Prince Harry Recalls What Was Discussed on Meghan Markle’s First Solo Engagement With Queen Elizabeth
TL;DR:
- Meghan Markle made her first solo engagement with Queen Elizabeth II in June 2018.
- Prince Harry discussed it in Spare, saying they “got on famously” and “bonded over their love of dogs.”
- Meghan Markle mentioned her first solo engagement with Queen Elizabeth in her and Prince Harry’s 2021 Oprah interview.
Meghan Markle and Queen Elizabeth II had plenty to talk about when they were alone. What Prince Harry remembers his grandmother and wife discussing on a 2018 solo outing. Plus, what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex thought after Meghan’s appearance alongside Queen Elizabeth.
Meghan Markle took the royal train for her first solo appearance with Queen Elizabeth in June 2018
Not long after marrying into the royal family, Meghan made her first solo appearance alongside the queen. In June 2018, she joined the late monarch on a trip to Cheshire, England.
The pair took the royal train, making Meghan the first of the young royals to experience it (via Express). Their schedule included opening Mersey Gateway Bridge as well as Chester’s Storyhouse Theater, and having lunch at the Chester Town Hall.
Prince Harry said Meghan and Queen Elizabeth talked about dogs and children
So what did Meghan discuss with Queen Elizabeth on her first official appearance with the late monarch? Harry offered up details in his memoir, Spare, which dropped in full on Jan. 10, 2023.
He wrote that despite being nervous before the trip, Meghan “got on famously” with Queen Elizabeth (via Independent). Harry recalled Meghan telling him what they’d talked about, from how she and the queen had “bonded over their love of dogs” to their discussion on children.
Meghan, Harry wrote, had told him she’d shared with the queen how much she wanted to be a mother. In turn, his grandmother offered the now-mother-of-two a tip on inducing labor.
Overall, Harry wrote, he and Meghan felt the appearance with the queen was going to be a turning point. “Things are going to turn around now,” the Duke of Sussex remembered him and Meghan thinking at the time.
Prince Harry remembered the press calling Meghan’s trip with Queen Elizabeth an ‘unmitigated disaster’
Harry also recalled in Spare how Meghan’s first solo appearance with Queen Elizabeth wasn’t portrayed accurately in the press. Newspapers, he wrote, had “pronounced the trip an unmitigated disaster.”
“They portrayed Meg as pushy, uppity, ignorant of royal protocol, because she’d made the unthinkable mistake of getting into a car before Granny,” Harry wrote. “In truth, she’d done exactly what Granny had told her to do. Granny said get in; she got in.”
Meghan later talked about the trip with Queen Elizabeth during her and Harry’s 2021 Oprah interview.
“We had one of our first joint engagements together,” Meghan said, adding that at breakfast that morning, the queen gave her a “beautiful gift.”
Meghan, now 41, also recalled a moment with Queen Elizabeth that reminded her of her own grandmother. “We were in the car going between engagements, and she has a blanket that sits across her knees for warmth,” Meghan told Oprah. “And it was chilly, and she was like, ‘Meghan, come on,’ and put it over my knees as well.”
“It made me think of my grandmother, where she’s always been warm and inviting and really welcoming,” Meghan explained.
