<p id=”par-1_48″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/prince-harry/”>Prince Harry</a> and <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/meghan-markle/”>Meghan Markle</a> started <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/prince-harry-thought-surely-irritated-meghan-markle-ignoring-question-first-date.html/”>dating in the summer of 2016</a>, and before long their relationship became public. Ahead, how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reacted. Spoiler: it involved a party. And the one question the former <em>Suits</em> star asked when paparazzi descended upon her home. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-harry-and-meghan-were-in-toronto-when-their-relationship-became-public-nbsp”>Harry and Meghan were in Toronto when their relationship became public </h2>
<p id=”par-2_48″>After dating for nearly four months, Harry and Meghan’s relationship was no longer a secret. The news they were a couple went public on Halloween 2016. The now-Duke and Duchess of Sussex learned what was happening shortly before when they were at Meghan’s then-home in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. </p>
<p id=”par-3_55″>“One night late in October in Toronto, Harry was happy, and so was Meghan. Until they received a call from one of Harry’s aides at Kensington Palace. It wasn’t good news,” Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand wrote in 2020’s <em>Finding Freedom</em> (via <a href=”https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/royals/meghan-markles-worried-question-pal-33253285″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Mirror</a>). “A tabloid was going to run with the story of their relationship.” </p>
<p id=”par-4_56″>“Their main worry was that her place would be besieged by photographers within 24 hours. They had little time to think because there were only a couple of paparazzi in Toronto. But it wouldn’t be long before photographers flew in from<a href=”https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/new-york”> </a>New York and LA, all hoping to get that first picture of the happy couple.” </p>
<p id=”par-5_35″>Harry, the authors claimed, was flooded with calls from staff, and refused attempts from those who tried to persuade him to return to London, England, because he’d gone to Toronto with a smaller-than-normal security team. </p>
<p id=”par-6_16″>Together, they received upwards of 100 messages from old friends and acquaintances asking about their romance. </p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image aligncenter size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Prince-Harry-and-Meghan-Markle-who-asked-one-question-after-their-relationship-went-public-in-a-photo-from-Harry-and-Meghan.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who asked one question after their relationship went public, in a photo from ‘Harry and Meghan'” class=”wp-image-3691025″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | Courtesy of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex</figcaption></figure>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-terrified-meghan-asked-a-friend-if-this-is-how-it-s-always-going-to-be-nbsp”>‘Terrified’ Meghan asked a friend if ‘this is how it’s always going to be’ </h2>
<p id=”par-7_44″>Durand and Scobie claimed the level of fame that came with dating a British royal proved to be a huge shock to Meghan. “Prior to meeting Harry, the only times she experienced cameras were on a set or on a red carpet,” they wrote. </p>
<p id=”par-8_27″>One particular incident when a photographer waited in her backyard left Meghan shaken, remarking to a friend, “‘This is how it’s always going to be, isn’t it?’” </p>
<p id=”par-9_46″>“Shortly after the news broke, a photographer from an LA-based photo agency had scaled the fence into her back garden and waited for Meghan by her car, hoping to get a picture before she headed out to run errands. Meghan was terrified and called the police.” </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-harry-and-meghan-were-partly-relieved-and-naive-as-tabloid-paparazzi-interest-began”>Harry and Meghan were partly ‘relieved’ and ‘naive’ as tabloid, paparazzi interest began</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio” id=”emb-2″><div class=”wp-block-embed__wrapper”>
<iframe title=”Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend Invictus Games” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/qVLR5FCYiQ0?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
<p id=”par-10_39″>“We’d been so petrified of when it would break,” Meghan recalled in her and Harry’s eponymous 2022 Netflix docuseries. “H [Harry] trying to prepare me for what that might be like, knowing what he had experienced in the past.” </p>
<p id=”par-11_45″>Meghan went on to recount how Jason Knauf, Harry and Prince William’s then-communications secretary, called Harry “to let him know that the story was scooped by a tabloid.” His response? “‘Well, if it’s going to come out tomorrow, then let’s go and have fun tonight.’” </p>
<p id=”par-12_30″>So, that’s what they did. Meghan, Harry, his cousin, Princess Eugenie, and her now-husband, Jack Brooksbank, went to a Halloween party at Soho House together with Meghan’s friend, Markus Anderson.</p>
<p id=”par-13_62″>“It was so great. Just silly fun,” Meghan went on. “And then, the next morning, it was so overwhelming. I said, ‘OK, well then, I’ll just treat it like we’re in the bush [like when she and Harry camped in Botswana]. Because, like, it’s all foreign to me, but I trust that you’ll keep me safe, and you’ll get me through it.”</p>
<p id=”par-14_41″>“Naively, I didn’t know what I was walking into in October of 2016, when suddenly, everything changed,” Harry said. While they “both felt tremendous relief,” with a flurry of happy messages from friends and family, “that very quickly changed,” Meghan said. </p>