Prince Harry Meghan Markle relationship timeline

A complete timeline of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s relationship

It all started with a blind date in Soho House!


When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle first met, it all seemed like one big fairytale, didn’t it? We’ve all watched them defy royal traditions, welcome two children and step down as senior royals. You don’t have to like Meghan Markle to understand she’s had a horrible time of it, so here’s a complete relationship timeline of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle:

July 2016: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are set up on a blind date

In July 2016, a mutual friend set Prince Harry and Meghan up on a blind date at Soho House’s Dean Street Townhouse. In their first interview as a couple, Meghan told the BBC in 2017 that she didn’t know much about Prince Harry or the royal family before their date.

She said: “Because I’m from the States, you don’t grow up with the same understanding of the royal family. I didn’t know much about him, so the only thing that I had asked our mutual friend when she said that she wanted to set us up was, ‘Well, is he nice?’ Because if he wasn’t kind, it just didn’t seem like it would make sense.”

In an interview with James Corden on his talk show in February 2021, Prince Harry recounted how quickly things got serious between himself and Meghan in their first two months of dating. He said he thought she was “pretty special” on the second date. Prince Harry told James Corden: “Dating with me, or with any member of the royal family I guess, is kind of flipped upside down. All the dates become dinners or watching the TV or chatting at home. And then eventually, once you become a couple you venture out to dinners, to the cinema, and everything else. So, everything was done back to front with us.

“There were no distractions, and that was great, that was an amazing thing. We went from zero to 60 in the first two months.”

October 2016: Reports emerge saying the couple are dating

The Sunday Express reported Prince Harry was dating American actress and philanthropist, Meghan Markle. A source told the publication Prince Harry was “happier than he’s been for many years.”

November 2016: Meghan Markle says she’s the ‘luckiest girl in the world’

Meghan Markle made headlines when she told The Vancouver Sun in a Q&A: “My cup runneth over and I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”

November 2016: Prince Harry secretly visits Meghan in Canada whilst she’s filming Suits

The Star reported the pair attended a Halloween Party in the city, Us Weekly also reported Meghan and Prince Harry stayed inside her apartment all weekend.

November 2016: Meghan Markle meets King Charles for the first time

People reported Meghan met King Charles for the first time making their engagement a possibility.

November 2016: Kensington Palace confirms their relationship and calls out the hate for Meghan

Prince Harry released a statement in November 2016 confirming his relationship with Meghan Markle. He also slammed the press coverage surrounding her and their relationship noting a lot of the coverage had been racist and sexist.

The statement said: “Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm. He knows commentators will say this is ‘the price she has to pay’ and that ‘this is all part of the game’. He strongly disagrees. This is not a game — it is her life and his.”

Later that month, Prince William also issued a statement giving the couple his support. The statement partly read: “The Duke of Cambridge absolutely understands the situation concerning privacy and supports the need for Prince Harry to support those closest to him.”

December 2016: The couple go on a Christmas date in London

According to The Sun, Meghan and Prince Harry were spotted picking out a Christmas tree and seeing the lights in London. Later, they attended the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

January 2017: Meghan meets Kate and her daughter Princess Charlotte

Prince Harry introduced Meghan to his sister-in-law Kate Middleton at the beginning of 2017. It was reported Meghan “adored” Charlotte.

Harry and Meghan also went on their first holiday together in January 2017. They went to the small Norwegian town of Tromvik. They reportedly stayed at the luxurious Tromvik Lodge which offers panoramic views of the northern lights.

April 2017: Meghan Markle shuts down her lifestyle blog

Meghan Markle had a lifestyle blog called “The Tig” and in April 2017 she announced it was shutting down. It was reported she was too busy to maintain it.

May 2017: Meghan and Harry kiss publicly for the first time

Us Weekly reported the couple kissing for the first time in public at Prince Harry’s polo match in Ascot. And Meghan was Harry’s date for Pippa Middleton’s wedding reception.

September 2017: Meghan confirms she’s in a relationship with Harry and they’re ‘in love’

“We’re a couple. We’re in love. I’m sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time. This is for us. It’s part of what makes it so special, that it’s just ours. But we’re happy,” Meghan told Vanity Fair.

She added the couple had been dating “very quietly” for six months before reports of their relationship emerged.

November 2017: Prince Harry proposes to Meghan Markle in their home whilst she cooks

Prince Harry told the BBC: “It happened a few weeks ago earlier this month, here at our cottage; just a standard typical night for us.” Meghan added: “We were trying to roast a chicken and it just – just an amazing surprise, it was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee.”

Prince Harry said: “She didn’t even let me finish, she said ‘can I say yes, can I say yes’ and then there were hugs. I had the ring in my finger and I was like ‘can I give you the ring?’ and she goes ‘oh yes, the ring.'”

In the same month the couple announced their engagement to the public via a statement from Kensington Palace and Clarence House. The statement also said they’d be getting married on 19th May 2018.

December 2017: Meghan spends Christmas with Harry’s family despite not being married

Royal fiancés are not typically included in the royal Christmas activities but Queen Elizabeth invited Meghan Markle to join the family at Sandringham. “It was fantastic, she really enjoyed it. The family loved having her there,” Prince Harry told BBC Radio 4 at the time.

19th May 2018: The couple get married at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle

Prince Harry Meghan Markle relationship timeline

Photo via BBC

Big names were present at the wedding of Meghan and Harry including Elton John. Meghan’s dress was designed by Givenchy and her bouquet contained forget-me-nots which were Princess Diana’s favourite flower.

In their March 2021 interview, Meghan says she and Harry said their vows to each other three days before the wedding at Windsor Castle. She said: “No one knows that, but we called the archbishop and we just said, ‘This thing, this spectacle is for the world, but we want our union between us.’ So the vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

October 2018: Meghan announces she’s pregnant with her first child

Rather than living in Kensington Palace, the couple moved into Frogmore House. They spend millions of pounds renovating their home for their growing family which they eventually paid by by making a contribution to the Sovereign Grant.

Then in this month, the couple tour Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga for 16 days.

January 2019: Meghan struggles with her mental health according to 2021 Oprah interview

Meghan Markle told Oprah in the 2021 interview that she had expressed concern to Prince Harry over he mental health and not wanting to be “alive anymore.” Meghan said: “We had to go to an official event. We had to go to this event at the Royal Albert Hall, and a friend said: ‘I know you don’t look at pictures, but oh my God, you guys look so great.’ I zoomed in, and what I saw was the truth of what that moment was, because right before we had to leave for that, I had just had that conversation with Harry that morning, and it was the next day that I talked to the institution.”

She continued: “It was like, ‘These are the thoughts that I am having in the middle of the night that are very clear, and I’m scared because this is very real. This isn’t some abstract idea. This is methodical, and this is not who I am.’ But we had to go to this event, and I remember him saying ‘I don’t think you can go’ and I said, ‘I can’t be left alone.'”

“And that picture, if you zoom in, what I see is how tightly his knuckles are gripped around mine. You can see the whites of our knuckles, because we are smiling and doing our job, but we’re both just trying to hold on. And every time that those lights went down in that royal box, I was just weeping, and he was gripping my hand,” Meghan said.

May 2019: Meghan gives birth to Archie

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry broke royal tradition by skipping the post-birth photo on the hospital steps. Outside Windsor castle, Harry gushed to the media about his newborn son and how proud he was of Meghan. He said: ‘It’s been the most amazing experience I could ever have possibly imagined. How any woman does what they do is beyond comprehension. But we’re both absolutely thrilled and so grateful to all the love and support from everyone out there. It’s been amazing.”

October 2019: Meghan and Harry announced they’re suing Associated Newspapers

Following the Daily Mail publishing the private letter sent by Meghan to her father, Meghan and Harry announced they were suing Associated Newspapers. In a statement, Harry wrote: “Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences—a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son.”

He added: “Though we have continued to put on a brave face—as so many of you can relate to—I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been.”

January 2020: The couple step back from the royal family

Prince Harry Meghan Markle relationship timeline

The couple put out a statement which said: “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

“This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.”

In their interview with Oprah, the couple revealed they left partly because other royals showed a “lack of support and lack of understanding.”

April 2020: They cut ties with four British tabloids

After returning to the UK in March to complete their final engagements as senior royals, in April they cut all ties with four British tabloids. These include The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and Daily Express. The statement from Harry and Meghan expressed they no longer wished to “offer themselves up as currency for an economy of clickbait and distortion.”

July 2020: Harry and Meghan buy their first home in California

According to Vogue, the paid published their first home in California which cost them $14.65.

One month later, the couple planted flowers in honour of Princess Diana on the anniversary of her death.

September 2020: The Netflix deal is announced

According to The New York Times, the couple plans to produce documentaries, docuseries, feature films, scripted television shows, and children’s programming under their new business.

November 2020: Meghan Markle reveals she had a miscarriage in July 2020

In a New York Times essay titled “The Losses We Share,” Meghan Markle spoke of the “unbearable grief, experience by many but talked about by few” after having a miscarriage over the summer.

She wrote: “I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second,” she wrote. “Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand. I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we’d heal.”

February 2021: Meghan wins her case against Associated Newspapers

Prince Harry Meghan Markle relationship timeline

After two years of pursuing legal action, Meghan said she was grateful “to the courts for holding Associated Newspapers and the Mail on Sunday to account for their illegal and dehumanising practice.”

In her statement she thanked Harry for his support.

In the same month the couple also announced they are expecting their second child and Buckingham Palace confirms the couple are no longer working on behalf of the royal family.

March 2021: The Oprah interview

Prince Harry and Meghan’s sit-down interview aired in March 2021. They spoke about everything from parenthood to leaving the royal family. In part of the interview, Harry compared himself to his mother and said they both struggled being part of the royal family.

One month later, Harry attended Prince Phillip’s funeral while Meghan stayed in California. They also congratulated Kate and Will on their 10th wedding anniversary privately.

June 2021: Their second daughter is born, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor

Lilibet is the longtime nickname for Queen Elizabeth. The couple announced the birth of their daughter in California and said she was named after her great-grandmother. Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honour her late grandmother.

May 2022: The couple confirm attending the Queen’s Jubilee in the UK with their kids

However, while the couple and their two children planned to attend the 70th-anniversary celebration of the Queen’s reign, Prince Harry and Markle announced they would not join the Queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the Trooping the Colour parade alongside other members of the royal family.

Then in June they returned and were spotted at the Trooping the Colour parade but not on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

September 2022: Prince Harry and Meghan attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle on 8th September 2022. Her eldest son, King Charles, ascended to the throne following her death. Her funeral was attended by both Harry and Meghan.

December 2021: Harry and Meghan’s documentary is released

The first three episodes of Harry and Meghan are available now. For all the latest Netflix news, quizzes, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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