Prince Harry has revealed an awkward moment when he “flinched” as Meghan Markle met his father, now King Charles, and Queen Camilla for the first time. The encounter took place at Clarence House after Harry and Meghan started dating.
In his explosive memoir ‘Spare’, Harry describes how conversation flowed “easily” between the four of them. Charles reportedly showed interest in Meghan’s rise to fame through her role in TV show Suits, leading to a “quiet chat”.
Meanwhile, Camilla seemed more interested in eavesdropping than engaging with her stepson. Despite the seemingly smooth interaction, Harry recalls an uncomfortable moment when Charles and Camilla had to leave for another engagement. He wrote: “We talked about acting and the arts in general.”
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“What a struggle it could be to make your way in such a trade, Pa said. He had a lot of questions about Meg’s career and he looked impressed by the way she answered. Her confidence, her intelligence, I thought, caught him unawares,” reports the Express.
“And then our time was up. Pa and Camilla had another engagement. Royal life. Heavily regimented, overscheduled and so forth. I made a note to explain all this later to Meg. We all stood. Meg leaned towards Pa. I flinched; like Willy, Pa wasn’t a hugger. Thankfully, she gave him a standard British cheek-to-cheek, which he actually seemed to enjoy.”
Despite the Royal Family not being renowned for their displays of affection, there have been instances where the King has been seen enjoying a warm embrace. After a hearty hug with the New Zealand women’s rugby team, he confessed it was something he “really needed”.
Emotionally moved fans admitted they were left “sobbing”, and the King humorously remarked that he felt “flattened” when Black Ferns winger Ayesha Leti-I’iga, along with her teammates, hugged him at Buckingham Palace on September 11. Meanwhile, an image shared by Kensington Palace captured a tender moment in 2020 when Prince William is seen hugging his father.
Snapped at the Sandringham Estate by the Princess of Wales, the photograph depicted William drawing the King into a close hug, his arm securely fastened around his shoulders.