It took just one date for Prince Harry to realize that Meghan Markle was different. The couple first got to know each other in July 2016 over a bottle of chilled rosé at Soho House on London’s Dean Street. They had already connected on Instagram and evidently liked what they saw. A mutual friend, Violet von Westenholz, gave Meghan’s number to Harry and suggested he call her. Another pal in common, Markus Anderson, who works at the private members’ club, “cleared rooms and corridors so they could meet in secret without the fear of being spotted,” according to a friend. After several dates, Harry invited Meghan to join him on a holiday to Botswana, where their love blossomed. He has since said that the “stars were aligned.”
By royal standards Harry and Meghan’s courtship has been whirlwind and heartwarmingly romantic. Given their public profiles, it’s astonishing that they were able to keep it clandestine for months, swearing close family and best friends to absolute secrecy.
They also made a pact to see each other every two weeks, with Harry tailoring his visits around Meghan’s filming schedule on Suits. Over the ensuing months, they racked up thousands of frequent-flier miles jetting between London and Toronto, Harry going commercial with just a single protection officer in tow. By October, though, the cat was out of the bag, and by Christmas, Meghan was calling Kensington Palace home.
Then, at his best friend Tom Inskip’s wedding in Jamaica the following spring, those close to Harry took note: the prince had never looked so in love. They rightly predicted that he would be the next royal down the aisle.
On that trip, only a year ago, it was two weeks since they had last been together, and both had been looking forward to the occasion. Harry had arrived on the island via a commercial flight, while Meghan flew in on a friend’s private jet. The wedding was a three-day celebration, so Harry had gone all out on a luxury oceanfront villa at the Round Hill Resort, in Montego Bay, not far from where Meghan had married her first husband, Trevor Engelson, six years before. Harry and Meghan spent much of their time tucked away in their villa, which had its own infinity pool and on-call butler. At the wedding service Meghan mingled confidently while Harry ushered people to their seats. She already knew most of Harry’s inner circle, and she got along well with Tom’s future wife, Lara, who, like many of Harry’s friends, felt that Meghan was a positive influence. At the reception that night, Harry barely left Meghan’s side. When the D.J. started playing, they took to the dance floor and partied into the early hours, but Harry was on his best behavior, limiting his drinking and even his beloved Marlboro Lights. Harry’s mood soured only when they were photographed together on their balcony by a paparazzo, but Meghan comforted him, reasoning, What does it matter? Nothing should spoil this trip. As they bid each other farewell at the end of the holiday, both knew that they were moving toward something much more serious.
Meghan was preparing to film her seventh season of Suits, and she had already decided that it would probably be her last. If things with Harry were to go to the next level, she knew that one of the sacrifices she would likely have to make would be her career. It was something his exes Chelsy Davies and Cressida Bonas had not been prepared to do, but Meghan felt differently. She was older and perhaps wiser, and wanted to focus on her charity work anyway.
Harry, meanwhile, was convinced he had met “the one.” At nearly 32, he was the same age as his father when Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer. Prince William, meanwhile, had already married and become a father by the same point in his life. According to former royal chef Darren McGrady, who cooked for the brothers when they were young boys living at Kensington Palace, “I remember Diana once told Harry and William, ‘Do what your heart tells you.’ She wanted them to follow their hearts, and I think that’s exactly what Harry’s doing.”
As fifth in line to the throne, Harry was required to ask his grandmother’s permission to wed. Decades earlier, Princess Margaret had asked the Queen for her blessing to marry divorcé Peter Townsend, but her sister refused to give her blessing because of the fear that it would create a backlash against the royal family for approving divorce. The story line was reprised on The Crown, but as royal historian Hugo Vickers pointed out last year, times have changed. “On paper Meghan’s everything you don’t want her to be—an older woman, a divorcée—but actually her more positive qualities could suit her well for the role of a royal consort. She has a certain worldly experience and can stand very well on her own two feet. I think most people think she would make a very good partner for Prince Harry, and I am sure the Queen would give her permission for Harry to wed Meghan.” It was a sentiment many shared, and it proved true.
When Harry asked his grandmother for her blessing in the fall of 2017, she gave it without hesitation. I was told by one of the Queen’s closest aides shortly after the engagement announcement that the monarch was genuinely delighted that Harry had found someone who made him so happy. Despite rumors to the contrary, there was no issue over Meghan’s racial heritage or concerns that she was older or divorced. Exceptionally close to her grandson, the Queen trusts Harry. At points in his life, she has taken on a maternal role, particularly in those difficult months and years after Diana’s death.
The Queen has gone out of her way to include Meghan from the outset, from inviting the actress to Buckingham Palace for tea to welcoming her to the family’s Christmas celebrations at Sandringham, in Norfolk, a tradition previously only ever reserved for spouses. And behind the closed doors of Buckingham Palace, Meghan has gone down as a great success. “The Queen likes her, and she charmed the Duke of Edinburgh over Christmas. He was very impressed by her intellect and how well read she was,” says a family friend. Even the Queen’s corgis are fans. According to Harry, who joked he has spent his life being barked at, Her Majesty’s dogs took instantly to Meghan.
Harry, meanwhile, has instructed aides to be helpful and inclusive. Even in the early days of their courtship Meghan had a direct line to Harry’s private secretary, Edward Lane Fox, and his communications secretary, Jason Knauf, who have been instrumental in helping her adjust.
And then there are the symbols: the wedding is taking place at Windsor Castle, the Queen’s home and favorite residence. I was told Harry had always set his sights on getting married at St. George’s Chapel, and the Queen has let the couple take the lead as they plan their wedding. “Harry and Meghan have been told there is no template they need to stick to,” says a royal source. “They can invite who they want, and the day is theirs to plan as they choose.”
It was not so long ago that the Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary at a private soirée at Windsor Castle. No doubt the monarch and her subjects hope that Harry and Meghan will enjoy a similarly long and fruitful union. Ever since he was a little boy, Prince Harry has held a special place in the collective heart of the nation, and he has proved to be a real asset to the royal family. Diana told Harry to marry for love, and he is. Meghan loves him back. Here’s to his happy ever after.
Adapted and expanded from Harry: Life, Loss, and Love, by Katie Nicholl; Hachette Books, 2018.
