In their first joint interview ever, newly-engaged couple Prince Harry and Meghan Markle opened up about their relationship, new life together, and their families. Among the revelations in their sit-down was the classic couple's story: how they first met. As it turns out, they were brought together by a blind date.
"It was definitely a set-up," Markle said, chuckling beside Harry. "It was a blind date."
The two met for a drink, but promptly got along. "I think very quickly into that, we said, 'Well, what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again,'" she added.
"We met once, then twice, back-to-back—two dates in London, in the beginning of last July," Harry revealed.
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There were earlier reports that Markle's friend Markus Anderson, a SoHo House Group consultant, set up the pair, but in their sit-down, they revealed the person who introduced them was a female mutual friend. In respect of her privacy, they didn't disclose her identity.
It was tough for the two to schedule time together again after their first two dates—Harry was off to Africa for a month and Markle had a busy Suits filming schedule—but eventually, they found a "gap" in their schedules that would allow them to reunite. This rendezvous, however, would be much farther and quieter than London.
"It was three, maybe four, weeks later that I managed to persuade her to come join me in Botswana, and we camped out with each other, under the stars," Harry recalled. "She came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic. Then we were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure that we had a chance to get to know each other."
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Though they were both already in the public eye, Meghan and Harry hardly knew anything about each other before meeting.
"I didn't know much about him, and so the only thing that I had asked her [their mutual friend] when she said she wanted to set us up, I had one question, I said, 'Well, is he nice?' 'Cause if he wasn't kind, it just didn't seem like it would make sense,'" Markle explained.
And contrary to prior reports, Harry was completely unaware of the actress and had never watched her show prior to their first encounter.
"I had never even heard about her until this friend said, 'Meghan Markle.' I was like, 'Right, okay? Give me a bit of background, what's going on here?'" Harry added. "I had never watched Suits, I had never heard of Meghan before, and I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her and there she was, sitting there. I was like, 'Okay, well I'm going to have to up my game,'" he said with a laugh.
Markle said for both of their experiences, getting to know each other was "refreshing."
"Everything that I've learned about him, I've learned through him, as opposed to having grown up around different news stories or tabloids or whatever else. Everything that I learned about him and his family was what he would share with me and vice versa," she explained. "So for both of us it was a very authentic and organic way to get to know each other."
The couple had about "five or six months" of privacy before their relationship officially went public, "which was amazing," the actress said. Then, a year and a half after their first meeting, Harry popped the question at Kensington Palace, and Markle said yes.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.
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