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The Duchess of Sussex’s first message to Prince Harry has been revealed, after a mutual friend passed on the Duke’s Instagram handle to her. Meghan followed the account, which was under a secret pseudonym, and complimented him on his “beautiful” photography.
In what is a surprisingly normal way for a member of the Royal Family to meet their future partner, Harry revealed in his new book that he first met Meghan on Instagram
He said he came across the then-Suits actor, while scrolling through his feed, when he saw a photograph of her which had a dog ear filter on it.
The Duke’s friend, Violet, had posted the photo prompting Harry to message her straight away to ask who the mysterious woman in the photograph was.
Violet replied saying he was the seventh man to ask the same question.
Royal photographer Arthur Edwards began working for members of the Royal Family in the seventies.
Speaking on the new 50-minute episode of The Right Royal podcast, Mr Edwards detailed the rocky start to his relationship with King Charles.
Read more HERE.
His friend then went on to explain that Meghan was an actor, currently in the UK to watch tennis at Wimbledon. She asked if he would like her to pass on his Instagram handle, to which he replied he did.
The next day, Meghan slid into the prince’s DMs with the message: “Hello! Beautiful photos.”
The majority of Harry’s Instagram pictures were taken during a trip to Africa, he explained in the book, which gave him a good talking point as Meghan had also visited the continent.
Some of the images were included in the couple’s docuseries featuring animals in the wild, sunsets and snaps of his conservation work in Botswana.
READ MORE: Prince Harry’s ‘hatchet job attack’ on the Royals blastedDuring the couple’s docuseries, Meghan explained that one image showing Harry caring for an injured rhino really stuck in her memory.
Meghan and I met over Instagram. I was scrolling through my feed and someone who was a friend had a video of the two of them, it was like Snapchat.”
Meghan said looking at Harry’s Instagram was a better way of judging his character, rather than reading news stories about him on the internet.
She explained: “So I went through and it was just like beautiful photography and all of these environmental shots and this time he was spending in Africa.”Omid Scobie, author of the couple’s biography – Finding Freedom, said Harry’s Instagram account was under the pseudonym ‘SpikeyMau5’, which is reportedly a combination of his nickname and favourite artist, Deadmau5.
Mr Scobie writes in the book: “Although she shared much of her London visit on social media, Meghan knew she had to keep her dates a secret, but the clues were there.
“Around the time of their first encounter, she began to follow a mysterious-looking Instagram account by the name of @SpikeyMau5.
“With no face visible in the profile photo, just a mouse-shaped helmet, it would have meant nothing to most people. But it was in fact Harry’s private account.”
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