Peek into Harry and Meghan's Wedding Plans With Harry Author Katie Nicholl

The countdown to the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has begun. Now royal watchers can read all about it in the new book, Harry: Life, Loss, and Love (Hachette), by journalist and longtime royal expert Katie Nicholl. In the book, Nicholl celebrates the prince and his soon-to-be wife, while also revealing the name of the person who introduced the now famous couple and digging deep into Harry’s story of losing his mother, Princess Diana, at age 12, and growing up (often with mixed reviews) in the public eye.

The author recently talked to Parade and shared what we love so much about this couple, why they click and whether they plan to have children.

With their wedding coming up in May, it seems like the entire world is cheering on Harry and Meghan.

I think everyone is so behind this union. People can’t get enough of this story. It is a love story. It’s a modern royal fairy tale. There’s so much goodwill toward this young couple. Prince Harry’s always had a very special place in people’s hearts, ever since he was a little boy. He lost his mother when he was just 12, so tragically. And he has grown up under the glare of the world, really. And we’ve watched him fall in love, fall out of love and come off the rails and sort his life out and actually make a great success of his life.

Tell us about the book.

It’s really a celebration of Harry’s life. It charts a remarkable renaissance, in my opinion. I wrote my first book (William and Harry: Behind the Palace Walls) about William and Harry back in 2010. I really wanted to do it because I felt there was so much more to Prince Harry’s story. The last couple of years of his life have been so fundamental and important in his personal development. And it feels very much that Meghan Markle is this final piece of the jigsaw.

But the story of this couple is just beginning really.

Yes. As Harry approaches 34, it’s a new chapter in his life. He’s going to be a husband, and hopefully in the not too distant future, a father. And I think people are very, very thrilled for him and thrilled for Meghan. She seems utterly delightful and perfectly suited to this new royal role. And I think most importantly, she’s prepared to work hard. She’s made sacrifices for Prince Harry. And those two things bode really well for them, as does the fact that they’re clearly deeply, madly in love with each other.

Tell us about them as a couple.

Part of what’s so wonderful about them as a couple is that they truly have this wonderful connection. There’s nothing contrived about this whole union. They’re very, very happy together. And for so many people, it’s the happy ending for Prince Harry that we all had hoped that he would have.

How did they manage to keep their relationship secret for so long?

When you think about it, he is one of the most famous people in the world. She of course, less so, or at least she was when she was in, Suits. She was well-known in the TV world, but the idea that these two people were able to date in secret for months before anyone found out about their relationship is quite extraordinary.

I’ve charted Prince Harry’s life and his love life, for the past 10 years or so and if Prince Harry was suddenly dating someone, or seeing someone, we’d hear about it, or I would hear about it through my sources. But he went to great measures to keep this very much under wraps. And I think that’s because he knew from the very early stage, that he’d met someone very special and didn’t want that huge explosion of interest any time soon. He wanted to keep that at bay as long as he could. And then one of the things I reveal in my book is how he and Meghan made this pact together to not tell anyone other than their absolute best friends and their closest family, so that they could keep it a secret. And they did.

Both Harry and Meghan are committed to certain causes. Is that part of their mutual attraction?

One of the things that they bonded over during those early dates was their shared passion for philanthropy. They both knew that they wanted to use their celebrity to do good in the world.

For Prince Harry, who lives a life of duty, to find someone to share that load with has been a real obstacle. It’s not a job for everybody. And so I think he felt really very lucky to have met Meghan and to see her willingness to work hard. And she’s been incredibly impressive. She’s done engagements with great skill, a really charming warmth and a freshness, which is quite different than anything we’ve seen before in terms of the Royal Family. And I think it’s a welcome breath of fresh air.

Anything you can share about the wedding?

I expect on the wedding day, on May the 19, Windsor is just going to be abuzz with fans and royalists and well-wishers, all wanting to see this couple on their wedding day. We know that the party is going to just be for 200 of their guests. And Harry has quite a reputation for being a party prince and he and Meghan really want to have a great big celebratory wedding party. They’re very much in charge of the evening from the catering through to the table plans, through to the entertainment.

And I’m told the royal residence where the party is going to be held is going to be transformed into a magical place in a beautiful marquee, and there will be a huge dance floor and they’ll make delicious food. They’re going to make it very, very special. They want a very intimate and memorable night. And they’re very hands-on with the planning of their wedding.

And the dress?

Well, as soon as the bride arrives it’s all going to be about who she’s chosen to dress her for her wedding day. And I think her friend, Jessica Mulroney, who is one of the people who knew about the wedding from the very early start, has been quite instrumental in helping Meghan behind the scenes. There are lots of opinions that it might be Ralph & Russo, who of course Meghan wore for her engagement pictures. I’ve also heard, Stewart Parvin, which would be a great choice because he’s one of the Queen’s favorite couturiers and he’s British. I think it will stay a very closely guarded secret until the wedding day.

I do know that she wants lace incorporated in her wedding dress. And that she feels that it needs to be something traditional because of course she’s marrying against the very regal, historic and important backdrop that is Windsor Castle, so the dress needs to reflect the grandeur of the occasion.

I think whoever she chooses, she has a very clear idea of what she wants and that seems very typical of Meghan. Not just about the dress, about every part of the wedding, from the cake, which is very much her influence. She’s gone for something that’s not the traditional fruit cake. She’s gone for something quaint, that’s fresh and light and organic and probably incredibly delicious. But certainly very different. And I’m told that she wants to have these very beautiful springtime blooms of peonies that reflect her love of earth and springtime and nature.

Are Meghan and Harry planning to have children right away?

Prince Harry’s been very open wanting to have a family of his own one day. He’s wonderful with children. You only have to watch him when he’s in the company of children to see how great a dad he would be. And I’m told that Meghan is very maternal, that having a family is definitely high-up on her agenda. I think children will happen for a them not too much in the distant future. This has been a whirlwind of a royal romance. And you get the impression that they didn’t want to hang around to get married and I suspect that they won’t want to hang around before talking family.

What are you most looking forward to as you continue to cover the Royal Family?

It’s awfully exciting. We’ve got a royal baby on the way in a couple of weeks and we’ve got the wedding in less than two months. We’ve got two very exciting royal couples to chart now. We’ve all waited for Harry to find the one to settle down with and he certainly seems to have found that partner in Meghan.

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