Who is Ajay Mirpuri, the tailor who has broken his silence on royal bridesmaid drama?

Bespoke and luxury suit and dressmaker Ajay Mirpuri has broken four years of silence on the now infamous bridesmaid argument between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton after being tracked down.

The tabloids were gifted this nugget of juicy information and latest line of inquiry as they doggedly seek to pursue all avenues in the furore over Prince Harry's memoir, Spare. They were able to deduce from Harry's autobiography that Ajay was a London-based tailor and that piece of the puzzle allowed them to find Ajay at his New Bond Street premises.

Who is Ajay Mirpuri and why are we fascinated by what he has now revealed of the infamous argument between sisters-in-law Meghan and Kate?

Ajay Mirpuri (45) runs a tailoring business called Mirpuri Bespoke. The British businessman runs his company from New Bond Street in London's west end, alongside a small and dedicated team of tailors who work for him (two of whom are pictured alongside Ajay who stands in the middle).

Ajay is a second generation suit-maker as his dad was also in the line of tailoring. He brought a lifetime of learning from his parents to the London outpost of Mirpuri Bespoke, the company which they started in 1976 with a workroom and showroom in Geneva.

Although he studied Accounting and Economics at City University, Ajay found a way to combine his business intellect, insider trade knowledge and research from Saville Row and Jermyn Street to create a space that clients can 'feel free to create the perfect piece to suit their size, shape and lifestyle'.

"I thought the tailoring industry needed to be more service oriented and more client focused", Ajay explained to Tatler in 2020.

"My father always used to say to me, 'If the client doesn’t choose from the first three fabrics you show them, either you’re not understanding what they want or they don’t understand what they want' so it’s important to have that mutual understanding."

Work-life balance is important to Ajay and he is married with children, according to his Twitter posts.

His diplomatic silence is due to his long-standing work with royals and celebrities. He helped to alter the dress Meghan Markle wore to the Endeavour Awards with Prince Harry when they pictured in the rain in 2020. And he's done countless tailoring projects for Elton John, George Clooney, Ben Affleck and Stormzy.

What he did say was very balanced...

"If anything happened in the background, it didn't happen in front of me," said Ajay on Tuesday 10 January 2023.

"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. I can understand why anybody would be upset if the dresses weren't fitting – it's nerve-wracking.

"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. All six bridesmaids' dresses had to be fixed, and we did it.

"I'm a royalist and I wanted to do whatever I could with my small business to serve the Royal Family. We just got our heads down and said "Now we're here, we've got to fix it so that on the day Britain comes off well. 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."

The gowns were created - as was the wedding dress - by British designer Clare Waight Keller, artistic director of Givenchy. They were made, it seems, from measurements only, and without repeated fittings. It left Meghan crying on the floor, says Harry's memoir, and was in contrast to the media reports which had claimed Meghan had made Kate cry.

As Ajay himself has said, "You can’t be an entrepreneur without being a star diplomat and a negotiator. One negotiates waking up every morning." He certainly played diplomat and ensured the big day for Meghan and Harry looked spectacular with wonderfully-fitting bridesmaid dresses.