The royal tailor who altered Meghan Markle’s bridesmaids’ dresses has spoken out about the alleged drama between the Duchess of Sussex and Kate Middleton.
In his newly released memoir, “Spare,” Markle’s husband, Prince Harry, mentioned luxury suit and dressmaker Ajay Mirpuri, while discussing an alleged feud over bridesmaid dresses that left Markle “sobbing” in the run-up to the Sussexes’ 2018 royal wedding.
According to Prince Harry, Middleton complained to Markle about her daughter Princess Charlotte’s ill-fitting bridesmaid dress and requested that all six of the dresses for the young bridesmaids be remade days before the wedding.
Mirpuri, 45, told the Daily Mail exclusively that he saw no drama between Middleton and Markle. He did, however, confirm that he and his staff had to work around the clock for four days before the wedding at Kensington Palace and Windsor Castle because none of the six bridesmaid dresses made by Givenchy fit.
The royal tailor told Daily Mail:
“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.”
Mirpuri went on to say that he understood why they were upset because the dresses didn’t fit, noting that “it’s nerve-wracking,” especially so close to the wedding day.
Mirpuri described the short-sleeved white dresses with full skirts as follows:
“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.”
He said:
“All six bridesmaids’ dresses had to be fixed, and we did it.”
He then added that he’s proud his small business was able to serve the royal family.
Mirpuri said he felt it was a shame that the bridesmaids’ looks that day were overshadowed by reports of alleged drama between Markle and Middleton.
He said of Prince Harry’s memoir:
“Had this book not come out, no-one would have known it was us. But if it saved the day, it saved the day, and good luck to them. I won’t say it upsets me, but in that whole big event, this [the row] is what’s spoken about the most – it should be the fact that they [the bridesmaids] looked fabulous.”
In his memoir, which was published on Tuesday. Prince Harry wrote that four days before the wedding, his sister-in-law texted Markle, saying:
“Charlotte’s dress is too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it on at home.”
Markle allegedly directed Middleton to the tailor who had been “standing by” at Kensington Palace since 8 a.m. that morning, but the Princess of Wales insisted that “all the dresses need to be remade,” according to Prince Harry.
According to the book, the conversation went “back and forth” before Middleton agreed to go to the tailor and told Markle, “Fine.”
After returning home, Prince Harry found Markle “sobbing on the floor,” according to his account. He claimed that Middleton apologized the next day with flowers and a card.
He also claimed that while Middleton privately admitted to making Markle cry, his sister-in-law refused to correct the record when tabloids reported the opposite, that the Duchess of Sussex had made the Princess of Wales cry.