Meghan got on 'like sisters' with this royal, but their first encounter was memorable for all the wrong reasons

Prince Harry describes the two hitting it off like sisters...

Meghan got on "like sisters" with one of the Royal Family on their first meeting
(Image credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

The first member of Prince Harry’s family to meet his then-girlfriend, Meghan Markle, was his cousin Princess Eugenie. While Harry describes the two hitting it off like “sisters,” the encounter was slightly spoiled by... calamari. The seafood lunch Meghan had enjoyed earlier that day left her “violently” sick.


Being left sick to your stomach after meeting someone for the first time might not be the best omen, but for Meghan Markle, it was just a case of unfortunate timing when she met the first member of Prince Harry’s family.

In his now-published autobiography, Spare, Prince Harry sheds some light on what went down the first time someone from his family met the woman who would become his wife.

And it didn’t necessarily have the happiest of endings.

Harry and Eugenie, along with Eugenie's husband Jack Brooksbank, are thought to be close

(Image credit: Aaron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Harry set up the meeting between his cousin, Princess Eugenie, and his then-girlfriend, Meghan at Nottingham Cottage (the setting for the reported physical showdown between William and Harry).

The Duke of Sussex wrote that the meeting between Eugenie and Meghan was a total success.

The meeting was so good, in fact, that it initially dispelled any doubts or fears Harry had about introducing Meghan to other members of the family. He writes, “If meeting the rest of my family goes like this, we're home free.”

Meghan and Eugenie got on so well it was “as if they were sisters,” Harry details in the book.

Eugenie even appeared in a clip in Harry and Meghan's Netflix series

(Image credit: UK Press Pool/UK Press via Getty Images)

The revelation that William and Catherine were huge Suits fans – the show Meghan starred in before marrying Harry – made it much easier for him to introduce Meghan to his brother, also.

However, after the success of Eugenie and Meghan’s evening together, things took a turn. And Meghan was left sick to her stomach.

Harry reveals that Meghan had to excuse herself from the dinner party after complaining of an upset stomach. He then adds that Meghan started "violently" throwing up later that evening due to suspected food poisoning.

Princess Eugenie and her sister Beatrice have reportedly kept in contact with their cousin, Harry

(Image credit: Luc Castel/Getty Images)

Not the memory you want to take away from meeting your boyfriend’s family.

Harry goes on to unmask the culprit behind Meghan’s sickness. He writes, "She revealed that she'd had squid for lunch at a restaurant. Calamari! Mystery solved."

Luckily, a spoiled lunch didn’t spoil the relationship between Meghan and Eugenie.

The two are thought to remain close, with Princess Eugenie even appearing in Harry and Meghan’s controversial Netflix docuseries.

In the never-before-seen footage, Eugenie spends quality time with her cousin and his son, Archie, during her visit to the US – after Harry and Meghan had left life as working royals.

Eugenie and her sister, Princess Beatrice, have also been tipped as the “invaluable” link to bring Harry and Meghan back into the fold in the future.

Jack Slater
Freelance writer

Jack Slater is not the Last Action Hero, but that's what comes up first when you Google him. Preferring a much more sedentary life, Jack gets his thrills by covering news, entertainment, celebrity, film and culture for woman&home, and other digital publications.

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