Have you ever wondered why the women in the British Royal Family don’t wear a lot of makeup? Like, how come we never see them with red lipstick or colorful eyeshadow? Before, you could easily brush it off as it wasn’t their preference, Royal protocol, etc. But thanks to Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, it seems there’s another reason: King Charles III.
When discussing the day he prepped Meghan Markle to meet his father, he noted that “Meg looked beautiful,” saying she opted for a “full skirt, patterned with flowers.” It was all very loving, until we got to the makeup portion of the paragraph. Harry reportedly told Meghan only to wear “little” makeup because Charles “didn’t approve of women who wore a lot.”
So along with the incredibly strict royal etiquette of wearing simple eyeshadow and a bit of lipstick, the King isn’t very fond of makeup experimentation. Whether it’s a preference, or the fact that he doesn’t want to risk being overshadowed by a female member of the royal family, people aren’t too happy with that snippet.
Speaking of overshadowing, Harry also wrote about how his father responded when the Suits actress and Harry grew more serious. “Pa might have dreaded the rising cost of maintaining us, but what he really couldn’t stomach was someone new dominating the monarchy, grabbing the limelight, someone shiny and new coming in and overshadowing him,” he said in Spare.
Take it all with a grain of salt, but it’s all making a lot more sense as to why we never see bolder makeup looks from the Windsors.
A common phrase with the British Royal Family is that you want “an heir, and a spare,” meaning you have secured the bloodline with an heir — and just in case something happens to the heir, you have a spare. And that’s exactly what Prince Harry was known as his entire time with the British Royal Family. After years of waiting, people are finally going to get to know an even closer, more vulnerable look at Prince Harry and his struggles. From losing his mother Princess Diana so suddenly and tragically, to how his life would play out afterward, Harry is baring it all for his memoir Spare.