The public gets an even closer look at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s love story. In the Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, which released December 8, the couple shared more details about their intimate proposal in 2017, after about a year of dating. “I’ve wanted to do it before,” Harry said, explaining that he had waited to ask his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, for her blessing first.
After asking the Queen, Harry proposed in the UK as he and Meghan tried to roast a chicken on a cozy evening. “I popped a bottle of champagne while she was greasing the chicken and it kind of gave the game away,” Harry recalled. “She said, ‘You don’t drink champagne, what’s the occasion?'”
While he wasn’t sure if Meghan would say yes, Harry had her dog, Guy, as an accomplice. ‘She had already brought Guy over. So I had Guy hostage,” he joked. “He was on stilts so he couldn’t run away.” Harry proceeded to propose in the North Garden of Kensington Palace with Guy at his side 15 electric candles and the ring he had designed himself, which has a large diamond in the center and two smaller stones belonging to Princess Diana on either side .
When asked if he had gotten on one knee, Harry cheekily replied, “Downward-facing dog,” much to Meghan’s delight. “Of course I got down on one knee. Of course I did,” Harry said. Meghan added: “He was on one knee and I just said ‘Yes!’ We were so happy and excited.” She said, “I was like, ‘Ah, let’s do this.'”
The engagement was announced to the press a few weeks later, but Meghan and Harry celebrated privately with a onesie-style engagement party. “Everyone was wearing animal onesies,” said Lucy Fraser, a friend of the couple. “Meg and Harry wore matching penguin onesies because penguins mate for life and they were so cute. And we had so much fun.”
According to Harry, it didn’t take long for it to become clear that Meghan was the one. “I fell head over heels in love with her. Because my heart told me that she is the one I will spend the rest of my life with. And then as I got to know her even better, my head was like, ‘Well, she’s absolutely perfect for the role too,'” he said in the second episode of the docuseries. “When it came to Meghan, that was probably the case of finding a needle in a haystack.”
— Additional reporting by Perri Konecky