Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle reveal how they met in first TV interview
In a discreet Soho club in summer 2016, a couple on a first blind date spoke for three hours "in their own little world", foregoing food in their excitement to discuss their "passion for wanting to make change for good".
He knew they were destined for one another. She was "spellbound".
If fans were hoping to hear a fairy-tale romance, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - at least according to their new biography - will not disappoint.
The couple declared their love after three months, their friends have disclosed, and planned their long-term future together not long afterwards.
Markle, who is now the Duchess of Sussex, told confidantes after their third date, a trip to Botswana: "I've never felt that safe, that close to someone in such a short amount of time."
For their "Sussex Squad", the romantic journey from blind date to "almost obsessed with each other" straight away is the ultimate confirmation of true love.
For others, the description in a new book, Finding Freedom, may give greater insight into the concerns of friends and family around them.
Previous extracts of the book, serialised in the Times and Sunday Times, claim the Duke of Cambridge felt bound to reassure his younger brother that he should "take as much time as you need to get to know this girl", after around nine months of dating and ahead of their engagement.
Prince Harry considered the phrasing "snobbish" and condescending, it is claimed, beginning a rift between the brothers.
Harry and Meghan knew they were meant to be together after their first blind date. Photo / Getty Images
Details of Prince Harry and Markle's courtship have now been made public in a new extract, describing their first blind date in the Dean Street Townhouse in Soho through to the Prince's determination to cut anyone who questioned their relationship out of their lives.
"Almost immediately they were almost obsessed with each other," a friend told authors Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie. "It was as if Harry was in a trance."
Shortly afterwards, Markle began to follow a mystery account named @SpikeyMau5 on Instagram, belonging to an undercover Prince Harry.
After a second date: "Harry knew they would be together at that point. She was ticking every box fast."
A trip to Botswana, technically their third date, saw them "already dancing around the idea that this just may be a forever thing".
And after three months, they declared their love.
"It was Harry who said it first, but Meghan immediately replied, 'I love you, too', the book says. "From there it didn't take long for them to begin talking in non-oblique terms about their future.
From the moment of their meeting, authors say, Prince Harry was "sensitive to even the slightest hint of prejudice".
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement in 2017. Photo / Getty Images
"When some questioned his new relationship, and whether she was suitable, he would wonder, 'Is this about race? Is it snobbery?'
"An old friend of Harry's spent an afternoon gossiping about Meghan, making disparaging remarks about her Hollywood background. Word got back to Harry, and the prince immediately cut him off."
The description of the couple's dates is just one of numerous intimate details revealed in the book about the Duke and Duchess.
According to the Sunday Times: "No personal detail is spared.
"From their son Archie's expression as he entered the world, to the name of their labrador, sensitive conversations with members of the royal family and even the exact 'perfect pose' that yogi Meghan stretched her body into after discussing marriage with Harry on holiday in Africa - it is all in there."
The name of the female black labrador has become a closely guarded secret for the Sussexes and a particular mystery for royal-watchers, with Prince Harry saying "no one's even seen our dog!" during an engagement in October 2018.
The Telegraph understands the pet, which has moved with her owners to Los Angeles, is called Pula.
