‘The corgis took to her straight away’
Prince Harry and his bride-to-be tell the story of their romance, from a blind date and trip to Botswana – to proposal over roast chicken supper
IT STARTED with a blind date. They fell in love under the stars in Botswana. When the Queen’s corgis gave their seal of approval, a royal wedding was inevitable.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who announced their engagement yesterday, have told how they fell in love in a secret romance conducted in their “cosy” cottage, culminating in a proposal over a roast chicken supper.
The couple, who saw each other every two weeks during their 16-month courtship, disclosed how the Royal family helped their relationship blossom, with the “incredible” Queen and “fantastically supportive” Duchess of Cambridge helping the American actress settle into her future life.
With a ring incorporating diamonds belong to his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, the Prince spoke emotionally about how she would be part of their “crazy journey”, with the woman she would be “thick as thieves” with.
In a 20-minute interview following their engagement announcement, the Prince and Ms Markle also shared their hopes for the coming years, from having a family in the near future to setting off around the Commonwealth to carve out their future work.
“The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was confirmation to me that all the stars have aligned and everything was just perfect,” said Prince Harry. “This beautiful woman just tripped and fell into my life. We’re a fantastic team, we know we are and over time we hope to have as much impact as possible.”
The news of their engagement came after days of frenzied speculation with, in true modern fashion, a tweet from Clarence House.
The Prince of Wales, it said, is “delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle”, with a wedding pencilled in for spring next year.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh said they “are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness”.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are “thrilled” and “very happy indeed”, while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, their new neighbours, said: “It has been wonder- ful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.”
Ms Markle’s parents, Doria and Thomas, added to the congratulations, in a statement issued by Kensington Palace.
“We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry,” they said. “Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents.”
Prince Harry, 33, had sought the permission of both his girlfriend’s parents, getting down on one knee earlier this month in the Nottingham Cottage home they now share in the heart of Kensington Palace.
By the afternoon, the happy couple had stepped out into the Palace’s White Garden for their first photographs as betrothed, stepping along the pathway dedicated just this summer as a memorial to Diana.
Prince Harry declared himself “thrilled” and Ms Markle “very happy”.
Answering questions posed by waiting journalists, the Prince laughed as he declared he knew his girlfriend was the one “the very first time we met” before they left with their arms around each other and heads affectionately close together.
Later, still giggling with the novelty of their news, they sat down for an interview with the BBC’S Mishal Husain.
How they met
Set up by a mutual female friend, the Prince and a then-stranger were persuaded on to a blind date.
Ms Markle, who as an American knew little about the specifics of royal life, asked little of the man she was being set up with, other than “was he nice?”
“I didn’t know much about him and so the only thing that I had asked her when she said she wanted to set us up was, ‘I have one question’ which was, ‘Well, is he nice?’ If he wasn’t kind it just didn’t seem like it would make sense.”
Prince Harry, too, knew little about his blind date, having never watched her television show Suits. “I’d never even heard of her. I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her sitting there. I was like ‘wow I really have done well, I’ve got to up my game’.”
After one date, they immediately arranged to see one another the following day.
“And then it was like, right, diaries. We need to get the diaries out and find out how we’re going to make this work, because I was off to Africa for a month, she was working. And we just said right where’s the gap? And the gap happened to be in the perfect place,” the Prince said.
Several weeks later – their third date – they carved out five days for a camping trip to Botswana.
“We camped out with each other under the stars,” Harry said. “She came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic.
“We were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure we really got to know each other.”
After that, and in between the Suits filming schedule, the couple flew back and forth between London and Toronto every two weeks, unnoticed by the public for months.
How love blossomed
They spent time with “cosy nights in front of the television, cooking dinner in our little cottage”, said Prince Harry. “It’s made us a hell of a lot closer in a short space of time. For us, it’s an opportunity for really getting to know each other without people looking or trying to take photos on their phones.”
While hidden away in Nottingham Cottage, they spent time with the Royal family as well, taking tea with the Prince of Wales and Queen.
“Just to take the time to be able to go on long country walks and just talk,” said Meghan, who said the relationship, short in 21st century terms, had not felt like a whirlwind to them.
“I think we were able to really have so much time just to connect and we never went longer than two weeks without seeing each other,
even though we were obviously doing a long distance relationship. So we made it work.”
The proposal
Like their courtship, the proposal was also homespun. “Just a cosy night,” said Ms Markle, in which they were “trying” to roast a chicken.
“It was just an amazing surprise, it was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee.”
Asked whether she had immediately said yes, she told the Prince: “As a matter of fact I could barely let you finish proposing, I said – can I say yes now?”
“She didn’t even let me finish,” said Harry. “She said ‘can I say yes, can I say yes’ and then there were hugs.”
A royal welcome
The Queen is “delighted”, the Prince of Wales invited her for tea and Harry’s aunts on the Spencer side have spent time with the happy couple.
Ms Markle, who has two dogs of her own but has only brought one to the UK, even won over the toughest critics in the family: the corgis, who sat happily on her feet during tea.
Disclosing she has met the Queen several times, she said it had been “incredible” to get to know her through her grandson’s eyes. It’s incredible to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother. She’s an incredible woman.”
Chipping in, Harry told her: “And the corgis took to you straight away.
“I’ve spent the last 33 years being barked at; this one walks in, absolutely nothing. Just wagging tails and I was just like ‘argh’.”
The Prince also told of his meetings with his future mother-in-law, proclaiming her “amazing”. However he is yet to meet Ms Markle’s father, Thomas, but has spoken to him on the telephone and did ask for permission to marry
his daughter.
The public eye
On going public with their relationship last year, which saw Kensington Palace issue an extraordinary statement from the Prince asking for privacy for his girlfriend, the couple admitted they had been unprepared.
“I think I can very safely say, as naive as it sounds now having gone through this learning curve, I did not have any understanding of just what it would be like,” said Ms Markle. “There’s a misconception that because I have worked in the entertainment industry that this would be something that I would be familiar with. But even though I’d been on my show for, I guess six years at that point, and working before that, I’ve never been part of tabloid culture, I’ve never been in pop culture to that degree and lived a relatively quiet life, even though I focused so much on my job. So that was a really stark difference out of the gate.”
The Prince added: “I tried to warn you as much as possible, but I think both of us were totally surprised by the reaction.”
As a mixed-race woman, Ms Markle said, she had found some of the reaction to her ethnicity “disheartening”, adding: “It’s a shame that that is the climate in this world to focus on a matter that’s discriminatory. But I think at the end of the day I’m really just proud of who I am and where I come from.” Children, it appears, may not be far away. The Prince deflected the question of having them immediately, saying only that it would be “one step at a time and hopefully we’ll start a family in the near future”.
More clear is their plan for life as working royals. Ms Markle, who confirmed she has given up her career as an actress, said she was keen to use her new platform to put a spotlight issues she was already passionate about, saying: “It’s a new chapter.”
“The fact that I know she will be unbelievably good at the job part of it as well is obviously a huge relief to me,” said the Prince. “Both of us have passions for wanting to make change for good. There’s a lot to do.”
‘We were able to really have so much time to connect and we never went longer than two weeks without seeing each other’