The Duchess of Sussex vowed never to wear French designer Roland Mouret’s clothes again after his fashion house “humiliated” her by mistakenly requesting the return of complimentary outfits through the Princess of Wales’s office.
In his new memoir, Mouret says Meghan became furious after a member of his staff contacted Kensington Palace, rather than her own team, to arrange the clothes’ return.
According to the designer, Meghan told him the mistake had embarrassed her and declared that she could never wear his designs again.
He recalls her saying: “Meghan was furious and called me. ‘You don’t realise what you’ve done! You’ve embarrassed me.’”
Mouret does not specify exactly when the dispute took place. He says only that it happened after Meghan and Prince Harry’s relationship became public, but before the couple stepped down as senior working royals in 2020.
He says Meghan rejected his apology and told him: “You know now I can never wear your clothes again.”
Meghan later appeared in what Mouret described as a “cheap high street copy” of one of his designs. The designer says he texted her afterwards, accusing her of being “ridiculous”.
In I Am Roland Mouret: The Butcher’s Boy Who Dressed the World, which is due to be published next week, he writes: “Meghan’s decision not to wear my clothes was hers, not the palace’s, not anybody else’s. I don’t think anyone else cared.”
Reflecting on her decision to avoid his creations, he adds: “I didn’t see the logic of that but I didn’t question it.”
Mouret has designed dresses for the Princess of Wales since 2011. Writing about Kate, he says: “Many want to be famous but if Kate could do everything she does, and be married to the man she is married to, without the fame, you suspect she would choose it.”
Designer Roland Mouret and actress Meghan Markle in Canada in 2016, around the time she fell in love with Harry and confided in Mouret
Meghan wearing a £1,450 dress by Roland Mouret the day before her wedding in May 2018
The Princess of Wales wearing a Mouret dress at this year’s women’s singles final. Roland, who has designed dresses for her for more than 15 years, writes that Kate would probably choose a life without fame if she could
A spokesman for the Duchess of Sussex declined to comment.
Meghan has continued to wear Mouret’s designs on occasion, including one of his dresses featured in an As Ever jam Instagram advertisement earlier this year.
The duchess and Mouret had been close friends since meeting on holiday in Turkey in 2015. He was also among the first people she told after she fell in love with Harry.
The pair first met in a hotel lift, where Meghan was wearing only a dressing gown as she made her way to the Soho House spa.
Mouret writes: “I said: ‘You don’t know me but you do know me in a way. I am Roland Mouret.’”
“She screamed and laughed and we chatted for a few moments. I told her that Suits was being very good to me,” he recalls, referring to the television show’s use of his designs.
They arranged to meet again at a party later that evening and soon became close friends.
When back in Canada filming Suits, she later texted him to say she had split from a boyfriend.
‘I’m coming to London soon. I’m going to travel in Europe this summer because I’m single and I want to have a change,’ she wrote.
Mouret claims that within months she had met Harry and told him about the relationship before the world knew she was dating a prince.
In his book, serialised in The Times, he recalled: ‘I got a call from her. “Roland, I met someone.”
“Your nice European guy?’
“Nice British guy.” She giggled.
“Even better”, I said. “What does he do?” She hesitated. “He’s a prince”.’
Mouret wrote: ‘I knew she was in love. It was the amount of breath mixed in with her words, finely balanced but revealing, just like a perfume.
‘There was only one British prince. We knew who we were talking about.’
The celebrated designer then offered to provide Meghan with clothes for her new life.
He told her: ‘You’ll go to a lot of functions, you’ll need clothes. Do you want me to send you some now so that you’ll be ready?’
She replied: ‘Yes, please.’
He wrote: ‘I asked a member of my team to send a selection I had put aside to the palace. “Leave them there as long as she wants them. Don’t follow up on it and do not talk about it to anyone at all, here or outside”.
‘Three months later, Meghan and I met up for a coffee. She said, “It’s going to come out very soon. We think the press know and it’s any day now”.’
Mouret and Meghan in a post-lunch selfie in a series of social media posts about him when they were close
Meghan wore another dress by Mouret when she met President Michael D Higgins during her tour of Dublin in July 2018
But Mouret claims their friendship later soured when a member of his team asked for the clothes back.
The mistake, he says, was that the request was made through Kate’s team rather than directly to Meghan and her aides.
Mouret had designed for Kate for many years and suggests the member of staff went via the now Princess of Wales’s team at Kensington Palace for efficiency reasons.
He wrote: ‘Meghan and Harry’s relationship became public. Then the same team member who had sent the clothes for Meghan decided, in an honest attempt to be efficient, to call Kate’s stylist at the palace and ask for Meghan’s dresses to be returned.
‘Meghan was furious and called me.’
Mouret said his apology was not accepted.
He told her: ‘Meghan, it was just a mistake by someone who didn’t know. My apologies. I know it’s not good for you and you want to do things privately.’
But she allegedly replied: ‘You know now I can never wear your clothes again.’
Mouret claims Meghan subsequently began wearing at least one ‘cheap high street copy’ of his designs.
He wrote: ‘The following year, I saw a photo of her out in a cheap high street copy of one of my designs. I messaged her: “I can understand if you don’t wear my stuff, but if it’s to wear a cheap copy then that’s ridiculous. Come back”.’
She texted back: ‘I think I should come and see you.’
Meghan Markle dusted off a favourite Mouret dress for an Instagram post, teasing the launch of a new As Ever jam earlier this year
This year Meghan donned a plunging Roland Mouret number as part of an As Ever product launch.
Meghan has herself spoken of the close bond she shared with the French designer.
She wore his dresses for red carpet appearances and gave him a string of social media shout-outs.
The Duchess also confirmed that they first met in a hotel lift in Istanbul.
‘This man in a bathrobe said, ‘I’d love to dress you’, I thought ‘whaaat?’ Then he told me who he was and we’ve been friends ever since,’ she said.
She later wrote on social media: ‘Love your dresses to the moon and back, but love you even more #favouritedesigner.’
The pair also posed for a series of cosy selfies together.
Mouret was among the designers tipped to make Meghan’s royal wedding dress, although she eventually chose Givenchy.
In his book, he does not appear to say whether he and Meghan remain on good terms.
But he writes warmly of the Princess of Wales, who wore a Roland Mouret dress to the Wimbledon ladies’ singles final in July.
He recalled: ‘Kate Middleton came to my studio to try on some clothes. Later, I went to the palace with clothes for her. Many want to be famous but if Kate could do everything she does, and be married to the man she is married to, without the fame, you suspect she would choose it.’
The Sussexes looked very happy to be in Nottingham, with Harry putting a protective arm around his wife on their first UK appearance for four years on Thursday
The fashionista’s claims came hours after Meghan and Harry made their first public appearance together since their extraordinary return to the UK.
The Duke of Sussex repeatedly put a protective arm around his wife as they were cheered by crowds and stopped for selfies during a series of royal-style engagements in Nottingham on Thursday.
When a supporter welcomed her back to the UK, Meghan smiled and replied: ‘It’s wonderful to be back.’
Their royal-style charity engagements in the East Midlands, just six weeks after returning to live in Britain, came after the King described the Sussexes as ‘private citizens’.
Critics have called the visits, organised by Team Sussex, a ‘cynical’ attempt to return to royal duties ‘by stealth’. Harry was in playful mood and was pictured tickling a man’s ginger beard.