SPOT OF BOT-HER
Prince Harry planned to propose to Meghan Markle in Botswana and NOT Kensington Palace, royal expert claims
PRINCE Harry popped the question to Meghan Markle over a roast chicken at their old Kensington Palace home – but it wasn’t as he had originally planned.
The Duke of Sussex, 34, had initially hoped to propose to Meghan in the far more exotic surroundings of Botswana, according to a new documentary.
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During their engagement interview with BBC on November 27, 2017, Prince Harry said: “It happened a few weeks ago, earlier this month, here at our cottage; just a standard typical night for us.
“We were roasting a chicken, trying to roast a chicken."
But the 2019 Channel 5 documentary Meghan Markle: Movies, Marriage and Motherhood said this wasn’t what the duke had previously had on the cards.
Royal expert Katie Nicholl said: “I had actually been told by one of his friends that he had planned to pop the question in Botswana but for whatever reason he didn’t.
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"It happened a few weeks later while they were home, at Nottingham Cottage roasting a chicken.
"Utter domestic simplicity and bliss and incredibly romantic."
Prince Harry spoke of the Botswana trip in his BBC interview, and revealed: “I managed to persuade her to come join me in Botswana, and we camped out with each other under the stars."
Botswana holds a special place in Prince Harry’s heart, and the main stone in Meghan's engagement ring is from the African country.
Prince Harry told Town & Country in 2017: “This is where I feel more like myself than anywhere else in the world."
But Meghan didn’t seem to put off by the simplistic proposal at their old Nottingham Cottage home, and she said to BBC: “It was so sweet and natural and very romantic."
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It is thought the couple decided they wanted to get married during the trip, after they had been dating for a year.
But Harry could not pop the question until he’d been given written permission by his grandmother, the Queen - a requirement under British law.
A source close to the couple said at the time in 2017: “The trip to Botswana was Harry’s chance to introduce the two loves of his life - Meghan and the country he first visited just weeks after his mother’s death when he was 12.
“That was the moment it all began, started the process that led up to Monday’s official announcement.
“It was, as far as Harry was concerned, the point at which the two of them decided they would get married.
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“But the reality is that, under British law, as fifth-in-line to the throne, they are not officially engaged until after the Queen has given her blessing.
“So unlike a normal couple, who make a private decision, Harry knew he had to go through the formal hoops before the engagement was official.
“With that in mind there was no way Harry could have ‘popped the question’ before getting that literal Royal seal of approval.”
Once Harry had jumped through all the hoops and all the forms had been filled, he got down on one knee at Kensington Palace and asked Meghan to be his bride.
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