EXCLUSIVE: Meghan Markle's 40 Hair Style Changes in Just 3 Weeks! Diva Duchess' Hair Stylist Lifts Lid on Reality of Servicing Ex-Actress' Demands
A stylist revealed Meghan Markle changed her hair 40 times in weeks while on royal tours.
Jan. 14 2026, Updated 8:17 p.m. ET
Meghan Markle has built a reputation for immaculate polish on the world stage, and the sheer intensity behind that image has now been laid bare by the stylist who traveled with her, revealing a pace and scale of change insiders told RadarOnline.com reflects her insistence on control, precision, and constant reinvention.
The insight comes from George Northwood, 47, the celebrity hairdresser who worked closely with Meghan during her time as a working royal, including international tours soon after her 2018 marriage to Prince Harry, 41.
Hair Stylist Reveals 40 Looks in Just Three Weeks
Meghan Markle demanded constant reinvention on royal tours.
Ex-actress Meghan, now 44, had entered royal life from a background in television and fashion, and those around her say she approached appearances with an actor's eye for detail and a producer's appetite for options.
That pressure was amplified by rigid schedules, unforgiving optics, and the knowledge that every look would be dissected globally.
Her stylist created dozens of looks in just weeks.
Northwood has now described the experience in candid terms, saying: "Working with Meghan was a game-changer. I loved her from day one. I went on tour with them to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga and we did 40 looks in three weeks."
He added: "Meghan always had ideas, but then she'd let me run. And Harry was very, very good at noticing her hair."
Sources Say Actress Mindset Drove Constant Changes
Prince Harry closely noticed her styling choices.
Sources close to Meghan's royal tours said the dizzying volume of hair looks was extraordinary by royal standards, even if not unusual in entertainment.
One insider said: "Meghan came in with a performer's mindset. Every outfit, every appearance, had to feel distinct.
"That translated into constant hair changes that pushed the team hard."
Another added: "It was not diva behavior so much as an actress refusing to repeat herself when the cameras were rolling nonstop."
Northwood emphasized that the environment could be far from glamorous.
He said: "Royal tours are not glamorous all the time. I did Meghan's hair in Morocco in the airport toilets. We had 10 minutes."
He contrasted the demands with celebrity work, noting: "A celebrity can arrive whenever they're ready. A royal has to be out that door at this time, no negotiation. You have three minutes to get that hair into a bun."
Hollywood Habits Clash With Royal Reality
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The tours revealed a clash between Hollywood and monarchy.
Those constraints, combined with Markle's expectations, created a high-wire act sources say defined her short royal tenure.
One former aide said: "She was used to having teams iterate until it felt right. The institution works on finality. That tension showed up even in something as basic as hair."
Northwood's comments about Harry always noticing Markle's looks also underline how closely he tracked those details.
One source said: "It was an early sign of how besotted he was with Meghan – and how much she had him under her spell."
While Markle later stepped back from royal duties, those royal tours remain a case study in the collision between Hollywood habits and monarchy protocol.
A fashion industry source said: "Forty looks in three weeks is standard on a press junket. In royal life, it was unprecedented. It told you everything about how Meghan saw the role.
"She came into the royal family thinking she should be treated like some sort of Hollywood A-lister."
Northwood, who counts Lily Collins and Gwyneth Paltrow among his clients, framed the experience as transformative rather than fraught.
But for palace watchers, the numbers of looks he created for the "Diva Duchess" speak for themselves – a relentless pace that symbolized Meghan's refusal to fade quietly into the background, even under the tightest constraints.
