In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry revealed the fascinating account of his romantic under-star love story with Meghan Markle.
He said he first noticed Meghan through a mutual friend's Instagram story and then asked that friend to help introduce them. This led to a lengthy online conversation between Harry and Meghan, which eventually led to them setting up a date the next evening.
Meghan, who was visiting London at the time to participate in the Wimbledon Championships, agreed to meet Harry at Soho House.
Harry was late that day because of traffic, but she was immediately attracted to him. “We had a special thrill when we went on our first date and said nothing to each other, and now we both have so much to talk about and not enough time to say everything we need to say.” he wrote
But the date was over as quickly as it started, and Harry explained that he had plans for dinner in advance. “If I hadn't been late, I would have had more time. I cursed myself and stood up. I said a quick goodbye,” he wrote. “Tsk, tsk, that person is gone. Compared to that person, Cinderella was the queen of a long separation.”
After their date, Harry invited Meghan to visit Botswana, a place very close to his heart. He explained in her engagement interview, “We were camping with each other under the stars. She came and stayed with me for five days and it was fantastic.”
“So we were really alone, and that was very important to me that we had a chance to get to know each other.”
Prince Harry later said it was on this trip that he realized Meghan was his “soulmate.” The pair revealed more details about their trip in the docu-series, saying they escaped to Botswana after only meeting twice.
“I was surprised she said ‘yes,’” Harry recalled. She said, “That woman I’ve met twice is coming to Botswana, and we’re going to be living in a tent for five days!”
Prince Harry and Meghan's last outing before their relationship went public was to a Halloween party in 2016, she told Ellen DeGeneres in a 2021 interview.
Meghan and Harry shared never-before-seen photos from their evening on the Netflix docuseries, noting that they had been forewarned that news of their romance was about to break so they “decided to stick a pin in the funny grenade.” I do my best for my last solo outing.