In her book, The New Royals, royal expert Katie Nicholl revealed that the monarch once called the actress… wait for it…

“Tungsten.”

Huh? Tungsten?? Of all the nicknames he could have chosen, he thought tungsten — a fairly obscure gray metal that isn’t even considered precious — was the most fitting for Meghan? Seriously?! Katie explained in the book, per ET, that “Charles reportedly nicknamed his future daughter-in-law ‘Tungsten’ because of her toughness and resilience.”

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Tungsten certainly is resilient. It has the highest melting point of any metal, hence its use as filament for light bulbs. And it’s really, REALLY strong. So that’s kind of nice.

But how did this moniker come to be? Katie says the story goes that Charles came up with it when he witnessed Meghan’s resilience during an appearance with Harry, Prince William, and Princess Catherine AKA Kate Middleton at the 2018 Royal Foundation Forum. She wrote:

“It was, according to one aide, the moment William and Kate, who was heavily pregnant, realized they needed to up their game. The Cambridges [now the Prince and Princess of Wales] had already signaled their intention to be more than ‘ornamental royals’ and had, along with Harry, made a huge success of their mental health campaign Heads Together.”

Katie continued:

“But Meghan was the breakout star of the foursome. She was polished, passionate and funny, using all her TV-honed skills to present her case. That was a wake-up moment for William and Kate when they realized that Meghan was very impressive, very confident and very capable, according to a source.”

We guess it could be a compliment, especially considering everything she has experienced since she became involved with Prince Harry. But he really could have picked something else that represented the same meaning! We’ve heard of people being called “someone’s rock” or “made of iron” but never… tungsten. You know, diamonds are super strong, too — and the comparison is a lot more flattering. Just sayin’!

If it was meant in the spirit Katie heard, and the future monarch really believed Meghan was that tough — it kind of feels like he didn’t do the greatest job choosing to become adversaries with such a person. Doesn’t it?

Reactions to the nickname, Perezcious readers? Do you think it was shade directed at Meghan? Or a sincere compliment from Charles? Let us know in the comments (below)!

[Image via WENN]