After the year they’ve had, we can barely remember how things started either.
But as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle prepare for the airing of their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, Page Six is taking a look back at the couple’s origin story.
Though early reports suggested Harry and wife Meghan met in Toronto in May 2016 — when Harry, 36, was promoting the Invictus Games for disabled servicemen and women and Markle, 39, was in Canada filming her TV series, “Suits” — the two later revealed they met on a blind date in July 2016.
“We were introduced actually by a mutual friend,” Harry explained in their first sit-down interview with the BBC after they announced their engagement. Though many speculated the pair were introduced by Markle’s gal-pal Misha Nonoo, E! reported in 2018 that the matchmaker was actually Violet von Westenholz, the daughter of a baron friend of Prince Charles.
Regardless of who arranged the pair’s meeting, tabloids and gossip hounds in Britain — and beyond — jumped on the story, speculating about the relationship for months, with many commenting on her mixed-race heritage and contrasting her American background with Harry’s.
After six months of speculation, Harry confirmed his relationship with Markle in a November 2016 statement amid ongoing media scrutiny.
“Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her,” said the statement from Kensington Palace at the time. “It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm.”
Almost a year after Harry confirmed his relationship with the actress, Markle opened up for the first time about the royal romance.
“I can tell you that, at the end of the day, I think it’s really simple,” the 39-year-old explained in the October 2017 issue of Vanity Fair. “We’re two people who are really happy and in love. We were very quietly dating for about six months before it became news, and I was working during that whole time, and the only thing that changed was people’s perception.
“Nothing about me changed. I’m still the same person that I am, and I’ve never defined myself by my relationship.”
“We’re a couple. We’re in love,” Markle added. “I’m sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time. This is for us. It’s part of what makes it so special, that it’s just ours. But we’re happy. Personally, I love a great love story.”
The fairytale continued when Harry popped the question to the “Deal or No Deal” regular the following month.
The couple tied the knot with a wedding ceremony at London’s St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in May 2018. The nuptials were attended by the royal family as well as celebrity pals including Oprah Winfrey, George and Amal Clooney, Serena Williams, James Corden and Priyanka Chopra.
Markle was previously married to TV producer Trevor Engelson from 2011 to 2013. She is the first American to marry into the British royal family in 81 years.
Since their union, the couple welcomed one-year-old son, Archie and embarked on their “Megxit” from the UK. They are now expecting their second child and weathering the scrutiny for their latest interview with Oprah Winfrey.
