Harry ‘in a trance’ after meeting Meghan
Couple rapidly fell in love and cut off those who questioned them, extracts from new biography state
‘The pair were almost obsessed with each other straight away and talking about their future’
PRINCE HARRY was “in a trance” after his first date with Meghan Markle, declaring his love after three months and cutting out friends who questioned the relationship, according to a biography.
The Prince, who took the actress to Botswana on their third date, “knew they would be together” after meeting her just twice, a friend told the authors of Finding Freedom.
Detailing how the pair were “almost obsessed with each other” straight away, it claims they “were talking in non-oblique terms about their future” from their Africa trip. An extract serialised in The Times tells how the Prince heard an old friend had made disparaging remarks about Ms Markle’s acting career and “immediately cut him off ”.
The details, from authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, add further context to comments allegedly made by the Duke of Cambridge, who told his younger brother: “Take as much time as you need to get to know this girl.” Prince Harry considered the phrasing “snobbish”, it is claimed, beginning a rift between the brothers.
Ms Markle is said to have received a text from a paparazzi photographer, who had her number, asking whether the relationship was true.
“While Meghan, before she met Harry, had occasionally set up a paparazzi photo here and there or let info slip out to the press, she did everything in her power to protect the privacy of [their] relationship,” the book claims.
IN A discreet Soho club, in the summer of 2016, a couple on a blind date spoke for three hours “in their own little world”, foregoing food in their excitement to discuss their “passion for wanting to make change for good”.
He knew they were destined for one another. She was “spellbound”.
If fans were hoping to hear of a fairytale romance, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – at least according to a new biography – will not disappoint.
The couple declared their love after three months, their friends have disclosed, and planned their long-term future together not long afterwards.
Ms Markle, now the Duchess, told confidantes after their third date, a trip to Botswana: “I’ve never felt that safe, that close to someone in such a short amount of time.”
For their “Sussex Squad”, the romantic journey from blind date to very quickly being “almost obsessed with each other” is the ultimate confirmation of true love. For others, the description in Finding Freedom may give greater insight into the concerns friends and family around them.
Previous extracts of the book, serialised in The Times and The Sunday Times, claimed the Duke of Cambridge felt bound to reassure his younger brother that he should “take as much time as you need to get to know this girl”, after around nine months of dating and ahead of their engagement.
Prince Harry considered the phrasing “snobbish” and condescending, it is claimed, beginning a rift between the brothers. Last night, details of the courtship were made public in a new extract, detailing the first blind date in the Dean Street Townhouse in Soho, through to the Duke’s determination to cut anyone who questioned their relationship out of their lives.
“Almost immediately they were almost obsessed with each other,” a friend told authors Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie. “It was as if Harry was in a trance.”
Shortly afterwards, Ms Markle began to follow a mystery account named @Spikeymau5 on Instagram, belonging to an undercover Prince Harry. After
‘I’ve never felt that safe, that close to someone in such a short amount of time’
a second date: “Harry knew they would be together at that point. She was ticking every box fast.”
A trip to Botswana, technically their third date, saw them “already dancing around the idea that this just may be a forever thing”. And after three months, they declared their love.
“It was Harry who said it first, but Meghan immediately replied, ‘I love you, too’,” the book says.
From the moment of their meeting, the authors say, Prince Harry was “sensitive to even the slightest hint of prejudice”. “When some questioned his new relationship, and whether she was suitable, he would wonder, ‘Is this about race? Is it snobbery?’
“An old friend of Harry’s spent an afternoon gossiping about Meghan, making disparaging remarks about her Hollywood background. Word got back to Harry, and the prince immediately cut him off.”
According to The Sunday Times: “No personal detail is spared in the book.
“From their son Archie’s expression as he entered the world, to the name of their labrador, sensitive conversations with members of the Royal family … it is all in there.”
The Daily Telegraph understands that the labrador, which has moved with her owners in Los Angeles, is called Pula, which translates in Botswana to “rain” and means “blessing”, used as an expression of good luck.