When Prince Harry proposed to Meghan Markle he had to follow royal protocol and inform the Queen beforehand.
But in his bombshell memoir Spare, Harry revealed he was left a little frustrated by her ‘cryptic’ response to his request.
He expressed his annoyance at having to ask his grandmother, claiming it ‘didn’t make any sense’ as a grown man.
Before asking for permission, he admitted he was ‘nervous’, understanding a ‘no’ from the Queen would spark disaster for his relationship with Meghan.
He decided to ask during a trip at Sandringham when the Queen was in a good mood and found a moment alone together after a shoot.
Harry recalls his exact words in Spare, telling the Queen how much he loved Meghan and wanted to marry her.
He asked: ‘I’ve been told that I have to ask your permission before I can propose.’
The Queen replied: ‘You have to?’ to which Harry said it was what he had been told.
There was a moment of silence before the Queen replied: ‘Well then, I suppose I have to say yes.’
Harry admits he was completely thrown by her answer. He writes: ‘I didn’t get it. Was she being sarcastic? Ironic? Deliberately cryptic? Was she indulging in a bit of wordplay? I’d never known Granny to do any wordplay and this would be a surprisingly bizarre moment (not to mention widely inconvenient) for her to start, but maybe she just saw the chance to play off my unfortunate use of the world “have” and couldn’t resist.’
He claims he stood there trying to work out what she was saying, but then ‘realised’ she was saying yes, and called himself as a ‘muppet’. He then thanked her, saying it was ‘fabulous’.
Speaking of his proposal in his Netflix show, Harry explained: ‘I did pop a bottle of champagne while she was roasting a chicken and that kind of slightly gave the game away.
‘She was like, “You never drink champagne, what’s the occasion?” And I was like, “I don’t know, I just had it like, lying around.”‘
Recalling the moment in their engagement interview, Harry said: ‘She didn’t even let me finish. She said, “Can I say yes? Can I say yes?” and then there were were hugs and I had the ring in my hand and I was like, “Can I – can I give you the ring?”
‘She goes, “Oh yes the ring.” So no it was – it was a really nice moment, it was just the two of us and I think I managed to catch – catch her by surprise as well.’
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