Did Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Notice They Were Surrounded by This on Their First Date?

The walls at Soho House’s Dean Street Townhouse can’t talk—but they can titillate. This “club” and restaurant in London, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle famously had their first date, is decorated with artist Jonathan Yeo’s “leaf collage” wallpaper: an almost classic pattern which sub rosa features pornographic imagery. “It can be inches from people's faces and they haven’t noticed," explains Yeo of the deep red wallpaper that is reconditely a Where's Waldo? of genitalia. "Who knows whether it has had a subliminal effect and more hookups have happened in the restaurant? But, that’s getting into a difficult area…”

The Leaf Collage Wallpaper—as it's simply called—has been created in various patterns (including red for Soho House's Dean Street Townhouse, pink and blue for the West Hollywood location), but is available to purchase on Yeo's website and through Soho House's Soho Home in teal. It first made its public debut in 2009 at the Up Against the Wall exhibition at the Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center in Athens, and was then commissioned to decorate the walls of Soho House’s Dean Street Townhouse. It has since been installed at Soho Houses around the world, including in Berlin and in Los Angeles. “I started messing around with it one day, and I showed it to Soho House's founder Nick Jones and he loved it," explains Yeo. "It’s not overly explicit, because you don’t want to put people off their food. The funny thing is that no one notices it unless it’s pointed out. It’s in a cozier room, which has really quite a traditional feeling beyond that.”

Yeo's wallpaper is an extension of the artist's “porn collage” series, which started with another piece of his work: Bush (2007). Yeo was originally commissioned to paint President George W. Bush; when the arrangement was cancelled, Yeo created a cheeky portrait on his own using pictures from pornographic magazines. When Banksy's gallerist, Steve Lazarides, exhibited the piece, it caused quite a commotion. “Primarily, people's associations with pornography made it shocking or funny or surprising. But the fact is that I had been trying to get the right skin tones and the right color tones," explains Yeo, who has also painted Kevin Spacey, Dennis Hopper, Nicole Kidman, and Malala Yousafzai. "When you’re doing a 50-year-old man’s face, you don’t want to use the colors that come from the highly produced magazines, because those photos have been Photoshopped and there’s so much fake tan in them.” Pornographic publications, Yeo points out, have flesh-colored shades—and, well, seeds (and seediness) for conversation.

Yeo’s involvement with Soho House’s Dean Street Townhouse is more extensive than the Leaf Collage Wallpaper. He and arts writer Francesca Gavin curated the establishment’s art collection, which includes commissions from Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. “I remember when I asked Tracey Emin to do it and I wasn’t sure how she’d respond. She can be quite forthright about responding to things," admits Yeo. "But she said she had worked there as the coat-check girl in the 1980s, when it was Gossips, a club, and so she did a drawing of herself there getting people's coats—which was a nice, personal touch.”

As for whether or not Prince Harry and Meghan Markle noticed the sexually explicit material surrounding them on their first date, it may never be known. But it's highly doubtful Yeo's artistic take on decor put them "off their food," as he put it, considering that the recently engaged couple has made multiple visits to the establishment together. And while wallpaper laced with subliminal genitalia may be too wild even for Prince Harry, a fan of contemporary art who has repeatedly surprised the public throughout the years, we can't help but envision what an excellent contribution it would be to the walls of the couple's new home at Nottingham Cottage.