PRINCE Harry was smitten with Meghan Markle after a friend showed him a picture of her in a slinky silver dress, it has been revealed.
The Duke of Sussex was set up on a blind date with the former actress at Soho House’s Dean Street Townhouse in 2016.
And while biography Finding Freedom revealed the couple were quickly smitten with each other, it revealed Harry, 35, had already “scoped out” Meghan, 39.
The explosive book claimed: “Naturally, both participants in this blind date did their homework with a thorough Google search.
“Harry, who scoped out Meghan on social media, was interested.
“A friend had shown him an Instagram photo of Meghan in the slinky silver mini dress at the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards.”
It stated the prince “liked what he saw” – with “newly single” Meghan likewise keen after having joked she wanted to find a “nice English gentleman to flirt with” on the trip to London.
Intimate details of the couple’s first date – set up by pals Misha Nonoo and Markus Anderson – were revealed in the book authored by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand as it was released this week.
Royal biographers Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand said the pair – who had a “palpable attraction” were “in their own little world” as they traded talk about making “change for good”, while sitting on plush “velvet club chairs”.
They did not kiss — and Harry left Soho’s Dean Street Townhouse alone to go home to Kensington Palace that night. But just hours later, newly single Meghan declared to a girlfriend: “Do I sound crazy when I say this could have legs?”
The book then claimed: “Almost immediately they were obsessed with each other,’ a friend said. ‘It was as if Harry was in a trance’.”
They traded messaged regularly, with Meghan finding Prince Harry’s use of the ghost emoji “funny and adorable”.
WHIRLWIND ROMANCE
Just days later, Meghan visited Harry at Kensington Palace for a low-key meeting – with the couple then flying to Africa together just six weeks later.
Their syrupy romance is summed up by another friend, who told the biographers: “Technically the getaway was just their third date but by then they were each already dancing around the idea that this just may be a forever thing.”
The couple went to great lengths to keep their relationship a secret until October 2016, when news first broke that they were an item.
They finally announced their engagement a year later with the romantic moment unfolding low-key roast chicken dinner in November 2017.
The whirlwind romance then saw the couple tie the knot in May 2018 before welcoming baby Archie in 2019.
They ultimately quit the Royal Family at the start of this year and are now living in the US.
After setting up home at Tyler Perry’s $18million Los Angeles mansion, they are now living in a Santa Barbara property they bought themselves.
A spokesperson for the couple told Page Six: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved into their family home in July of this year.
“They have settled into the quiet privacy of their community since their arrival and hope that this will be respected for their neighbours, as well as for them as a family.”
