Anatomy of a royal romance: how Meghan Markle's American dream came true

It started, somewhat improbably, for two now so prominent in the public eye, on a blind date.

Prince Harry had “never heard of” Meghan Markle, the American beauty who played Rachel Zane in the US legal drama, Suits – or, indeed, seen the show – when they were set up by a mutual friend last summer. 

She, for her part, knowing him only from media headlines, asked one question: “is he kind?”

As luck – and the pair’s impeccable social connections – would have it, they shared more than one friend who could vouch for the other. 

Markle’s best friend, Misha Nonoo, an American fashion designer, happened to be married (until recently) to Alexander Gilkes, who had attended Eton with Harry. Meanwhile, Markus Anderson, a Canadian consultant for Soho House, and a close companion of Markle’s also knew Harry socially, and so the match was made in London, at a members’ club in Mayfair, one day last summer.

Not only was the attraction between Harry and his bride-to-be both instant and mutual but, as he said yesterday, he knew she was “the one” from the moment they met. Which perhaps explains his tenacity: after two dates “back to back” in London, Harry persuaded her to join him, three or four weeks later, in the wilds of Botswana. It was the only place Harry said he felt safe from the prying eyes of the world. There they camped out together, under the stars, for five days.

The relationship was, at first, low-key. The Prince had been burned by the loss of two previous high-profile girlfriends when the level of public scrutiny grew too great for them. Both Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas had slipped away from him amid an onslaught of media attention, and he was determined to protect Markle from the same.

So they kept things as quiet as they could. Much of Harry’s romance with Bonas had been conducted in Nottingham Cottage, his cosy two-bedroom property in the grounds of Kensington Palace, over a box of pizza. He revealed he “reversed” the usual dating process in spending nights in with Markle there, too, keeping her from the prying eyes of a public ever hungry for news of his Royal love life.

To Markle, this might have seemed strange. As an actress from Los Angeles, she was used to being open. And as a modern young woman, she was well used to online sharing, not least through her lifestyle blog The Tig.

But her love for Harry emphasised the need for discretion, and so the romance blossomed behind closed doors. By August, it was serious.

It wasn’t until late last October that the secret was finally out, though. The first rumblings here came when a British tabloid newspaper reported that the Prince had a new girlfriend, and promptly named her. Shortly afterwards, when Markle posted a picture to her two million Instagram followers of two bananas cuddling, with the caption “Sleep tight” – and with no official word to go on – it sent the rumour mill into overdrive. The post racked up more than 38,000 “likes”. Was it a message? A joke? A secret code? 

As gossip and speculation swirled, the Prince issued an appeal through Kensington Palace on November 8, imploring the media to leave Markle alone.

“The past week has seen a line crossed. [Prince Harry’s] girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment,” said the statement. “Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm.”

Yet he could not hope to quell the gathering excitement. The couple were showing every sign of their commitment, and could no longer hide it from the world. In early December, at the end of a Caribbean tour, Harry threw caution to the wind, cancelling his seat on the flight home and making a 1,700-mile detour to Canada, where <Suits> is filmed, to see the woman from whom he by now could not bear to be parted. It was a controversial move, breaching official Palace policy that working visits should not be combined with personal travel. But any raised eyebrows were soon replaced by smiles when, days later, the couple were spotted in public together for the first time, shopping for a Christmas tree in London’s Battersea Park. Although they were to spend last Christmas apart, the cosy domesticity such a shopping trip evoked was a sign of what stage the relationship was at.

In March, they would step things up by attending the wedding of Harry’s Eton friend, Tom Inskip, as a couple, making no effort to disguise their affection. It was the first time Markle had met Harry’s social set in full, and another signifier of his dedication to the actress.

There followed more public appearances as the couple grew more confident about being seen together: Markle made her first outing at an official society function in May, watching her Prince play polo from the Royal box at Coworth Park, near Ascot in Berkshire. Later that month came Pippa Middleton’s wedding, at which Markle was present for the evening celebrations, though not for the ceremony itself.

In September, Markle broke cover, speaking frankly to Vanity Fair about the relationship. “We’re a couple,” she told the magazine. “We’re in love.” Never in British history has a potential royal bride said something so frank before. But Markle is different.

When in this whirlwind romance would Harry pop the question? Speculation centred around a trip to Africa in August the couple made for Markle’s 36th birthday, where they spent some time back in Botswana. At the centre of her engagement ring, revealed to the world yesterday, is a diamond from the same country. 

But the “sweet, and natural and very romantic” proposal came on one of their usual cosy nights at home, while they were trying to roast a chicken. Harry got down on one knee: “I barely let [him] finish proposing,” laughed Markle, “I said ‘can I say yes now?’”

Though traditional in some ways – she loves cooking and knows how to look after a man – Markle is a divorcee of mixed heritage from across the Atlantic, so far removed from the Court’s sphere of influence she cannot but help do things differently. She will soon need to learn the etiquette and protocol of British monarchy as she enters a family still governed by both, for all its comparative modernity.

But the couple are deeply in love, and for Markle it’s surely the American dream: a girl from nowhere is marrying a prince – and she’s not going to jeopardise their union.

As told to Rosa Silverman. Ingrid Seward is editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine