Before becoming the world’s most famous engaged couple, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were two hopeful singles who met on a blind date. “It was definitely a set-up,” the former actress said of her first rendezvous with her now-fiancé. But who set them up, exactly?
In their joint interview in November, Harry revealed that he and Meghan were introduced by a mutual friend, but they didn’t reveal who she was in order to protect her privacy. However, E! now reports that their mystery matchmaker is Violet von Westenholz—a PR director for Ralph Lauren who met Markle through the brand and has known Harry since they were children.
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Violet’s father is a baron (Piers Von Westenholz) and a good friend of Harry’s dad, Prince Charles. She’s “been in Harry’s trusted inner circle of friends for years,” according to E!. Her younger sister, Victoria, was previously even considered one of the prince’s potential girlfriends.
Though Markle was based in Toronto to film Suits, it didn’t take much for her and von Westenholz to run into each other.
A “well-placed source” told E!, “Meghan had been a part of the London social scene for a while and had slotted into the high society set really easily. And so when Harry told Violet he was having trouble finding someone, Violet said she might just have the perfect girl for him.”
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Harry and Meghan met through a blind date in the summer of 2016, E! reports. But they barely knew anything about each other prior to their get-together.
“I didn’t know much about him, and so the only thing that I had asked her [Violet] when she said she wanted to set us up, I had one question, I said, ‘Well, is he nice?'” Markle recalled in her interview with Harry.
The prince felt the same way, but he was pleasantly surprised when they finally met. “I had never even heard about her until this friend said, ‘Meghan Markle.’ I was like, ‘Right, okay? Give me a bit of background, what’s going on here?'” Harry added. “I had never watched Suits, I had never heard of Meghan before, and I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her and there she was, sitting there.
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The couple is set to tie the knot on May 19 at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
This article originally appeared on Harper’s BAZAAR US.
