Harry and the princess and no, it’s not Meghan
No sign of new love at rugby match
PRINCE Harry took his seat beside a glamorous princess at the rugby yesterday – but it wasn’t the beauty many had been expecting.
Speculation was rife that his new girlfriend Meghan Markle would join him at Twickenham for their first public appearance together as a couple.
But instead the 32-year-old royal sat alongside Princess Charlene of Monaco, 38, who was there to cheer on her native South Africa’s rugby team as they lost 37-21 to England.
Harry had earlier laid a memorial poppy wreath outside the stadium to mark Armistice Day.
But as the match kicked off yesterday afternoon, American actress Meghan was nowhere to be seen – instead opting to remain at Kensington Palace where she has been staying with Harry.
It is likely that Meghan will meet Harry’s brother William, 34, this week.
However dad Charles is said to have headed to his home at Highgrove, Glos, after returning from his official visit to Bahrain, so he is likely to miss the meeting.
Meghan took time out from her filming schedule on legal drama Suits to fly to London earlier week, where she was pictured enjoying a low-key shopping trip to an upmarket store in swish Kensington High Street, a stroll away from the palace where she was welcomed inside by a secu- rity official. A source revealed: “Obviously a formal audience with the Queen or an invitation to a full gathering of the Royal Family is still a long way off – that sort of thing wouldn’t usually happen until an engagement.
“But Harry is incredibly close to his father and brother, and will definitely want to introduce Meghan to them and will of course be keen for her to meet them too. “He’s really very down to earth and values the closeness of his immediate family very highly.” The couple have been dating since this summer and Harry shocked royal watchers this week when he released an unprecedented statement to the media, confirming their relationship and speaking of his desire to “protect” Meghan, 35, from the intense scrutiny of life in the public eye. In a lengthy statement released by Kensington Palace officials on his behalf, the prince described Meghan as “his girlfriend” but added that he had been upset by “the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.” It added: “Prince Harry is worried about Ms Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. “It is not right that a few months into a relationship that Ms Markle should be subjected to such a storm.”