Prince William and Kate Middleton were left stunned when Prince Harry first opened up about his relationship with Meghan Markle, and it all started with a simple, three-word question.
In his 2023 memoir Spare, Harry recalled the dinner conversation where he first told his brother and sister-in-law that he was seeing someone new.
The moment, which unfolded in 2016, left him caught off guard.
“[I have a] new woman in my life,” Harry admitted, reportedly prompting William and Kate to ask: “Who is she?”
Harry recalled how William and Kate’s mouths “fell open” when they learned the woman was Meghan Markle, an American actress on the legal drama Suits.
“She’s an actress,” Harry told them.
“Oh?”
“She’s American.”
“Oh.”
“On a show called Suits.”
Harry was floored by William’s response, which reportedly ended with a blunt expletive: “William said, ‘[Explicit] off?’”
Harry described William and Kate as “regular-nay, religious-viewers” of Suits, and joked that he had previously worried whether they would welcome Meghan into the family. Instead, he found himself wondering if they might be chasing her for an autograph.
The duke wrote: “All this time I’d thought Willy and Kate might not welcome Meg into the family, but now I had to worry about them hounding her for an autograph.”
Harry and Meghan’s relationship blossomed quickly. They were engaged just over a year later and tied the knot in a royal wedding at St George’s Chapel, Windsor in May 2018.
The couple went on to welcome their son, Prince Archie, in 2019 and daughter, Princess Lilibet, in 2021.
But in 2020, they stepped down as senior working royals and moved to California.
Meghan Markle’s entrepreneurial journey
In other Meghan news, the Duchess of Sussex has recently opened up about the emotional challenges of launching her lifestyle brand, As Ever.
Speaking in a bonus episode of her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, Meghan discussed the excitement of her sold-out launch and the pressures that followed.
Meghan said: “For me, at the moment with As Ever, it was… great. We plan, we planned for a year, and then everything sells out in 45 minutes. Which, yes, amazing. Great news.”
But Meghan admitted that success came with questions.
She said: “Okay, we planned as best as we could. Are we going to replenish and sell out again in an hour? Or is that annoying as a customer? Just pause. That happened. Let’s wait until we are completely stable and we have everything we need.”
In conversation with Tina Knowles, mother of singer Beyoncé, Meghan reflected on the hidden side of entrepreneurship.
“They see all the flashy stuff, and they see the product,” she said. “But that end game… those behind-the-scenes moments, how many tears I’ve shed.”
Knowles, who has faced similar challenges with her hair brand Cécred, added: “Everything you’re saying, it’s the part of business people don’t see.”
Both women agreed that while the scarcity model can generate buzz, long-term success depends on consistency.
