After being set up on a blind date by fashion designer Misha Nonoo in May of 2016, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quickly established their romantic relationship. On October 31, 2016, the news of their partnership was made public, and Meghan posted a photo of Harry on her Instagram that same day. However, while the royal didn’t officially propose to the actress until November 2017, he reportedly made his future plans known to her months prior. In August of that same year, while the two vacationed with friends in Botswana for Meghan’s 36th birthday, Harry told the Suits star of his intention to marry her. Yet in addition to discussing his plans with his partner, the prince also sought out the approval of key members of the royal family, including his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
In Ingrid Seward’s book, My Mother and I, the royal biographer reported that Prince Charles and Prince Phillip weren’t there when Harry asked his grandmother for her blessing at Sandringham, according to the Daily Mail. “The Queen was picking up dead birds after the final drive with her Labradors,” Seward wrote. “There were no security officers around her, so Harry realised this was his once chance to get his grandmother on her own.” According to the royal expert, Elizabeth was mysterious in her response, saying: “Well, then, I suppose I have to say yes.”
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However, even though the message she gave may have been cryptic, Seward wrote that Elizabeth reportedly liked Meghan. The Suits star spoke about her first time meeting Elizabeth in her interview with Oprah Winfrey on March 7, 2021, noting that she and Harry were on their way to the Royal Lodge in Windsor when she suddenly learned that the prince’s grandmother would also be in attendance at the gathering. “I remember Harry and I were in the car and he says, ‘Okay, well my grandmother’s going to be there so you’re going to meet her,’” the As Ever founder said. I said, ‘Okay, great! I loved my grandmother, I used to take care of my grandmother.’ He goes, ‘Right, do you know how to curtsy?’”
According to Seward, the introduction between the two women appeared to go well, writing that Elizabeth had “originally been pleased that her grandson had at last found a woman to love who appeared to be able to return his intense passions.” The monarch expressed her optimistic outlook to her close friends, reportedly telling Lady Elizabeth that she had “high hopes for what [Meghan] and Harry might be able to do, especially for the youth of the Commonwealth.” And she continued to support the couple’s partnership, even as her husband, Prince Philip, seemed reluctant to do the same. Unlike Elizabeth, Philip was more hesitant about Meghan and said that she reminded him of Wallis Simpson, the American socialite who caused King Edward VIII to abdicate the throne, according to Seward. With that resemblance in mind, Philip nicknamed Meghan “DOW,” which stood for Duchess of Windsor, Simpson’s title.