Meghan And Harry Reportedly Once Snuck Away From A Royal Tour To Go On A Secret Excursion
Following the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's recent royal tours, many are looking back at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's first tour as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. While the couple may have stepped back from senior royal duties — which includes multi-date tours of countries — their 16-day tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Tonga in 2018 was a testament in itself, seeing as Markle was pregnant with their first child Archie at the time (via Glamour).
It's been speculated that Meghan and Harry may return to the fold as "part-time" royals in the near future, per Cosmopolitan, but for now the couple are happily residing in California with Archie, daughter Lilibet, and their dogs (via Parade).
But during their time as official senior royals, they were known to be a tad unconventional during engagements — including their first royal tour. It may have been four years ago, but Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie's biography on the couple "Finding Freedom" revealed that they may have snuck out during a certain event on the tour to go on a double date.
They went on a secret "double date" in Sydney with close friends
According to the biography, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle eloped to the home of "a real estate billionaire" with Jessica and Ben Mulroney for a "five-course meal prepared [by] a private chef" following a day of engagements in Sydney surrounding the fourth Invictus Games, per Good To Know. The Mulroney's are known to be close to the couple (via Us Weekly), and Ben Mulroney was in Sydney at the time covering the Invictus Games for Canadian network CTV.
This "secret evening" (via the Mirror) would have been a nice break away from what seemed like an exhausting itinerary for the royal couple, who undertook engagement after engagement on their 16-day tour of the Oceanic islands. As Glamour points out, it came as no surprise that Meghan stepped back a little during the middle of their journey seeing as she was pregnant with Archie at the time.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex would embark on one last tour with their son Archie in tow a few years later, but decided to focus more on their family and stepped back from official royal duties in 2020, per Oprah Daily.