King Charles Started ‘Showing off’ for Meghan Markle at the Mention of 1 Royal’s Name
All it took was a connection to King Charles III’s “favorite person” for him to start “showing off” for Meghan Markle. Prince Harry recalled in Spare that when the late Queen Mother’s name came up in a 2018 conversation, his father began “performing” for the Duchess of Sussex.
King Charles started ‘showing off’ after learning Meghan has the same birthday as his grandma
In his January 2023 memoir, the Duke of Sussex shared that Meghan has the same birthday, August 4, as his great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, mom to the late Queen Elizabeth II. It came to the king’s attention in 2018 when Harry and Meghan visited the then-Prince of Wales while he was in Scotland.
“Towards the end of summer 2018, we went to Scotland, the Castle of Mey, to spend a few days with Pa,” Harry wrote (via Spare). “The bond between Meg and Pa, always strong, grew even stronger during that weekend.”
“One night, over pre-dinner cocktails, Fred Astaire playing in the background, it emerged that Meg shared a birthdate with Pa’s favorite person: Gan-Gan.”
Meghan turned 43 on Aug. 4, 2024. The Queen Mother died in 2002 at the age of 101 less than two months after the death of her youngest daughter and Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret.
Harry’s father told Meghan stories he’d ‘never heard’ before
Sharing the same birthday with the Queen Mother soon had Harry’s father “showing off.” King Charles reacted with a smile calling the connection “amazing” before telling stories about himself and his beloved “Gan-Gan.”
“At the memory of Gan-Gan, and the link between her and my bride, he suddenly became buoyant, telling stories I’d never heard, essentially performing, showing off for Meg,” Harry wrote. (One about singing to seals outside the castle “delighted” Harry and Meghan.)
“At tea the next day the good vibes continued,” he added, noting there’d been “laughing” and “talking.”
Harry had previously introduced Meghan to his dad—and Queen Camilla, the then-Duchess of Cornwall—over tea at Clarence House in 2016. The two bonded over a shared love of classical music, dogs, and the arts.
The king is ‘very charming,’ according to Meghan
In their eponymous December 2022 Netflix docuseries, Meghan opened up about her father-in-law. “Harry’s dad is very charming,” she said.
She described how King Charles, in addition to helping with wedding planning, agreed to walk her down the aisle when her now-estranged father, Thomas Markle, wasn’t there to do it. (Meghan’s dad participated in a paparazzi photoshoot and had a heart attack just days ahead of the ceremony.)
“I said to him, like, ‘I’ve lost my dad in this,’” Meghan recalled. “So, him as my father-in-law was really important to me. So, I asked him to walk me down the aisle, and he said yes.”
“The whole thing was surreal,” she added.
King Charles walked Meghan halfway down the aisle at St. George’s Chapel, located on the grounds of Windsor Castle, before exchanging vows with Harry.
