Prince Harry, Duchess Meghan (in a black Valentino gown) in Rome for Misha Nonoo's wedding

Maria Puente, USA TODAY
Prince Harry and his wife Duchess Meghan of Sussex at the wedding of designer Misha Nonoo and Michael Hess in Rome, Sept. 20, 2019.
Prince Harry and his wife Duchess Meghan of Sussex at the wedding of designer Misha Nonoo and Michael Hess in Rome, Sept. 20, 2019.

Days before they and baby Archie take off for an official visit to Africa on Monday, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan of Sussex arrived in Rome. Why go to Italy first? For a Friday wedding of her pal, designer Misha Nonoo, to an American energy entrepreneur, Michael "Mikey" Hess.

Photographs showed the royal couple arriving for the wedding at Villa Aurelia, a 17th century estate that serves as the base for the American Academy in Rome.

Meghan wore a black embellished tulle evening gown by Valentino. Her hair was done up in one of her signature messy chignons.

Other celebrities at the wedding included Harry's York cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, James Corden, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, and Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner, younger brother to Jared and a friend of Hess.

Nonoo, the Bahrain-born fashion designer, has been a close friend to the former Meghan Markle for years, and was widely reported to be the person who set her up with Prince Harry, although she has never confirmed it.

She and Hess attended Harry and Meghan's royal wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018.

Duchess Meghan of Sussex embraces her friend, designer Misha Nonoo, as she launched her Smart Works fashion capsule collection on Sept. 12, 2019 in London.
Duchess Meghan of Sussex embraces her friend, designer Misha Nonoo, as she launched her Smart Works fashion capsule collection on Sept. 12, 2019 in London.

When Meghan and Harry were photographed at their first official public appearance together, at the Invictus Games in Toronto in September 2017, Meghan was wearing an oversized white shirt by Nonoo.

Last week, when Meghan launched her first fashion capsule for her working-women charity, Smart Works, at a London department store, Nonoo was there as one of the designers who collaborated with her to create it. Her contribution: A crisp white shirt.

Nonoo, born in Bahrain to an Iraqi father and an English mother, moved to London when she was a child and has run her eponymous ready-to-wear line out of New York since 2008.

Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan of Sussex arrive to the wedding of Misha Nonoo and Michael Hess in Rome, Sept. 20, 2019.
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan of Sussex arrive to the wedding of Misha Nonoo and Michael Hess in Rome, Sept. 20, 2019.

In 2012, she married to British businessman Alexander Gilkes, co-founder and president of an online auction house specializing in fine art and collectibles. Their divorce was finalized in 2017.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their nearly 5-month-old baby, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, will arrive in Cape Town, South Africa, on Monday for the start of a 10-day tour of southern Africa.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Duchess Meghan wears Valentino in Rome for Misha Nonoo's wedding