Finding Freedom

by Omid Scobie

  Paparazzi lurking in unexpected corners and unflattering tabloid articles also proved the death knell for Harry’s next serious relationship, with the actress Cressida Bonas, who his cousin Princess Eugenie introduced him to in the spring of 2012. The willowy blonde traveled in the same aristocratic circles as Harry; her mother, Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon, was one of the heirs to the Curzon banking fortune and her father, Jeffrey, was an entrepreneur.

  By the summer of 2016, Harry felt he was ready to be in a relationship. Indeed, he and Chelsy reunited briefly again before he met Meghan—who some of the tabloids would later speculate had still been in a relationship with Cory when she first met Harry. Cory never spoke to the press about his ex, other than to refute the claim that Meghan overlapped boyfriends, stating: “I have too much respect for her and her privacy. She’s a wonderful girl.”

  Misha thought Meghan could be a match for Harry. Her then husband, Alexander, knew through the social circle of elite young men and women connected to the royal brothers that had been dubbed by the tabloids the Glosse Posse. Included in the circle of friends was also Alexander’s brother Charlie, who dated Kate Middleton’s sister, Pippa, in 2008 while both were students at the University of Edinburgh. Alexander was a guest at William’s 2011 wedding to Kate; Harry went to Charlie’s 2014 nuptials in Italy to Anneke von Trotha Taylor (Kate’s mother and siblings James and Pippa were also there, but the Duchess of Cambridge, pregnant at the time, had such a bad case of morning sickness she couldn’t go).

  How would Meghan, a California girl, fit into that scene? “They both have an innocence in their eyes,” a mutual pal described of Harry and Meghan. Plus, friends felt it would be good for them both to just get out there and date.

  Naturally both participants in this blind date did their homework with a thorough Google search. Harry, who scoped out Meghan on social media, was interested. A friend had shown him an Instagram photo of Meghan in the slinky silver mini dress at the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards. He liked what he saw but didn’t necessarily think of drinks as anything more than a chance to be introduced to a woman he found attractive. He certainly could not have foreseen that she would be the woman he would one day marry.

  What Meghan may have seen online could have easily convinced her to call the whole thing off.

  In his early twenties, Harry was a regular fixture on the London club scene. He had many wild nights out at trendy spots like Jak’s, Funky Buddha, and the Wellington Club. But his reputation as the “party prince” started while he was still a teenager who was known for his drunken antics reported by the tabloids (some true, some less so). There was story after story of Harry seemingly getting out of control. He was kicked out of a pub he frequented a couple of miles from Highgrove, the family residence in Gloucestershire, because of bad behavior. It seemed he took to heart the first part of his mother’s message about getting into trouble but couldn’t quite figure out how to pull off the second part about not getting caught.

  Harry’s nadir came when he landed on the cover of The Sun in 2005 holding a drink and a cigarette—and wearing a swastika armband. The British tabloid’s headline was to the point: “Harry the Nazi.” Harry had been one of about 250 guests invited to a costume party at the home of Richard Meade, one of Britain’s most successful equestrians, for his son’s birthday. The prince’s choice of costume, for which he apologized, was unequivocally bad, but the party’s timing right before the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz made it even more egregious.

  The other big scandal that pops up in all online searches of the prince was Harry’s 2012 Las Vegas trip with his longtime pals Tom “Skippy” Inskip and Arthur Landon. A few alcohol-fueled days (during which Harry challenged twelve-time Olympic medalist in swimming Ryan Lochte to a race at a pool party) abruptly ended when TMZ published grainy photos of Harry naked and cupping what the tabloid website called his “crown jewels” during a co-ed game of “strip pool” in his hotel suite. The pictures, which immediately went viral, had forced the Palace to question how this could have happened and who was to blame. “It was a bad moment,” said a former royal protection officer. “Everyone was in a lot of trouble.”

  But the online tales of the “Wild Windsor” didn’t put a damper on Meghan’s date. Not only was the Las Vegas incident four years old, but the actress, who had her own small taste of tabloid interest during her divorce and relationship with Cory, knew better than most that the media didn’t always get the story right.

  “She didn’t know much about him at all other than what had been written,” a friend said. “She knows how wrong the tabloids can be, and she wanted to know who the real Harry was, not what the likes of TMZ had said.”

  The evening of her first date with Harry, Meghan was more preoccupied with what she would wear than his online reputation. She settled on an outfit and then got started on her makeup in her suite at the Soho House’s Dean Street Townhouse property. Meghan had been offered a heavily discounted stay at the five-star Dorchester Hotel but chose the luxurious room secured by Markus instead. As a celebrity and influencer, Meghan was regularly offered free holidays, travel discounts, and the like. But she turned down the Dorchester amid a Hollywood boycott after the hotel chain’s owner, the Sultan of Brunei, introduced Sharia law in his country, including death by stoning for those found guilty of gay sex.

  In addition to the suite, Markus had a hand in some of the evening’s logistics as well. That included other friends being present at the informal gathering, “so it wouldn’t be awkward,” a source close to Meghan explained. “If that first meeting worked out, then they could plan a proper one-on-one date together.”

  Soho House’s eighteenth-century Georgian building made for the perfect location for the meeting. Before the member’s club took over the premises in 2008, it had a history as a meeting place for artists and intellectuals—stretching as far back as the seventeenth century, when the actress and mistress of King Charles II, Nell Gwynn, spent time there. In the 1920s, it was christened the Gargoyle Club and frequented by the playwright Noël Coward, the dancer Fred Astaire, and the screen legend Tallulah Bankhead. By the 1950s, it had been transformed again, into a bar where luminaries such as Lucian Freud and other artists hung their hats.

  The club in its current life afforded Harry the privacy necessary for a prince to unwind. The many rooms spread across four floors and two connected buildings made it easy to keep Harry out of sight and away from gawking guests. Markus chose a private dining area cordoned off behind floor-to-ceiling velvet drapes.

  From one of the townhouse’s thirty-nine bedrooms (many with four-poster beds and Victorian claw-footed tubs), Meghan’s home away from home during her London excursion, she settled on a navy-blue sundress and heels for the evening.

  Arriving downstairs, Meghan entered the warmly lit room filled with cozy banquettes and familiar faces. She sat down briefly until Harry—dressed in his signature white shirt and chinos—walked in and immediately introduced himself. Here we go.

  A friend of Meghan’s had admitted that the actress was initially nervous about the introduction, as they came from two very different worlds. But Misha, according to a source, told Meghan not to worry—they both had “huge hearts.” And if all else failed, Markus would be nearby in case the entire evening was a dud.

  Harry is admittedly tough to impress, but he almost froze when he walked into the room and saw Meghan. He knew she was beautiful—he had seen the photos on her Instagram account and online—but she was even more stunning in person. “Wow,” he later confessed to a friend. “The most beautiful woman I’ve seen in my life.”

  Meghan wasn’t just beautiful. She was also different from women he was used to meeting, and Harry was intimidated by new situations. Because of his royal birth, he couldn’t do a lot of the everyday things most people do, like ride the London Underground or go anywhere without a protection officer. In fact, Harry lived within a bubble of sorts.

  And that included the women he
usually dated. They were mainly within his small world. Girls at Jak’s or Funky Buddha would only need to see that he was Prince Harry to be impressed. He didn’t even need to open his mouth.

  Meghan, however, threw him off immediately.

  It wasn’t just her charming freckles, perfect smile, or American accent. Meghan is someone who works a room very well. In social settings, all eyes are drawn to her. She laughs a little louder, glows a little bit brighter. She’s self-assured in a way that attracts attention.

  Harry quickly realized that impressing Meghan was going to be tougher than just giving her one of his big smiles. “I am really going to have to up my game here,” he said of their first meeting. “Sit down and make sure I’ve got a good chat!”

  Perhaps she sensed his nervousness, because the couple was somewhat bashful at first. However, it didn’t take long for them to start chatting easily. Very easily. On two individual velvet club chairs, the pair were “in their own little world,” a source said.

  Over drinks (beer for him, a martini for her), they asked each other questions about their work. Nibbles may have been out on the low table in front of their oversize chairs, but neither touched the food. They were also too engrossed in their conversation, and too involved with each other, to notice the rather rude wallpaper featuring photos of women’s private parts that adorned the walls.

  Harry talked about his charity work, excitedly telling her stories from his extensive trips to Africa. Their “passions for wanting to make change for good,” as Harry described it, was, as Meghan said, “One of the first things we connected on.” Meghan lit up when the subject turned to her two rescue dogs. In fact, it wasn’t long before she started swiping through photos on her phone like a proud mom.

  At the end of the evening, which had lasted almost three hours, Harry and Meghan went their separate ways. Despite the palpable attraction between them, there was no goodbye kiss, no expectation, just a hint that something was there and they hoped to see each other again soon.

  Harry wasted no time in texting Meghan, who was back in her hotel room.

  His messages were often short and full of emojis, in particular the ghost emoji, which he often used instead of a smiley face. For what reason? Nobody knows. But Meghan found his texting etiquette funny and adorable, just like the prince.

  “He definitely didn’t hide the fact he was keen,” said a friend of Meghan’s. “He wanted her to know he was very interested.”

  3

  Courtship in the Wild

  While “everyone was hopeful” that Harry and Meghan would have a nice evening together, no one expected what happened next.

  “Almost immediately they were almost obsessed with each other,” a friend said. “It was as if Harry was in a trance.”

  Even Misha told friends she was surprised by the quick intensity of the attraction.

  The day after her date with the prince, Meghan called one of her girlfriends. “Do I sound crazy when I say this could have legs?” she asked.

  That night, Harry and Meghan made plans to meet up again. This time, no friends, no distractions—just the two of them. They returned to Dean Street Townhouse the next evening for a romantic dinner organized by Markus, who the venue staff playfully called “Lady A,” because of the way he fretted over making sure every detail was just so.

  No front entrance for the pair, they were given directions for how to get into the building using a discreet door away from prying eyes—and familiar only to staff and delivery trucks bringing in produce and fresh fish from Billingsgate Market. A glamorous start, it was not.

  Staff did all they could to keep details of the dinner private, allowing just one trusted waiter to serve them the entire evening. As patrons of the members-only club like to say, “What goes on at Soho House stays at Soho House.”

  According to a friend, Harry and Meghan “chatted a lot” that evening, which ended chastely with Harry returning to the palace. Still, their chemistry had been electric throughout the meal as they both flirted. A touch of an arm here, direct eye contact there.

  “Harry knew they would be together at that point,” a friend shared. “She was ticking every box fast.”

  Although she shared much of her London visit on social media, Meghan knew she had to keep her dates with the then fifth in line to the throne a secret. But the clues were there. Around the time of their first encounter, she began to follow a mysterious-looking Instagram account by the name of @SpikeyMau5. With no face visible in the profile photo, just a mouse-shaped helmet, it would have meant nothing to most people. But it was in fact Harry’s private account. A big house music fan, he crafted the pseudonym by using part of the name of one of his favorite DJs, DeadMau5. Spikey came from a Facebook alias that Harry used for an account he had under the name of Spike Wells. “Spike” was a nickname sometimes used for the prince, particularly by Scotland Yard officers. Harry’s Facebook account (before he shut it down after the Las Vegas scandal) had a profile photo of three guys in panama hats taken from the back in an MGM Grand Las Vegas hotel suite. The account said he was from Maun, Botswana. Prior to that photo, Harry used the image of King Julien, the eccentric lemur from the Dreamworks movie Madagascar.

  Much bolder was Meghan’s public Instagram post the same night of their first solo date: a photo of a Love Hearts candy with the inscription “Kiss Me” and the caption “Lovehearts in #London.”

  Whether it had meaning to anyone else, Harry got the message.

  The next night, July 3, Meghan left her hotel and got into a taxi like any ordinary citizen. Except as the cab wound through London’s dark winding streets, it had no ordinary destination: Kensington Palace.

  The car pulled off the main road and drove up the private Palace Avenue that took Meghan to an industrial-looking security gate and guard’s office that was a far cry from the gilded palace gates she had imagined. But the humdrum entrance, often used by staff or those visiting the estate for meetings, was the most discreet way in. Meghan tipped the cabdriver like she always does and walked into the office and was met by a protection officer.

  Meghan was quickly ushered down a cobbled path of small mews cottages, which she later commented looked so tiny and perfectly appointed with manicured flower boxes and pots that they hardly looked real. She had no idea so many people lived on the grounds of Kensington Palace, but as a working residence, it houses about a dozen royals as well as several retired household courtiers.

  “Cute!” Meghan later told a friend of Harry’s home, Nottingham Cottage.

  Again, the sweet English house was nothing like the imposing stone palace that she had constructed in her mind, inspired by images from childhood fairy tales. When Harry opened the door, there was no large staircase or plush red carpet, no crystal chandeliers or double-height ceilings, no art hanging in heavy gold frames or butler service. Instead, the prince towered in the small hallway with lots of coats hung on hooks and his boots by the door, just like any regular home.

  Inside Harry’s very cozy house, any nerves Meghan had before her arrival would have dissolved. While Nottingham Cottage, or Nott Cott as regular visitors know it, is a nice place by anyone’s standards, it’s pretty humble surroundings for an heir to the throne. Clearly, he wasn’t materialistic. Plus, Harry had such a big, sweet smile.

  Meghan had enough dating experience to know a charmer when she saw one, and Harry was obviously not at all that. If anything, he was unfiltered. While it was clear he wanted to impress her with details about his work, he spoke without overthinking—and he never once mentioned anything about being a royal or a prince. The most he had admitted at that point was that his life was “sometimes a little mad.”

  Harry was unusually candid for someone with his title, but he was also every bit the gentleman. Wherever they went, and to this day, he gestures for Meghan to go first. The short walk from the living room would have been no different.

  With her visit to Nott Cott over, Meghan’s trip was sadly coming to an end. She spent he
r last day in the British capital cheering on her friend Serena Williams in the Players’ Box at Wimbledon (where photographers took little note of Meghan, focusing instead on Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour and Pippa Middleton, who were in the same box), she jetted back across the Atlantic to Toronto, leaving in her wake just a few words posted to Instagram: “Gutted to be leaving London.” Again, only a few people had any inkling what those words truly meant.

  One person in that select group was Doria. Meghan shared the news of her budding romance with her mom almost immediately. There was probably no one more influential in Meghan’s life than her mother. “She helped shape Meghan into a strong, powerful, independent woman,” Doria’s half brother Joseph said of his sister. Their bond had been forged during Meghan’s childhood. Practicing yoga, jogging in their LA neighborhood, biking to the La Brea Tar Pits after school, spending time preparing home-cooked dinners with fresh, healthy ingredients, and traveling—Meghan learned to love many of the same things her mom did. Mother and daughter were always very open with each other, and that did not change once Meghan became an adult.

  In the following weeks—as Meghan traveled to New York and Boston to publicize the upcoming season of Suits and then to Madrid for a quick trip with Misha and Markus, where they drank lots of wine at Taberna Carmencita, visited Museo Nacional del Prado, and danced in bars—it wasn’t uncommon to see Meghan typing away on her phone and smiling or giggling to herself. She was texting with her new crush. Harry and Meghan sent each other selfies—nothing untoward, just sweet pics of them going about their day. Meghan also sent pictures of meals she was cooking or when she was hair and makeup–ready for camera on set.