King Charles advised the newlyweds to sing to the seals at the Castle of Mey and suggested they ‘might also grant a wish’… and just days later the couple were celebrating the news they had wished for!
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Prince Harry has revealed touching details about how King Charles advised him and Meghan to sing to the seals and ask for their wish to start a family to be granted.
The newlyweds were holidaying with Charles and Camilla at the Castle of Mey in Caithness in late August 2018. In his memoir, Spare, Harry reveals: "We didn't want to wait. We both wanted to start a family straightaway."
He writes that the "bond between Meg and Pa, always strong, grew stronger during that weekend", especially when Charles learned that Meghan shared a birthday (August 4) with the Queen Mother (described as "Pa's favourite person: Gan-Gan").
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Harry recalls: "At the memory of Gan-Gan, and the link between her and my bride, he suddenly became buoyant, telling stories I'd never heard, essentially performing, showing off for Meg.
"One story in particular delighted us both, captured our imagination. It was about the selkies. The what, Pa?
"Scottish mermaids, he said. They took the form of seals and cruised along the shore outside the castle, within a stone's throw of where we were sitting. So, when you see a seal, he advised, you never can tell… Sing to it. They often sing back…
"… Did I imagine – did Pa promise – that the selkies might also grant a wish?"
Later, Harry and Meghan were on the beach near the castle when they saw a number of seals in the water.
"Just as Pa instructed, I ran to the water's edge, sang to them. Serenaded them. Arooo.
"No answer. Meg joined, and sang to them, and now of course they sang back. She really is magic, I thought. Even the seals know it."
Harry writes that he "counted it a good omen" and "took off his clothes, jumped into the water, swam to them".
The chef at the castle was horrified when he found out later as he feared that Harry and Meghan would have lured the seals in to an unfortunate end.
"This part of the Scottish coast was teeming with killer whales, the chef said, and singing to seals was like calling them to their blood-soaked deaths."
The waters around Caithness are famous for killer whales, with at least three pods known to hunt in the area. However, the story has a happy ending.
Returning to Nottingham Cottage (or "Nott Cott"), Meghan took two pregnancy tests which Harry kept overnight on his bedside table next to a box containing a cherished lock of his mother's hair.
In the morning, both tests were showing the good news. Harry writes: "We hugged, kissed. I put the wands back on the nightstand. I thought: thank you, selkies. I thought: thank you, Mummy."
Although Harry does not specify dates, Archie was born on May 6, 2019 and the couple spent five days at the Castle of Mey in mid-August 2018 around nine months earlier. Could it be that Archie is actually a Caithness lad?
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