Meghan Markle and Prince Harry share how they met on Instagram, their first text messages and their first dates

The first volume of harry and meghan was released today, and its first episode unsurprisingly dove into how Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s love story began. It was July 2016 and Harry discovered Meghan… on Instagram, because yes, the Duke of Sussex had a secret Instagram at the time. Meghan hadn’t seen it coming.

The first episode broke down a lot of their first two dates before they meet again for their five-day trip to Botswana. Here, the biggest revelations about their first two encounters and how they really started dating, along with the photos the documentary revealed of their FaceTime calls and early days together.

Meghan did not expect to fall in love in the summer of 2016.

“I really intended to be single and just have fun with the girls,” Meghan said of her summer plans at the time. “I had a career, I had my life, I had my way. And then H came along. I mean, literally, it talks about a plot twist.”

Harry, who had a secret Instagram, first saw Meghan and became interested in her when a mutual friend posted a Snapchat of them together. (Meghan had the doggy filter ears on.)

“Meghan and I met on Instagram,” Harry said. “I was going through my feed and someone who was a friend had this video of the two of them, it was like a Snapchat, and he’s… with dog ears and…”

“Oh my God. Isn’t that all? He has like dog ears… that’s what he saw of me,” Meghan said.

“That was the first thing, it was like who is that?” Harry added.

Meghan did not Google Harry, but deliberately stalked his Instagram account.

Meghan recalled that a mutual friend let her know about Harry’s interest. “And then he emailed me saying ‘I know you said you’re single, and a friend of mine asked about you and maybe you’d like to meet him,’” Meghan said. “And I said, ‘Who is it?’ And she said: ‘he is Prince Haz’. And I said: ‘Who is that?’ I asked if I could see him feeding. So that’s the thing. When people say, ‘Did you Google it?’ ‘Nope.’ But I… that’s your homework. You’re like, ‘Hmm, let me see what it’s all about on their feed, not what someone else is saying about them, but what they’re posting about themselves. That for me was the best barometer. So I went through and it was like a beautiful photograph and all these environmental shots and this time he was happening in Africa.”

The documentary provided the exact text of the email.

This is what it reads and how Meghan responded:

Friend: Between you and me, I thought you might like to know about being newly single and all. I put our Snapchat on Instagram and Prince Haz follows me (he’s a friend) called me last night dying to meet you. Hahaha. I may have to prepare you.

Megan: who is the prince do????

Meghan and Harry exchanged numbers and were “constantly in touch” when Harry suggested they meet in July 2016 while Meghan was in London for Wimbledon. The documentary showed her texts setting up her first date:

H: So come on, what are you doing tomorrow night? I hope you are having fun there!

METER: Going back to Soho. I have dinner tomorrow at 8 but I can make drinks tomorrow night. Would that work? maybe 6?

H: You are in!

Harry was very late for his first date at 76 Dean Street, which almost prompted Meghan to flag him down.

“I couldn’t understand why I was late,” Meghan recalled in the document, with Harry at her side. “But she kept texting, ‘I’m in traffic, I’m so sorry. I’m in traffic, I’m so sorry.’”

“I was in a panic. I was freaking out. I was like sweating,” Harry said.

“So I didn’t know him. So I thought, ‘Oh, is this what it does? I understand.’ Like, this I’m not doing. I’m not going to sit…”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?” Harry interrupted.

“Like one of those guys who has such an ego that you’re not going to have, that any girl would sit and wait half an hour for you. He just wasn’t interested in it.”

“And then when I walked in, I [was] a hot and sweaty red ball of mess.”

“You were so sweet,” Meghan said.

“She was like, ‘Oh, that’s not who you are.’”

“You really were so embarrassed and you were late,” she said, adding: “He was so funny. So refreshingly fun. And that was the thing, we were like kids together.”

“We had a great talk for about an hour,” Harry said.

Meghan asked him out on a second date that night before leaving London.

“I left after an hour and told him I had other plans,” he said of the first date. “And then I called him that night and said, ‘Look, I’m leaving the day after tomorrow. Do you want to go to dinner tomorrow night? And I’m sure he thought he was so bold and American. I’m sure he told me that he was so daring and American. Then, yeah, we went and had dinner the next night at the same place.”

Meghan was late for that dinner, but only by a few minutes: “But you were pretty nervous,” Harry quipped.

“I hate being late,” Meghan said, explaining: “Well, I was back from Wimbledon and, you know, when you’re all fixed up, I wanted to go home, take a shower and then run to look more like myself. ”

“I was like, you can be as late as you want. I don’t move. I want to see you again,” Harry teased.

Harry and Meghan took a photo on that second date. It was the night he knew she was “everything I’ve been looking for.”

The documentary shared that photo:

Meghan said about it: “There was a photo. We just wanted to capture the feeling of just sitting in that little restaurant and going, ‘Oh my gosh. I think we’re going to give it a go.’”

“It was then that I realized. ‘Okay, this girl, this woman is amazing, she’s everything I’ve been looking for. And she feels so comfortable and relaxed in my company,” Harry added.

Meghan revealed that Harry had a list of what he was looking for in a partner.

“He had a list, apparently, of what he was looking for,” Meghan said.

“Let’s not go there,” Harry replied.

“A long list,” he joked.

“[I’m] not share the list,” Harry said. He gestured to Meghan and said, “This is the list.”

“Good answer,” Meghan replied.