Prince Harry + Duchess Meghan
A call to a costume party changed her life
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan
© Max Mumby/Indigo / Getty Images
They will probably never forget this night. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended a Halloween party early in their relationship, news reached them that turned everything upside down.
Prince Harry, 38, and Duchess Meghan, 41, are big fans of Halloween. The couple is said to live the American tradition to the fullest and love to prepare creepy pumpkin heads and go costume hunting with their children Archie, 3, and Lilibet Diana, 1. The festival reminds them of an event that should have caused both their hearts to race – and not because of the creepy characters that might have crossed their path that evening in 2016.
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan wanted to celebrate unrecognized
At that time, the royal and the actress were still living their love in secret and alternately met in Harry’s hometown of London and in Toronto, where Meghan was filming the series “Suits” at the time. Halloween was the perfect opportunity to throw yourself into the party hustle and bustle a little unnoticed.
King Charles’ son, 73, was in Canada on a romantic trip and the couple decided to go out together. “They were particularly reluctant to spend the Halloween weekend in hiding as there were many ways to celebrate,” write authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand in the unauthorized biography Finding Freedom. Who can blame them? The two had been dating for about four months at the time and probably wanted to experience more than constantly cooking together or watching a movie. “On the evening of October 29th, while Harry was in town, the couple decided to go to a big costume party being thrown at Toronto’s Soho House.”
The perfect cover – but the press didn’t miss their love
Harry and Meghan are said to have previously bought Venetian-style masks. The perfect camouflage! The newly in love were allegedly accompanied by Princess Eugenie, 32, and her current husband Jack Brooksbank, 36. An evening together that should be unforgettable – but for a not very pleasant reason.
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The secret couple received a call that suddenly destroyed the nice atmosphere. A newspaper found out about their relationship and wanted to go public with the story the next day. A menacing scenario that irrevocably let the upbeat mood fizzle out in just a few seconds. “After a cocktail at the party, they were both feeling relaxed and getting into the Halloween spirit. It was possibly the perfect evening – until they got a call from one of Harry’s assistants at Kensington Palace. That wasn’t good news.”
“One Last Fun Evening”
With today’s difference, the Sussexes evaluate the evening when they were exposed as a couple, a little more differentiated – but still with a touch of melancholy. Meghan only recalled the fateful event during a visit to Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show in 2021 and explained that it was “one last fun evening”. “He [Harry] came to visit me in Toronto and our friends and his cousin Eugenie and now her husband Jack also came. And the four of us sneaked out in Halloween costumes just to have a fun night on the town before the world found out we were a couple.” No one recognized her: “It was a post-apocalypse theme .So we had all these very bizarre costumes on and we just had one last fun night out.”
Meanwhile, that supposed drama is well behind the Sussexes. Of course, they will still cause a stir at a Halloween party – but this time they have nothing to hide.
Source used: Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand “Finding Freedom – Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family”