Royal Author Says Prince William Brushed Off ‘Starry-Eyed’ Prince Harry, Meghan Markle’s Romantic Africa Trip: ‘This Is the 4th Girl You’ve Taken to Botswana’
After having only met each other twice prior, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took their first trip to Botswana, Africa. There, they lived in a tent for five days and, according to their account, fell deeply for each other. Upon returning to the U.K. Harry spoke of his new love to his family. However, a royal author says Prince William brushed off his ‘starry-eyed’ brother. He deadpanned, “This is the fourth girl you’ve taken to Botswana.”
According to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, their Botswana trip cemented their feelings for each other
In the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle discussed how their feelings for each other deepened during their time in Botswana. Before the journey, they had met face-to-face only twice before.
“I was astonished that she said ‘yes,'” Harry said of the trip in episode one of the docuseries. “This woman that I’ve really met twice, she’s coming to Botswana, and we’re gonna be living in a tent for five days!”
Meghan recalled the romantic African trip in the docuseries. “So I get there; this is the first time I’ve seen him in a month. Very awkward at first, like, oh God, do we, do we kiss? Do we? And I just remembered he handed me a chicken sandwich!”
The continent was historically the place where Harry participated in many conservation projects. It was also where he traveled to deal with his feelings after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997.
Royal author Tina Brown claimed in the book The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor, the Truth and the Turmoil that Harry’s brother Prince William brushed off his brother’s trip with Markle. He appeared to believe Harry’s new romance was just another fling.
Prince William had a brutal response to Prince Harry’s new romance with Meghan Markle
According to royal author Tina Brown, then-Prince Charles was among the first to meet Meghan Markle once her romance with Prince Harry became serious. She later met Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who, according to Brown, was “just happy Harry was happy.”
However, Prince William’s response to Harry’s new romance was important. The brothers once had a close relationship. However, behind the scenes, they experienced tense moments as they grew older.
Brown wrote, “William knew Harry all too well and feared he was heading for trouble. Every time his brother fell in love, it was an eruption of Vesuvius.”
After Harry gave his brother a “starry-eyed” version of the trip, William reportedly told him, “You do realize this is the fourth girl you’ve taken to Botswana.” However, behind the scenes, Brown penned, “William was nervous about the speed at which all this was going down.”
The author claimed a royal insider told her that William feared Harry’s “mental fragility” was such that he wouldn’t be strong enough to handle the pressures on the couple and his issues. In a moment of foresight, William knew the press scrutiny the couple would be under, beginning with the fact that Meghan was of mixed race, American, and an actor.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared a romanticized version of their trip in their Netflix series
In their Netflix series, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle romanticized their trip. “We had to get to know each other before the rest of the world, before the media sort of, you know, joined it,” Harry said.
“We could both just be completely ourselves,” Meghan added about life in “the bush.”
“There’s no distraction,” she continued, as reported by People Magazine. “There was no cell phone reception. There’s no mirror. There’s no bathroom. And there was no, how do I look? Thankfully, we really liked each other.”
From then on, the couple didn’t go more than two weeks without seeing each other (reportedly Meghan’s rule) and enjoyed their burgeoning romance.
“Those first few months when no one knew,” Harry revealed. “It made much more sense for her to come to me so she could stay with me on Kensington Palace grounds.”
“We could jump in the car, head up to Windsor, and walk around Frogmore. Do all these things together so that we can get to know each other without someone taking a photograph, and then it became news,” he said of the early days of his and Meghan’s love affair.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle became engaged in Nov. 2017 and wed in May 2018. They are the parents of two children, Archie and Lilibet. Harry and Meghan left their roles as senior royals in early 2020 and relocated to California, where they currently live with their family.
