A chat about aid work over a bottle of chilled rosé... and Harry was smitten
Cosy date leads to true love
HARRY knew he had found someone special when he and Meghan bonded over a passion close to his own heart.
The pair shared a bottle of rosé wine at London private members club Soho House in July last year as she told him about her campaign for clean water in Rwanda.
The royal has travelled the world, and Africa in particular, helping others. And from the moment he sat listening to Meghan speak he was smitten, bombarding her with texts asking to see her again.
They kept their relationship a secret until the actress broke her silence in a Vanity Fair interview.
“I think it’s really simple,” she said. “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 the only thing that changed was people’s perception. I’m still the same person and I’ve never defined myself by my relationship.”
Meghan could not be more different to the women Harry, once known as the Party Prince, dated in the past, typically a blonde society girl, model or TV presenter. She is also divorced – from producer Trevor Engelson, who she wed in 2011 and split from in 2013.
In a chat with Hello! Canada before she got together with Harry, she was asked to pick between him and brother William. Thankfully, after first saying “I don’t know” she said: “Harry? Harry, sure.”
The couple said yesterday they were introduced by a mutual friend who effectively set up a blind date – but would not reveal who it was. Meghan’s pal, Irish broadcaster Ryan Tubridy, said Harry had found what he was looking for in her.
He said: “Harry seems to have decided, ‘I don’t need a society type, I just want somebody fun’.”
And Harry’s pal, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, said: “[Harry] has always been a happy guy but I’ve not seen him so happy since he’s been with Meghan.
“We were at a wedding earlier this year. You have never seen a
man with such a smile – and it wasn’t my jokes that put it there.”
Harry and Meghan kept thing low-key. After a month in London, she returned home to Toronto. They met up again in the Cotswolds and their relationship was very much under wraps, only close family and friends knowing.
However, the lid came off at Halloween last year after rumours of them being together at a party, and Harry confirmed the relationship. There was then a noticeable shift in the way he was behaving. They enjoyed private tours of the Natural History Museum and romantic trips away – all with the eyes of the world on them.
A month later they were snapped in Battersea buying a Christmas tree. On December 14, they were pictured hand-in-hand on a visit to a West End show.
The lovebirds spent New Year in London then jetted off to Norway, to camp under the Northern Lights. Another sign things were getting serious was Harry asking Meghan to the wedding of pal Tom Inskip in March. The world was desperate to see a public display of affection and, in May, they delivered with a kiss in the car park at a polo match.
Harry pulled out all the stops for Meghan’s 36th birthday in August as they celebrated in a £650 a night hotel in Botswana.
Then the following month she finally opened up as Vanity Fair published its candid interview on her need for privacy.
Meghan said: “We’re a couple. We’re in love. I’m sure there will be a time when we will have to present ourselves and have stories to tell but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time.”
Echoing her, Harry said yesterday that privacy was crucial to “have a chance to get to know each other”.
Weeks after her interview, they made their first official appearance at his Invictus Games in Toronto.
A day later, their body language at a tennis match told the world how deeply in love they were.
And that same magical body language was there as they revealed their engagement yesterday.