READY TO PROPOSE
The ‘smitten’ prince whisks Meghan Markle away for a birthday surprise
A smitten Prince Harry whisks girlfriend Meghan Markle away for a birthday surprise.
Wearingcaps around and matchingone with another,their baseballarms Prince Harry Markle and strode actress across Meghanthe tarmac carrying their bags and with big smiles on their faces. Meghan also carried what looked to be a framed picture covered in bubble wrap as they arrived in Africa for a safari getaway on her 36th birthday on Aug. 4. “Harry has been planning this holiday for a long time,” a source told UK’S The Sun. “He’s made the trip incredibly romantic. They’ll go on boats across the lake, walk in the bush at dawn and camp under the stars.”
The destination is sure to raise some questions—afterWilliam took then-girlfriendall, Africa is whereKate MiddletonPrince to pop the question seven years ago. “Who knows what will happen when they’re watchingsunset together?”a sensationalsaid The African Sun’s source. “Maybe he’ll get down on one knee. Harry regards Africa as his spiritual home and has often talked of how he can get away from it all there.” Indeed, betting agency Ladbrokes has cut the odds to 6–4 that Harry will propose to his actress girlfriend while on safari. “It’s a case of when and not if Harry pops the question,” said a rep for the betting company. “And royal puntershappy coupleare convincedare on holiday.”it will be while the Certainly, their long-distance romance is picking up pace—and racking up kilometres. A week before her birthday trip to Africa, Meghan and her mother, Doria Radlan, hopped on a plane and headed to London for a week-long getaway. In addition to sightseeing, “Doria, of course, spent time with Harry and Meghan together,” a source told E! Meghan then returned to Toronto to wrap filming on her legal drama Suits before making the journey to Africa with her prince. “She is super excited about their
“He’s made the trip incredibly romantic” —A source to The Sun
holiday together and to see Africa though Harry’s eyes,” said The Sun’s source. “Of course, she’s visited the continent before through her charity work, but this is her first ever safari.”
For Harry, 32, Africa is a place “where I feel more like myself than anywhere in the world,” he told Town &
Country for its February cover story. His first visit came just after his mother Princess Diana’s death in 1997, when his father, Prince Charles, took him and his brother, Prince William, to clear their heads after the tragedy. “My dad told my brother and me to pack our bags—we were going to Africa to get away from it all,” he said. Now, he makes a trip annually. “I have this intense sense of complete relaxation and normality here. To not get recognised, to lose myself in the bush with what I would call the most down-to-earth people on the planet.”
A sense of normality is also what he has tried to create for Meghan since they met in May 2016. “If or when I do find a girlfriend, I will do my utmost ... to ensure that me and her can get to the point where we’re actually comfortable with each other before the massive invasion that is inevitably going to happen into her privacy,” Harry lamented in the months preceding his introduction to Meghan. Going public last November, he took the extraordinary step of releasing a statement to protect his new girlfriend from “a wave of abuse and harassment,” and it became clear this relationship was too precious not to protect. “Despite the distance, the media attention and
everything else, there’s a real ease to their relationship,” a source tells WHO. “It just works. They are deeply happy.”
And poised for the next step: “Harry is ready to settle down and Meghan feels the same way,” a source tells E! “They are both in this for the long haul; they’ve known pretty much from the start. Everything has just fallen into place. It comes down to timing,”
A proposal this month, says an Us Weekly source, would be a gift to the actress and himself, noting that Harry generally feels down in August—the month his mother died. “He feels getting engaged will lift that gloom forever,” says the source. “Because he will be able to associate August with something joyful.” No matter the timing, “Harry wants to get married and have kids,” a source tells WHO. “He’s smitten.”