Meghan Markle's best friend didn't actually introduce her to Prince Harry

Despite widespread belief that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were introduced to one another through her good friend Markus Anderson, and both she and her...
Rebecca Carter

Despite widespread belief that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were introduced to one another through her good friend Markus Anderson, and both she and her husband have cleared up exactly how it went down.

Meghan Markle and her husband met in 2016, were engaged in 2017, and married the next year. She and Prince Harry then left The Firm in 2020 after they revealed they were seeking “financial independence.” The Duke and Duchess of Sussex now reside in California with their two children, Archie, four, and Lilibet, two. But the origins of their romance aren’t what we believe they are.

Meghan Markle and Markus Anderson’s friendship

Meghan Markle and Markus Anderson have been good friends for many years. Their friendship goes as far back as her first marriage to movie producer Trevor Engelson. The pair married in 2011 but split two years later, and Markus was there to support the 42-year-old during the difficult time.

It’s not clear how the celebrities met, but they both lived in Toronto, Canada at some point and are rumored to have been running in the same social circles, so it’s no surprise they eventually became close. He apparently introduced her to Hollywood star George Clooney and his wife Amal as well as stylist and friend Jessica Mulroney.

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As he was so connected, it was suspected the global membership director at Soho House (somewhere he has built himself up after starting out as a waiter) had introduced the couple. However, it doesn’t seem to be the case.

In Harry’s 2023 memoir Spare and their engagement interview, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry named a woman rather than Markus Anderson, as the person who set them up, who is a mutual friend.

Harry reminisces about seeing Meghan for the first time – on Instagram

In his book, Harry cleared up how he became acquainted with Meghan Markle, and it wasn’t her friend Markus Anderson. Instead, it was their mutual friend Violet who gave the actress his details after he saw her while scrolling Instagram.

Before she had a chance to turn him down on a first-date suggestion, Harry said he didn’t know she was an actress. He seemed to have never heard of the law TV drama, Suits, in which she played Rachel Zane. At the time they connected on social media, she was in London doing some work for Ralph Lauren.

The royal penned: “I sent Violet a message. ‘Who… is … this… woman?’ She answered straight away. ‘Yeah, I’ve had six other guys ask me.’ Great, I thought. ‘Who is she, Violet?’ ‘Actress. She’s in a TV show called Suits.'”

He continued by telling readers how he received her first message, and they later continued texting late into the night.

In their engagement interview in 2017, they referred to her as “Mrs A” as Meghan said they “should protect her privacy and not reveal too much.”

Meghan said: “Yes, it was definitely set-up, a blind date,” the mom-of-two explained.

“I didn’t know much about him, the only thing I asked her when she said she wanted to set us up was, I have one question ‘Is he nice?’” she added. “If he wasn’t kind, it wouldn’t make sense, but then it turned really quickly into that.”

However, even if Markus didn’t set Meghan and Harry up, it is known Anderson arranged private dates for the pair in London. So her good pal was involved in the blossoming of their love in some way.

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