There's only one royal story we're really all waiting for and it's THAT engagement. Since just about everyone decided it's when rather than if for Harry and Meghan, the chatter about the couple has gone into overdrive. It moves so fast, it's hard to keep up. So from now until we get the big anno (let's face it that might be hours), there will be a weekly round up of the most high profile whispers about the couple right here. Settle down for your first dose of royal wedding rumours.....
Much of this week's speculation about the royal romance of the year came from the Channel 4 documentary, When Harry Met Meghan: A Royal Romance, which aired in the UK this weekend (check out the Channel 4 website here). Top of the excitement was the news that Harry is hoping to marry his telly crush. Katie Nicholl, royal correspondent for the Mail on Sunday and Vanity Fair, told the show that Harry had admitted fancying Meghan almost two years before their relationship started. She relayed a conversation she'd had with a friend of the prince a couple of years ago in which Harry, then single, had revealed his ideal woman was ''Meghan Markle from Suits''.
We also got confirmation, as if any were needed, that Markus Anderson is destined to be cast forever as a royal matchmaker (like accompanying Meghan to the Invictus Games opening and then hanging out with her, Harry and Doria at the closing event hadn't already cemented his place). The show was the latest to talk about how the man who was a friend of both before they even met brought Harry and Meghan together, adding them both to the guest list for a private gathering at Soho House in London in July 2016 after the prince asked him to help in the getting to know you process. Hazza and Megs got chatting and the rest, as they say, is royal history.
Fascinating, Prince Harry & Meghan Markle are distant cousins, family tree from 1480 reveals: https://t.co/u8q8xRPDX4— Kelly Mathews (@allthingsregal) October 29, 2017
Just about every royal couple you can name is related to one another in some fashion (clearly in a less awkward and genetically complex way than used to be the norm in the Middle Ages). In fact you know a regal relationship is really serious when someone produces a family tree linking the two beloveds via a long dead person neither has ever heard of. Harry and Meghan are no exception - this week, the Mail on Sunday discovered that if this pair of lovebirds go all the way back to the 15th century, they have a common ancestor. The man whose genes they share is Ralph Bowes who was born in 1480 and rose to the rank of High Sheriff of Durham. Let's put Ralph on the list of potential baby names right now and add in Margery (his mum and his daughter shared the name) for good measure. Deal done.
This week also produced the now standard number of stories about how a) the couple are already engaged b) they've already set a date (anytime between now and Christmas 2018, pick your favourite) and c) they're getting married in Westminster Abbey/ Windsor/ St Paul's (delete as applicable). This part will no doubt end up being the most regularly repeated part of the rumours round up until we get all the details from the couple themselves. More whispers next week....
Photo credit: Invictus Games Twitter
Photo credit: Invictus Games Twitter
