Prince Harry will have no doubt pulled out all the stops for his wife Meghan Markle as she celebrated her 43rd birthday on Sunday. Despite moving away from the royal family, the Duke of Sussex recalled one special memory of his father King Charles shared with his wife in an extract of his all-telling memoir, Spare.
In the book, Prince Harry – who turns 40 next month – opened up about his father King Charles’ close bond with Meghan, and how her birthdate shared a special connection with his “favourite person” – Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
© Getty Images“Towards the end of summer 2018 we went to Scotland, the Castle of Mey, to spend a few days with Pa,” Harry wrote. “The bond between Meg and Pa, always strong, grew even stronger during that weekend.
“One night, over pre-dinner cocktails, Fred Astaire playing in the background, it emerged that Meg shared a birthdate with Pa’s favorite person: Gan-Gan. August 4.”
The revelation prompted a sweet response from King Charles, who had just – weeks prior – walked Meghan down the aisle during her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.
© Getty Images“‘Amazing,’ Pa said with a smile,” added Harry. “At the memory of Gan-Gan, and the link between her and my bride, he suddenly became buoyant, telling stories I’d never heard, essentially performing, showing off for Meg.”
Meghan’s birthday has always been a special time for the couple, only a year into their relationship, Prince Harry reportedly whisked his then-American girlfriend away to Botswana for her 36th birthday in 2017. Their trip came just weeks ahead of their engagement, with Harry proposing in the garden at his former Kensington Palace home, Nottingham Cottage.
© Getty ImagesAlmost two years after they tied the knot, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior royals in 2020 before moving permanently to the US with their son Prince Archie. The pair bought their first home in Montecito in July 2020 and a year later, welcomed their second child, Princess Lilibet, at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
On Sunday, Prince Harry and Meghan appeared in a pre-recorded interview for US programme, CBS Sunday Morning, about a new initiative supporting parents of children affected by online harm.
The televised interview, broadcast on Meghan’s 43rd birthday, marked the launch of The Parents’ Network, in association with the couple’s charitable Archewell Foundation. Watch the video below…
The initiative seeks to provide parents with a safe and free-to-access support network to help those whose children have been harmed by social media, and is available for parents to join in the US, UK and Canada.
Meghan said about her eldest child, Archie, and daughter Lilibet: “Our kids are young, they are three and five, they’re amazing, but all you want to do as parents is protect them.
“And so, as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there and we’re just happy to be able to be a part of change for good.”
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