From pretty much the moment news broke that Prince Harry was dating Meghan Markle in October 2016, there’s been speculation about (1) how they met and (2) who set them up. And a lot of details remain a mystery! But things we know for sure? They met in London through friends in July 2016 and were basically smitten, love-at-first-sight style. We also know that a mutual friend set them up on a blind date. Itching for more details? Cool, we have them, so settle right in.

Meghan and Harry’s First Meeting Was Over Drinks

Harry and Meghan honestly tell the story best themselves:

“We were introduced actually by a mutual friend, we’ll protect her privacy,” Harry said during their post-engagement interview. “It was literally through her. Then we met once and twice back-to-back, two dates in London, last July. Beginning of July. Then, it was three maybe four weeks later that I managed to persuade her to join me in Botswana, and we camped out with each other under the stars.”

Meanwhile, Meghan added, “It was definitely a set up, it was a blind date.” She also noted she knew basically nothing about the British royals and only cared about whether or not Harry was a nice person.

“Because I’m from the States, you don’t grow up with the same understanding of the royal family,” she explained. “And so, while I now understand very clearly there’s a global interest there, I didn’t know much about him, so the only thing I asked her when she said she wanted to set us up—I had one question—I said, ‘Well, is he nice?’ Because if he wasn’t kind, it didn’t seem like it would make sense. And so we went, and had met for a drink, and then I think very quickly into that said, ‘Well, what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again.'”

Oh, and Harry, bless, gave some details about the exact moment he first laid eyes on Meghan, saying, “I’d never watched Suits, I’d never heard of Meghan before, I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her. There she was sitting there. I was like okay, well I really have to up my game here. Sit down and make sure I have a good chat.”

Royal reporter Katie Nicholl also wrote about the couple’s meeting in her book, Harry and Meghan: Life, Loss, and Love, excerpted in Marie Claire, saying that a friend of the couple’s said, “They just clicked and got on from the very meet up. It was all very easy and natural from the start.”

So, Who Introduced Meghan and Harry?

There’s been a lot of speculation about this. At first, people assumed it was Misha Nonoo, a close friend of Meghan’s who was previously married to Alexander Gilkes, a close friend of Harry’s.

Misha never confirmed or denied the rumors, and her rep told People in 2017 that “Misha will not be discussing anything surrounding her relationship with Meghan.” She was also asked directly by the Evening Standard and said “I really can’t answer that.”

However! E! News revealed in 2018 that Harry’s childhood friend Violet von Westenholz is the person who introduced him to Meghan.

“Harry was having a really hard time finding anyone,” a source said. “It’s hard enough finding someone new to date. He can hardly go on Tinder or a dating app like normal people, but to meet someone that you actually connect with, that was proving to be almost impossible. It was something he had confided in his closest friends about; he was ready to meet someone but it was so hard to actually find the right person.”

Meanwhile, Violet knew Meghan through her work in PR with Ralph Lauren, and the rest is history! “Meghan had been a part of the London social scene for a while and had slotted into the high society set really easily,” the source said. “And so when Harry told Violet he was having trouble finding someone, Violet said she might just have the perfect girl for him.”

So there you have it: the story of when Harry Met Sally Meghan.

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