, before sharing the alleged text conversation between the two women.

“Charlotte’s dress is too big, too long, too baggy,” the Princess of Wales’s text said, according to Harry. “She cried when she tried it on at home.”

Harry then claimed that Meghan responded with: “Right, and I told you the tailor has been standing by since eight am. Here. At KP. Can you take Charlotte to have it altered, as the other moms are doing?”

In her reply, Kate allegedly said that “all of the dresses need to be remade”. Harry also claimed that Kate’s wedding dress designer Sarah Burton had agreed with her.

Around the time of the Sussexes’ wedding, a widely publicised report emerged alleging that Meghan had made the Princess of Wales cry over an argument over bridesmaids dresses.

Harry says William told him to shave his beard off for his wedding day (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Harry says William told him to shave his beard off for his wedding day (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Archive)

In a conversation with the Daily Mail, Mirpuri acknowledged that he stepped in after the dresses failed to fit their wearers, but said that no arguments took place in front of him.

He said: “[I’m not sure] if anything happened in the background, it didn’t happen in front of me.

“But yes, weddings are stressful at the best of times – and especially one at this high level; you’ve got to respect that. They were faced with a problem like anyone gets at a wedding, with last-minute hitches. I can understand why anybody would be upset if the dresses weren’t fitting – it’s nerve-wracking,” Mirpuri added.

“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.

“All six bridesmaids’ dresses had to be fixed, and we did it. I’m a royalist and I wanted to do whatever I could with my small business to serve the Royal Family.”

Speaking in an ITV interview ahead of the release of his memoir Spare on Tuesday 10 January, the Duke of Sussex said there have been “25 versions” of the story where it was reported that Meghan Markle made his sister-in-law cry.

Spare is out in bookstores now.

Follow live updates about Prince Harry’s new memoir here.

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