Meeting your partner’s family for the first time is always daunting – and for Meghan Markle, it meant introducing herself to the British Royal Family.

The Duchess of Sussex once revealed her first impression of Princess Kate after meeting her at a private dinner she hosted with Prince Harry one year into their relationship. Harry spotted Meghan on Instagram in 2016 before asking her out to dinner at Soho House in London. From there, the couple went on more dates before spending a week camping in the wilderness together. After Harry and Meghan’s engagement in 2017, the couple gave an interview to the BBC’s Mishal Hussein and recalled Meghan’s first meeting with Kate.

Speaking at the time, Harry said: “It was exciting I mean I’ve — you know I’d been seeing her for a period of time when I literally didn’t tell anybody at all. And then William was longing to meet her and so was Catherine, so you know, being our neighbours, we managed to get that in a couple of — well quite a few times now and Catherine has been absolutely…” And Meghan with a one-word answer chipped in: “Wonderful.” She praised the Royal Family for being so welcoming toward her and recalled the special moment when she met the late Queen for the first time.

Princess Kate, Meghan Markle, Pippa Middleton
Meghan with Kate and her sister, Pippa, at Wimbledon ( 
Image:


PA)

Meghan said: “I think, you know, to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother, all of those layers have been so important for me so that when I met her I had such a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being able to have that time with her. And we’ve had a really — she’s — she’s an incredible woman.”

But a lot has changed since then with Harry and Meghan now living in California, America, with their two children Archie and Lilibet after quitting life as working members of the Royal Family. Their explosive Oprah Winfrey interview in March 2021 saw Meghan suggest a senior member of the family questioned how dark their then-unborn son Archie’s skin would be. In late 2023, this was alleged to actually be two members of the family, in royal author Omid Scobie’s book, Endgame. In what was called a “translation error” the Dutch version of Endgame contained the names of the two royals accused of making the comments about Archie’s skin.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also made further accusations against the royals in their Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan and in Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare. Spare became one of the fastest-selling books of all time after selling more than 3.2 million copies worldwide in its first week, according to the Los Angeles Times.