1. They were “trying to cook a roast chicken” when Harry proposed

“It was just an amazing surprise, so sweet and natural and very romantic,” Markle said. When asked whether she gave an immediate yes, she replied: “As a matter of fact I could barely let him finish proposing, I was like ‘Can I say yes now?'”

2. Harry managed to convince Meghan to go away to Botswana with him after just two dates.

“It was a real leap of faith after just two dates to essentially go on holiday together. We camped out out there, under the stars, and she came to join me for five days which was fantastic,” he revealed. “Then we were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure that we had a chance to really get to know each other.”

3. They were set up by a mutual friend on a blind date – and Meghan didn’t know much about the royal beforehand

“It was definitely a set up – it was a blind date,” said Markle. “It’s so interesting because we talk about it now and because I’m from the States you don’t grow up with the same understanding of the royal family, which I now understand very clearly, there’s a global interest there. So I didn’t know much about him. The only thing I asked [the friend] when she said she wanted to set us up was, I had one question: was he nice? Because if he wasn’t kind it just didn’t seem like it would make sense.”

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4. Harry did his best to “warn” Meghan as much as possible about life under the global spotlight

“I think I can safely say, as naive as it sounds now, having gone through this learning curve in the past year and a half, that I did not have any understanding of just what it would be like. I think neither of us did,” said Markle.

“I tried to warn you as much as possible,” the royal said to his bride-to-be. “But I think both of us were totally surprised by the reaction after the first five or six months, of what actually happened after then. So you can have as many conversations as you want and try and prepare as much as possible but we were totally unprepared for what happened after that.”

“There’s a misconception that because I have worked in the entertainment industry that this is something I’d be familiar with, but even though I’d been on my show [Suits] for six years at that point and working before that, I’d never been part of tabloid culture, I’ve never been in pop culture to that degree,” added Markle. “I lived a relatively quiet life even though I focused so much on my job. So that was a really stark difference out of the gate. And I think we were just hit so hard at the beginning with a lot of mistruths that I made the choice to not read anything – positive or negative – it just didn’t make sense, and instead we focused all of our energies on nurturing our relationship. On us.”

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5. William and Kate have been “amazing” and incredibly supportive

Harry described introducing Meghan to his family as “very exciting”, adding: “I’d been seeing her for a period of time when I didn’t tell anybody at all, and then William was longing to meet her and so was Catherine – they are neighbours so we’ve managed to get that in quite a few times now. And Catherine’s been absolutely amazing (“She’s been wonderful,” agreed Meghan) as has William as well, fantastic support. We’ve had a handful of teas and meetings and all sorts of gatherings over at [my father, Prince Charles’] place too. The family together have been absolutely solid support.”

6. Meghan has met the Queen twice – and the corgis loved her

“I’ve spent the last 30 years being barked at, then this one walked in and nothing – [the corgis] loved her,” laughed Harry, while Meghan described how they were “laying on my feet” throughout her meeting with Her Majesty.

“It was incredible to be able to meet her through his lens, with his honour and respect for her as a monarch, but also the love that he has for her as his grandmother,” said Markle. “All of those layers have been so important for me, so that I had a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being able to have that time with her. She’s an incredible woman.”

Meghan Markle Prince Harry engagement photocall

7. They’ve never gone more than two weeks without seeing each other

“It was a choice. Very early on we realised we were going to commit to each other and we knew that we had to invest the time and energy and whatever it took to make that happen,” said Markle. “With the filming schedule it was not the easiest, because it involved a lot of travel… We had a good five or six months with privacy which was amazing. We were able to have so much time just to connect and we never went longer than two weeks without seeing each other even though we were doing a long distance relationship. We made it work.”

“We just tried to stay as close as possible on two different time zones. Being five hours apart does have it’s challenges, but we made it work and now we’re here,” said Harry.

8. Despite previous reports, Harry had never heard of Meghan before

“I’d never watched Suits and I’d never heard of Meghan before,” confirmed Harry. “I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her. There she was sitting there, I was like, ‘Okay I’m really going to have to up my game. I better make sure I’ve got good chat.’”

9. Harry designed the engagement ring himself

“The ring is yellow gold because that’s her favourite and the main stone is sourced from Botswana – and the little diamonds either side are from my mother’s jewellery collection, to make sure that she’s with us on this crazy journey together,” said Harry.

Meghan praised Harry’s “thoughtfulness” at the inclusion of his mother’s diamonds in the ring, saying: “Obviously not being able to meet his mum, it was so important to me to know that she shares a part of this with us.”

10. Harry thinks his girlfriend would have been “thick as thieves” with his late mother, Princess Diana

“I think they’d have been as thick as thieves, without question,” he said. “I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, so excited for me and probably would have been best friends – best friends with Meghan. It’s days like today when I really miss having her around and be able to share the happy news, but with the ring and everything else that’s been going on I’m sure she’s with us, jumping up and down somewhere else.”

11. Children may not be too far away

While Harry said they’re “not currently” thinking about children, he added: “One step at a time – hopefully we’ll start a family in the near future”.

12. They refer to themselves as “a team”

“Early on I said, I know that I’m in love with this girl and I hope that she’s in love with me. But we still had to sit down and I had to have some pretty frank conversations with her. What she was letting herself in for is a big deal and it’s not easy for anybody. At the end of the day she chooses me, and I choose her, and whatever we have to tackle we’ll tackle together as a team. She’s capable of anything – there’s a lot of work to do but we’ll always make sure to put our relationship first.”

Watch the full interview below:

From: Harper’s BAZAAR UK