In keeping with royal tradition, the first six individuals in line for the throne must seek the reigning monarch’s approval before getting engaged. Prince Harry, therefore, sought permission from the late Queen Elizabeth II to propose to Meghan Markle, but her response was somewhat enigmatic.
In his best-selling memoir, “Spare,” released in January 2023, Harry recounts this exchange. He decided to broach the subject during a family shooting trip in Sandringham, hoping that the relaxed setting would put the Queen in a “good mood.”
“Spare” reveals that Harry awkwardly asked, “I’ve been told that I have to ask your permission before I can propose.” After a brief conversation, there was a pause before the Queen responded, “Well then, I suppose I have to say yes.”
Harry admits he was puzzled by her reply, writing: “I didn’t get it. Was she being sarcastic? Ironic? Deliberately cryptic? Was she indulging in a bit of wordplay?”
“I’d never known Granny to do any wordplay and this would be a surpassingly bizarre moment (not to mention widely inconvenient) for her to start, but maybe she just saw the chance to play off my unfortunate use of the word ‘have’ and couldn’t resist,” reports the Express.
In his memoir, Prince Harry shared the details of Meghan’s first meeting with the queen in 2016. He wrote, “It was all very pleasant. Granny even asked Meg what she thought of Donald Trump. (This was just before the November 2016 election, so everyone in the world seemed to be thinking and talking about the Republican candidate,” adding, “Meg thought politics a no-win game, so she changed the subject to Canada.”
Once he received approval, Harry began designing the ring and planning the perfect proposal for Meghan. He used two diamonds from Princess Diana’s collection and one from his beloved Botswana to create the gold ring.
The prince then proposed during a cozy night in at their Kensington Palace home while they were roasting a chicken.
In their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, the prince recalled, “I did pop a bottle of champagne while she was roasting a chicken, and that kind of slightly gave the game away. She was like, ‘You never drink champagne, what’s the occasion?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, I just had it like lying around.'”
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The couple shared a romantic photo of the moment on the docuseries, which showed Harry kneeling on a blanket, holding a ring box in one hand, with a bunch of white roses laid out in front of him.