Royal confession: Prince Harry's brutal first impression of Meghan Markle
PRINCE HARRY admitted he had no idea who Meghan Markle was on meeting her for the first time, an unearthed interview has revealed.
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The Royal Family is undergoing yet another tumultuous period after the publication of the book ‘Finding Freedom’ by royal commentators Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand. The biography - which claims to have gathered sources from over 100 interviews with close friends of Harry and Meghan and royal insiders - ” claims the couple was pushed out of the royal fold. Particularly targeted are Kate Middleton and Prince William, who are painted as unwelcoming “snobs” sceptical of Meghan and her Hollywood background.
Despite the vast amount of source information gathered, Meghan and Harry deny involvement with the book’s publication.
The revelations have reportedly wedged an already growing gap between Meghan and Harry and the rest of the Royal Family, especially between the two brothers.
One of the bombshell claims is that William is purported to have warned Harry to “take as much time as you need to get to know this girl”.
Harry, the book says, reacted furiously to the “condescending” comment.
A 2017 BBC interview with Meghan and Harry, however, reveals that Harry’s knowledge of Meghan before they began dating was non-existent.
Talking through the year and a half that had passed between their first meeting and getting engaged, as well as how they had met and everything in between, Meghan admitted that she wasn’t that well read on the Royal Family and how the protocol worked, while Harry confessed he had no idea who the Suits star was.
He said: "I'd never even heard of her until this friend said 'Meghan Markle' - I was like 'right OK give me a bit of background.'
"I'd never watched any of Suits. I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her.
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"I thought I'm really gonna have to up my game, sit down and make sure I have good chat."
Meanwhile, Meghan explained: "It was definitely a set-up. It was a blind date for sure. We talk about it now.
"Because I'm from the States you don't grow up with the same understanding of the Royal Family, I now know there's a global interest in them."
The pair haven’t visited the UK since March earlier this year.
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Their distance has been the result of their stepping down from royal duties, which they announced via an Instagram post in January, and the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown.
Fulfilling the last of their royal engagements, Meghan and Harry marked the annual Commonwealth Day celebration at Westminster Abbey with the Queen.
A few weeks ago, reports emerged suggesting Harry is struggling to adjust to life in LA and the distance between himself and his family.
And, at the peak of the pandemic, it transpired Harry was finding life in Malibu “a bit challenging”.
According to The Daily Telegraph’s Celia Walden, the royal “cannot believe how his life has been turned upside down”.
She added that he “misses the camaraderie of life in the British forces,” and that he would have been “better protected from recent turmoil in the Army”.
Many have commented on the heartbreak a handful of family members feel after not being able to see Harry and Meghan’s son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
The little royal is seventh-in-line to the throne.
He has spent but a short period of his life in the UK.
Now aged one, Archie has largely lived in North America, now residing in Meghan’s native LA.