Meghan Markle’s savage one-word nickname from King Charles – that’s meant to be flattering

have been known to give each other funny nicknames behind closed doors – from Gary to Cabbage and from Squeak to Wombat. When she in 2018 following her wedding to , reportedly gained a nickname of her own.

The nickname, given by her father-in-law, King Charles, is said to have acknowledged Meghan’s resilience and refusal to give up. He is said to have called her “Tungsten” due to her being “tough” and “unbending”. The unusual nickname, according to a palace source, was a compliment to Meghan’s tenacity.

The insider told the Charlotte Griffiths in June 2018: “Prince 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.”

Tungsten is a metal that can be found on the periodic table and is known for its high melting point and core strength. It is one of the hardest materials in nature, scoring 9 out of 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.

According to a source, as reported in Bazaar, at the time, Charles told his friends, “She is so intelligent and so nice. She makes Harry happy. We could not like her more.”

Their sweet relationship could explain why Charles walked Meghan walk her down the aisle at her royal wedding when her own father, Thomas Markle, couldn’t attend.

Meghan also was fond of King Charles during the early stages of her and Harry’s relationship. “Meghan met Charles and was bowled over by his charm,” a family source told . “She told Harry he was wonderful: welcoming, warm, hard-working kind and stable. She made it clear that he should appreciate him and bond more.”

also opened up about in his tell-all memoir Spare. In the book, Harry recalled feeling as though there were “barriers” between him and King Charles when he was a boy.

“He’d been an older dad, and I’d always felt that this created problems, placed barriers between us,” wrote Harry. “In his middle years he’d become more sedentary, more habitual. He liked his routines. He wasn’t the kind of father who played endless rounds of tag, or tossed a ball until long after dark.”

Harry also wrote about how his dad did have energy to play with him William in their younger days: “But, long before we were ready, he stopped engaging in that kind of physical fun. He just didn’t have the enthusiasm.”

Despite airing his frustrations about Charles and William on television and in his memoir, Harry has said previously