A royal saga: romance, rifts and rumblings of discontent
July 2016: Harry and Meghan go on a date in London, having been introduced through a friend.
November 2016: The couple’s blossoming romance is confirmed in a statement released by Harry.
September 25, 2017: The Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada, is the setting for Harry and Meghan’s first official public appearance as a couple.
November 27, 2017: Clarence House announces the couple’s engagement.
May 19, 2018: The couple are married in a lavish ceremony in St George’s Chapel, at Windsor Castle, and bestowed with their new titles, Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
October 2018: Kensington Palace announces Meghan is pregnant with her first child.
May 6, 2019: Meghan gives birth to Archie Harrison Mountbatten-windsor at the Portland Hospital, in London – not the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital, more typically used by royal mothers of today.
May 8, 2019: Baby Archie is introduced to the world during a press briefing at Windsor Castle. The couple defy royal convention by opting not to give him the title of Earl or Lord.
June 20, 2019: It is announced Harry and Meghan are officially parting ways with The Royal Foundation, the charity they had headlined alongside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and will establish their own charity venture under the name Sussex Royal.
October 20, 2019: ITV broadcast Harry and Meghan: An African Journey, detailing the couple’s royal tour of South Africa. Harry addresses rumours of a rift with his brother, Prince William, while Meghan speaks up about life in the spotlight.
March 31, 2020: Harry and Meghan officially step down as senior royals.
May 4, 2020: Details emerge about a new biography of the Sussexes by journalists Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, called Finding Freedom.
July 26, 2020: As excerpts from Finding Freedom are serialised in The Sunday Times, it is claimed William “behaved like a snob” when Harry fell for Meghan. A spokesman for the Sussexes, who now live in California, says they had not been interviewed for the book.