Prince Harry Says Meghan Markle Mistook Prince Andrew for the Queen’s Assistant When They First Met

Rachel Burchfield
·2 min read
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Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle

Some of the bits from leaked portions of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare are heavy—but this one is pretty funny: Apparently when Meghan Markle met the Queen for the first time, she mistakenly thought Her late Majesty’s son Prince Andrew was her assistant. (That’ll keep a royal humble!)

“After a moment, Meg asked me something about the Queen’s assistant,” Harry writes in the book, out on Tuesday. Initially having no idea who Meghan was referring to, she continued “that man holding the purse. That man who walked her to the door.”

Harry, according to Us Weekly, promptly informed Meghan that “that man holding the purse” was Andrew, the second son of the Queen, and a high-ranking senior royal (keep in mind, this was over six years ago, in October 2016—a different time, indeed).

“She definitely hadn’t Googled us,” Harry writes.

At this meeting, Harry and Meghan joined the Queen, Andrew, Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, and their daughter Princess Eugenie and her then-boyfriend Jack Brooksbank for lunch at the Royal Lodge in Windsor.

“It was all very pleasant,” Harry writes, noting that his then-girlfriend executed a near-flawless deep curtsy when she met Her late Majesty for the first time.

Meghan revealed in the couple’s docuseries Harry & Meghan that she didn’t know she would be meeting the Queen until they arrived in Windsor.

“There wasn’t some big moment of, like, ‘and now you’re going to meet my grandmother,’” Meghan said. “I remember being in the car and [Harry] was like, ‘you know how to curtsy, right?’ and I just thought it was a joke. Americans will understand this—we have Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament. [My first curtsy] was like that. Like, I curtsied as if I was [bowing down to the floor].”

After Meghan apparently nailed her curtsy, the couple exchanged pleasantries with the Queen, discussed Her late Majesty’s attendance at church that morning, and Meghan’s then-home of Toronto, where she filmed Suits.

The Queen left the lunch about 20 minutes later, and Andrew escorted her out.

“Everyone flooded into the room after she’d driven away,” Harry writes. “The whole vibe changed”—and the group toasted the occasion with a round of drinks.