Before he met Meghan Markle, Prince Harry was hailed as Britain’s most eligible bachelor with his fair share of both high-profile and lesser-known romantic interests. 

However, he became besotted with the former Suits actress after they were set up on a blind date in London in July 2016, with the 41-year-old Duke of Sussex later recalling their connection felt ‘incredibly quick’. 

Less than two years later, the Royal couple said ‘I do’ – but their road to the altar was marked by one significant obstacle: the Queen’s blessing.  

While most bachelors typically seek the ‘permission’ of their future wife’s father, the prince was confronted with the daunting task of asking his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, to approve the union.

Writing in his memoir Spare, Harry recalled in great detail the terrifying moment he had to broach the subject during a shooting trip at Sandringham. 

‘Granny wasn’t exactly known for changing her mind. So this moment was either the start of my life or the end. 

‘It would all come down to the words I chose, how I delivered them, and how Granny heard them,’ he wrote.

Harry said he kept putting off the discussion, adding he had struggled to get a moment alone with the Queen.  

When Prince Harry first laid eyes on Suits star Meghan Markle, the prince became immediately besotted with the actress, later recalling how their 'incredibly quick' connection left him with no doubt that he had finally found the one

When Prince Harry first laid eyes on Suits star Meghan Markle, the prince became immediately besotted with the actress, later recalling how their ‘incredibly quick’ connection left him with no doubt that he had finally found the one

While most Bachelor's typically seek out the 'permission' of their future wife's father, the prince had an all-important matriarch to ask: the late Queen. In Spare, the Prince recalled in great detail the terrifying moment he had to broach the all-important question with the late monarch

While most Bachelor’s typically seek out the ‘permission’ of their future wife’s father, the prince had an all-important matriarch to ask: the late Queen. In Spare, the Prince recalled in great detail the terrifying moment he had to broach the all-important question with the late monarch 

However, Harry realised it was now or never when the Queen started walking towards her car following a ‘classic royal shooting luncheon’. 

Seeing her beloved grandson walking towards her, Harry recalled the late monarch ‘frowning’ as she demanded: ‘Out with it.’

‘Granny, you know I love Meg very much, and I’ve decided that I would like to ask her to marry me, and I’ve been told that, er, that I have to ask your permission before I can propose,’ Harry said, nervously.  

‘You have to?’ the Queen quipped back.

Harry quickly responded: ‘Um. Well, yes, that’s what your staff tell me, and my staff as well. That I have to ask your permission.’ 

Recalling how his grandmother stood with an ‘unreadable’ look on her face, Harry stood ‘completely still’ as he awaited her response. 

Then, after a lengthy wait, she finally replied: ‘Well, then, I suppose I have to say yes’

Her reply left the prince confused as he whether the Queen truly wanted to give her blessing or felt required to under the circumstances. 

Seeing her beloved grandson walking towards her, Harry recalled the late monarch 'frowning', with her face radiating: 'Out with it'. After Harry told her of his engagement plans, the Queen responded: 'Well, then, I suppose I have to say yes'

Seeing her beloved grandson walking towards her, Harry recalled the late monarch ‘frowning’, with her face radiating: ‘Out with it’. After Harry told her of his engagement plans, the Queen responded: ‘Well, then, I suppose I have to say yes’

While his mind raced about whether the beloved monarch was being ‘sarcastic, ironic, deliberately cryptic’ or simply indulging in some lighthearted ‘wordplay’, Harry eventually resolved that she must have been saying ‘yes’. 

‘You muppet!’ he told himself. ‘She’s granting permission. Who cares how she words it, just know when to take yes for an answer.’

The Prince then revealed how despite ‘wanting’ and ‘longing’ to hug his grandmother, he did not. Instead, Harry walked the late Queen back to her Land Rover.

Following what had been an incredibly nerve-racking ordeal for Harry, he was now free to begin planning the proposal. 

Paying tribute to his late mother, the former Princess of Wales, Diana, Harry asked a jewellery designer to turn the diamonds from one of her bracelets into a ring for his bride-to-be. 

He also requested a blood-free diamond from Botswana be used as an ode to Harry and Meghan’s relationship, since they have visited the African country for their third date.  

Recounting the decision to use his mother’s diamonds, Harry assured that he had ‘cleared all this in advance with Willy’ – the nickname for his brother, Prince William. 

He added: ‘I’d asked my brother if I could have the bracelet, and told him what it was for. I don’t recall him hesitating, for one second, in giving it to me.’

In a loving tribute to his late mother, Harry borrowed a ring from Meghan's jewellery box and then requested for a designer to harvest the diamonds from one of Diana's bracelets to create the all-important ring. He also added a blood-free diamond from Botswana

In a loving tribute to his late mother, Harry borrowed a ring from Meghan’s jewellery box and then requested for a designer to harvest the diamonds from one of Diana’s bracelets to create the all-important ring. He also added a blood-free diamond from Botswana 

Despite expressing his initial concerns about the fast pace the relationship was moving at, Harry believed that his brother 'seemed to like Meg', while 'Kate seemed to like her too'

Despite expressing his initial concerns about the fast pace the relationship was moving at, Harry believed that his brother ‘seemed to like Meg’, while ‘Kate seemed to like her too’

Harry noted that he believed William and his wife Kate Middleton ‘seemed to like Meg’, although the future King had expressed his concerns that their relatinship was moving too quickly. 

In an earlier section, Harry revealed William had expressed his desire for the couple to take things slow.  

He wrote: ‘It’s too fast, he’d told me. Too soon. In fact, he’d actually been pretty discouraging about my even dating Meg.

‘One day, sitting together in his garden, he’d predicted a host of difficulties I could expect if I hooked up with an “American actress”, a phrase he always managed to make sound like a “convicted felon”.

‘Are you sure about her, Harold?

‘I am, Willy.’

‘But do you know how difficult it is going to be?

‘What do you want me to do? Fall out of love with her?’

In 2017, Meghan quit her acting role on Suits, following a successful run of seven seasons. Described as a 'difficult moment' for the future princess, she also closed down her lifestyle blog, The Tig and abandoned all of her social media, following guidance by the Palace

In 2017, Meghan quit her acting role on Suits, following a successful run of seven seasons. Described as a ‘difficult moment’ for the future princess, she also closed down her lifestyle blog, The Tig and abandoned all of her social media, following guidance by the Palace

After packing up her life and bidding a fond farewell to her friends in Canada, Meghan arrived in the UK ready to embark on a new chapter with her future Prince. But how exactly was he going to pop the crucial question?

After packing up her life and bidding a fond farewell to her friends in Canada, Meghan arrived in the UK ready to embark on a new chapter with her future Prince. But how exactly was he going to pop the crucial question?

However, Harry was said to have dismissed his brother’s concerns, with it claimed that he believed he had to marry her quickly because her ‘biological clock was ticking’ as she was almost 35 years old, according to royal author Tina Brown.

And so, in 2017, Meghan quit her acting role on Suits following a successful run of seven seasons. 

Described as a ‘difficult moment’ for the future princess, it marked a crucial shift in their relationship as Meghan closed down her lifestyle blog, The Tig, while also abandoning all of her social media, following guidance by the Palace.

After packing up her life and bidding a fond farewell to her friends in Canada, Meghan arrived in the UK ready to embark on a new chapter with her future prince. But how exactly was he going to pop the crucial question?

Despite the glitz and glamour typically associated with the monarchy, the setting of Prince Harry and Meghan’s historic engagement on November 4, 2017, was to be rather quaint. 

As the pair were making dinner in the kitchen of Windsor’s Nottingham Cottage, Harry opened a bottle of champagne – an ‘old gift’ he had been ‘saving for a special occasion’. 

But for Meghan, who believed this was simply to be an ordinary evening queried: ‘What’s the occasion?’, to which Harry responded: ‘No occasion’. 

The prince then recalled ‘scooping up’ Meghan’s dog, Guy, carrying him outside and into the walled garden before placing him onto a blanket laid out on the grass. Running back into the house, he asked Meghan to grab her champagne flute and accompany him outside.

On November 4, 2017, Harry opened a bottle of champagne - an 'old gift' he had been 'saving for a special occasion'. As the couple sat among the night stars in the bitter cold, Harry knelt on the blanket, pulled the ring out of his pocket and looked up at his wife-to-be

On November 4, 2017, Harry opened a bottle of champagne – an ‘old gift’ he had been ‘saving for a special occasion’. As the couple sat among the night stars in the bitter cold, Harry knelt on the blanket, pulled the ring out of his pocket and looked up at his wife-to-be

Rather perplexed by his demands, Meghan, wrapped in a big coat given the rather cold climate, asked Harry: ‘What’s up?’.

‘Nothing’, Harry was quick to fire back, as he led Meghan into the garden.

Then, in a rather endearing show of his romantic side, the prince laid out electric candles along the blanket. ‘I wanted it to look like Botswana, the bush, where I’d first thought of proposing’, he said.

And so, as the couple sat among the night stars in the bitter cold, Harry knelt on the blanket, pulled the ring out of his pocket and looked up at his wife-to-be. 

‘Spend your life with me? Make me the happiest guy on this planet?’, he apprehensively asked as tears gathered in his eyes.

‘Yes’, Meghan quickly answered. Then, checking for confirmation – Harry queried: ‘Yes?’, to which she gave a resounding response: ‘Yes’.

‘I laughed. She laughed. What other reaction could there be? In this mixed-up world, this pain-filled life, we’d done it. We’d managed to find each other’, the prince emotionally recalled.

In a state of euphoria, the couple returned to the warmth of their house where Meghan first caught a glimpse of her engagement ring, a trilogy ring originally set with a 2.5/3-carat cushion-cut Botswanan diamond sat between two round diamonds from Diana’s bracelet.

In a state of euphoria, the couple returned to the warmth of their house where Meghan first caught a glimpse of her engagement ring, a trilogy ring originally set with a 2.5/3-carat cushion-cut Botswanan diamond sat between two round diamonds from Diana's bracelet

In a state of euphoria, the couple returned to the warmth of their house where Meghan first caught a glimpse of her engagement ring, a trilogy ring originally set with a 2.5/3-carat cushion-cut Botswanan diamond sat between two round diamonds from Diana’s bracelet

Recounting the decision to use his mother's diamonds, Harry assured that he had 'cleared all this in advance with Willy'. He added: I'd asked my brother if I could have the bracelet, and told him what it was for. I don't recall him hesitating, for one second, in giving it to me'

Recounting the decision to use his mother’s diamonds, Harry assured that he had ‘cleared all this in advance with Willy’. He added: I’d asked my brother if I could have the bracelet, and told him what it was for. I don’t recall him hesitating, for one second, in giving it to me’

The exquisite £12,000 royal jewel would go on to be voted the most popular engagement ring in the world for several consecutive years, despite the band going through several transformations.

The original ring had a plain gold band crafted by Cleave & Company, the late Queen Elizabeth’s regular jeweller. However, within less than two years, it underwent a significant transformation.

Its new design, which Meghan showcased for the first time at Trooping the Colour in 2019, featured a band that was considerably thinner than the original.

Incorporating their birthstones on the underside, peridot for Meghan, emerald for Archie, and sapphire for Harry, the eternity band was also created by designer to the stars Lorraine Schwartz. 

In 2022 there was further speculation that Meghan altered the ring for a second time when she attended the Invictus Games in The Hague, and it appeared that she had added additional diamonds to the setting surrounding the central diamond. 

On November 27, 2017, the news of their engagement broke to the world – Britain’s most eligible bachelor was officially off the market and a royal wedding was soon to be held.

Standing on the steps of the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace, the loved-up pair stood arm in arm as they waved to the cameras and offered each other reassuring looks. 

When a reporter asked how the pair were feeling about their upcoming nuptials, Harry responded with a beaming smile: ‘Thrilled! Over the moon’, while Meghan said she was ‘so happy’.

But when asked the burning question of how the proposal took place, Harry was hesitant to give details, responding ‘that will come later’, while Meghan assured that ‘of course’ it had been a romantic ordeal.

When Kensington Palace announced Harry and Meghan’s engagement, his grandparents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, expressed their delight at the news.

Other congratulations came in from various political leaders, including the then prime minister Theresa May and leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn.

During an exclusive engagement interview with the BBC’s Mishal Husain, the pair revealed intimate details about the early stages of their romance and how the proposal had happened during a quiet night at home over a chicken dinner earlier that month.

‘It was just so sweet and natural and very romantic,’ Meghan recalled. ‘He got on one knee. As a matter of fact, I could barely let [him] finish proposing. I was like, “Can I say yes now?”.’

In May 2018, the prince and princess said ‘I Do’ in a fairytale ceremony held at St George’s Chapel in Windsor. 

In her wedding speech, Meghan described her romance as a ‘modern fairytale’ – the American girl had finally found her beloved Prince Charming.

But unlike the fairytales which end at ‘happily ever after’, the Sussexes’ love story took a sharp turn after their wedding day when the duchess realised the cheering crowds and beautiful palace weren’t all they were made out to be in the books.

On November 27, the news of their engagement broke to the world - Britain's most eligible bachelor was officially off the market and a royal wedding was soon to be held

On November 27, the news of their engagement broke to the world – Britain’s most eligible bachelor was officially off the market and a royal wedding was soon to be held

In May 2018, the Prince and Princess said 'I Do' in a fairytale ceremony held at St George's Chapel in Windsor. In her wedding speech, Meghan described her romance as a 'modern fairytale'. But the Sussexes' love story took a sharp turn shortly after, resulting in 'Megxit'

In May 2018, the Prince and Princess said ‘I Do’ in a fairytale ceremony held at St George’s Chapel in Windsor. In her wedding speech, Meghan described her romance as a ‘modern fairytale’. But the Sussexes’ love story took a sharp turn shortly after, resulting in ‘Megxit’

Poll

Can Meghan & Harry regain public favour?

Yes 1912 votes No 33606 votes Not sure 1673 votes

Less than two years later, in a bombshell decision later dubbed ‘Megxit’, Meghan and Harry sensationally announced they were to step back from Royal duties and work to become ‘financially independent’ while splitting their time between the UK and the US.

Their engagement interview was later regarded by some as an early indication that there were warning signs – with the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden, who spoke to sources who worked for the royal household at the time of the interview, declaring that the Duchess’s so-called ‘performance’ should have raised more concerns. 

‘At the time, there was so much excitement about the engagement that no one really questioned some of Meghan’s comments,’ one source said. ‘But, if you watch it again now, some of her responses seem insincere and her body language is telling.’

And with the benefit of hindsight, it is hard not to hear some of her answers differently now.

For example, Meghan told Husain that she had met Harry on a ‘blind date’, with the Prince adding: ‘It was a blind date, for sure.’

However, in the Netflix series, the Duke says he got to know his future wife via a photo-sharing app.

‘Meghan and I met over Instagram,’ he explained.

In 2017, Meghan told Husain that, when a mutual friend helped organise the ‘blind date’, she had known little about Harry.

Their engagement interview was later regarded by some as an early indication of warning signs. The Daily Mail's Richard Eden, who spoke to sources working for the royal household at the time, declared that the Duchess's 'performance' should have raised more concerns

Their engagement interview was later regarded by some as an early indication of warning signs. The Daily Mail’s Richard Eden, who spoke to sources working for the royal household at the time, declared that the Duchess’s ‘performance’ should have raised more concerns

‘Because I’m from the States, you don’t grow up with the same understanding of the Royal Family,’ she mused.

‘I didn’t know much about him and so the only thing that I had asked her when she said she wanted to set us up was — I had one question. I said, “Well, is he nice?”.’

However, it subsequently emerged that Meghan had taken a close interest in the Royal Family since childhood.

Indeed, she had been pictured posing outside Buckingham Palace as a 15-year-old tourist with her then friend Ninaki Priddy, who remarked of her marriage to Harry: ‘I’m not shocked at all. It’s like she has been planning this all her life.

Meanwhile, as an adult, Meghan was so fascinated by royal news that she would comment on it through her now-defunct blog, The Tig.

Since quitting life as a senior royal, Meghan has also spoken negatively about the  interview, claiming that it was all ‘rehearsed’, likening it to an ‘orchestrated reality show’.

To add insult to injury, Meghan complained that the distinguished Radio 4 presenter ‘wasn’t empathetic enough, wasn’t warm enough’ to conduct the interview, according to a senior royal source. It was said that Meghan would have preferred her fellow American Oprah Winfrey to have been selected for the job.

But Ms Husain firmly refuted such claims, borrowing a phrase from the late Queen Elizabeth’s response to Meghan’s allegations of racism within the Royal Family. ‘Recollections may vary,’ she said wryly on the Today programme. 

Since quitting life as a senior royal, Meghan has also spoken negatively about the interview, claiming that it was all 'rehearsed', likening it to an 'orchestrated reality show'. The BBC's Mishal Husain (pictured) firmly refuted such claims, responding: 'recollections may vary'

Since quitting life as a senior royal, Meghan has also spoken negatively about the interview, claiming that it was all ‘rehearsed’, likening it to an ‘orchestrated reality show’. The BBC’s Mishal Husain (pictured) firmly refuted such claims, responding: ‘recollections may vary’

 ‘But my recollection is definitely very much, asked to do an interview, and do said interview.’

Meanwhile, the BBC’s director-general at the time of Husain’s interview, Lord Hall, rejected Meghan’s criticism, saying it was ‘simply untrue’ to suggest the talk was staged.

Writing in the August issue of Saga magazine, Husain elaborated further on Meghan’s views: ‘When the Duchess of Sussex said that my engagement interview with her and Harry was an ‘orchestrated reality show’ I didn’t know what to make of it. 

‘They seemed to have thought through what their new lives would be like and what marriage would mean for her life in particular.’ 

While the world had been initially captivated by their fairytale romance and endearing love story when the engagement was first announced, the shine sadly appears to have worn off.

Last year, a book telling the story of Prince Harry and Meghan’s engagement was on sale for just 10p at Windsor Waterstones – after being reduced from £7.99.

The title, Harry & Meghan: A Royal Engagement by Halima Sadat, was on the shelves of the royal section at a Waterstones store less than 200 yards from Windsor Castle.

On the front cover of the book was the couple, immediately before they sat down for the interview which is now remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Indeed, rather than a celebratory occasion, it is now perceived as the beginning of the bitter end for the former royal couple as relations deteriorated further with the Firm.