On the cusp of a life-altering revelation, the British prince and the American actress from “Suits” were about to have one last evening of anonymity.

Just hours before news of their relationship would make headlines worldwide, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle enjoyed a final evening of freedom, blending into the crowd one last time.

Despite their seemingly contrasting backgrounds, the pair had been introduced three months earlier by a mutual friend, meeting for a blind date at the prestigious Soho House in London.

Afterward, their courtship was marked by a series of secretive encounters, with both often donning disguises to preserve, as Harry shares in his revealing memoir “Spare,” their private world.

By October 2016, deeply enamored with Meghan, the Duke of Sussex traveled to Toronto to immerse himself in her daily life—her cherished dogs, and the modest home she loved.

Recounting this visit in “Spare” as his “first proper visit,” Harry expressed his excitement to delve into Meghan’s Canadian life, where she had been residing for the past five years while working on “Suits.”

And while their trip consisted of walking through ‘big, open ravines and parks’ and strolling through Meghan’s neighbourhood, the couple still operated under a shroud of secrecy, remaining ‘ever cautious’ of their identities being discovered.

But their secret rendezvous were to be short-lived. The world was catching on. 

Having been made aware their relationship was about to become world news, the pair, never fearful of breaking with precedent, chose to spend their final hours of secrecy in a manner far removed from Royal protocol.

In a rather ominous indication of what was to come, they attended a Halloween party hosted at Toronto’s Soho House, with an ‘apocalypse’ theme. 

They were joined by Harry’s close cousin Princess Eugenie and her now-husband Jack Brooksbank, alongside Meghan’s friend Markus.

Eugenie and Meghan were introduced by their mutual friend, fashion designer Misha Nonoo, before Meghan had even met Harry.

But for Harry, the party invitation provoked a degree of anxiety. ‘I mumbled to Meg that I’d not had great luck with themed fancy-dress parties, but I’d give it another go’, Harry recalled. 

The prince was no doubt referring to the scandal that ensued when he infamously wore a Nazi costume to a ‘native and colonial’ fancy dress costume party in 2008.

At 20 years old, Harry attended the party dressed in a mock uniform that featured the Nazis’ infamous swastika on his arm and the badge of the German Wehrmacht on his collar.

During Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series, released in 2022, the prince expressed contrition for his 2005 gaffe, describing the outfit choice as one of the ‘biggest mistakes’ of his life. 

And so, more than ten years later, Harry’s fancy dress outfit choice for their Halloween extravaganza was a matter for careful consideration.

But rather than purchasing an outfit online or visiting a fancy dress shop, the prince instead sought the direct assistance of actor and close friend Tom Hardy, borrowing his outfit from the hit action film Mad Max. 

As intended, the prince’s costume, which featured a skeleton mask and dark concealing clothing, made him entirely ‘unrecognisable’, while his soon-to-be wife donned ‘torn black shorts, a camo top and fishnet stockings’.

Jovial images captured by Harry and Meghan before the party showed what easily could have been mistaken for an entirely normal group of friends. 

The group shots make it almost hard to comprehend that the same playful foursome served as integral members of the British Royal Family.

Speaking to former presenter Ellen DeGeneres in a surprise talk show interview in November 2021, Meghan explained both her and Harry’s desire to have ‘one fun night on the town before it was out in the world that we were a couple’.

Describing the night as ‘so great’ and ‘just silly fun’, she added that she and Harry had ‘wanted to pull the pin on the fun grenade’ and had deliberately ‘snuck out in Halloween costumes’ to have ‘one fun final night out’.  

In one last final extravaganza shrouded in secrecy, Harry recalled in his memoir the moment they entered the ‘loud, dark’ and ‘drunk’ party incognito. 

Chuffed with the incredible success of his costume, the Prince revealed that while ‘several people did double-takes as Meg passed through the rooms’, not a single person ‘looked twice at her dystopian date’.

For a man who had never known a moment of anonymity, it was a surreal experience.

While he was fifth in line to the throne and one of the most recognisable people in the world, in that moment he simply blended into the crowd. 

‘I wished I could wear this disguise every day’, he recalled. 

But as the sun rose, another apocalypse was coming. The lives of Prince Harry and Meghan were to be changed for ever. 

Harry recalled the moment the news broke, minutes before he was due to leave for the airport. 

Asking Meghan if she was fearful for their future now their relationship had been exposed, she responded: ‘Yes. No. Maybe.’

But Harry was slightly less optimistic about their new life in the public eye. He issued an ominous warning to the future duchess: ‘We’re going to be haunted. No two ways about it’, before insisting that he would keep her ‘safe’.

And yet when the prince landed in London’s Heathrow Airport, any speculation about a romantic relationship between the pair appeared to have passed, given there were no confirmed reports of it and no photos had been taken.

It was to be, according to Harry, the ‘calm before the s*** storm’, as Meghan Markle was finally exposed to the world as the prince’s new lover. 

On November 8, Kensington Palace released a statement confirming their relationship. 

And, in a rare turn of events, Harry also issued a lengthy appeal to the media claiming that Meghan had been at the receiving end of harassment, ‘sexism and racism’ .

He acknowledged that there was ‘significant curiosity about his private life’ but appealed to people to respect Meghan’s privacy.

‘Prince Harry is worried about Ms Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her,’ the note read. ‘It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms Markle should be subjected to such a storm.’

But despite the public being made aware of their budding romance, the pair kept a relatively low profile for nearly a year. 

In September 2017, Meghan spoke openly about her relationship with Harry for the first time in an interview with Vanity Fair for the October 2017 issue.

‘I can tell you that at the end of the day I think it’s really simple. We’re two people who are really happy and in love,’ she said.

Their first public appearance wasn’t to be until the following September, with the pair seen holding hands and sharing laughs as they watched the Invictus Games in Toronto. 

Meghan’s outfit choice of ripped jeans and a white shirt called The Husband – designed by her friend Misha Nonoo – only fuelled rumours that the pair would soon get engaged.

Within hours of the couple stepping out together, bookies Ladbrokes had suspended betting on an engagement announcement.

Two months later, the couple’s engagement was duly announced, with the pair marrying in a fairytale ceremony at St George’s Chapel in Windsor the following May.

But their final night of apocalyptic fun was perhaps a sign of the couple’s tendency to deviate from royal tradition, alongside their self-proclaimed desire for privacy, which they cited as one of the key reasons for ‘Megxit’ in 2020.

The couple expressed their frustration at the intense public scrutiny they encountered and claimed the constant barrage of criticism was detrimental to their well-being. 

And after leaving the Firm, Meghan and Harry maintained the close relationship with Eugenie and Jack they had developed during their early courting years.

In their Netflix series Harry & Meghan, it was revealed that Princess Eugenie had spent time with the duke and duchess, alongside their son Archie, while in Los Angeles. 

Following their high-profile exit from royal duties, Eugenie became the first member of the Royal Family to publicly visit Harry and Meghan as they forged a new life across the pond. 

The pair were photographed watching the Super Bowl at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, shortly after the news broke that Prince Harry was working on his tell-all memoir about his life in the royal family.

Eugenie even appeared in the finale episode of the six-part docuseries, while in the first three episodes, she was the only member of the Royal Family to feature in a number of personal snaps shared by the Sussexes. 

In the Sussex biography Finding Freedom, royal experts Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand wrote: ‘Out of all the Queen’s grandchildren, Harry and Eugenie have one of the most natural connections.’ The book also describes them as the ‘closest of friends’.

‘Like Harry, Eugenie is loyal, honest and great fun,’ the book continues. ‘The two had many nights out together in London, sneaking into back entrances of clubs, such as Mahiki, where Jack once was manager, or Tonteria, where in one of the VIP cave areas they downed shots from Mexican skull shaped glasses and a giant frozen margarita (with multiple straws).’

In the tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview, in which Harry and Meghan criticised the Royal Family, Eugenie was singled out for praise.

Meghan said: ‘Eugenie and I had known each other before I had known Harry, so that was comfortable […] We’re friends with them as a couple.’

She also referred to the Duchess of York as ‘Fergie’, hinting at a friendship that would have surprised many viewers.

Meanwhile, at the King’s Coronation in 2023, while relations were believed to be tense between Harry and the remainder of the Royal Family, the duke was captured walking into Westminster Abbey alongside Princess Eugenie and sharing a ‘happy exchange’ with Jack.

Despite being separated by distance, Harry and Eugenie are also said to have bonded over the shared difficulty of carving a role for themselves within the Firm – with Eugenie, who does not serve as a working royal, having to forge her own career path.