Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had been secretly dating for months when their relationship exploded in the tabloids and it's all because of a leak from a royal staff under Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and his daughter, Princess Eugenie.
Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand revealed in the book Finding Freedom that it was an employee working for Princess Eugenie and her father who told the tabloids about Prince Harry's new romance. The press wasted no time running the story after confirming rumors that the royal had been flying across the Atlantic to see his new girlfriend.
As much as the couple wanted to keep their relationship a secret, the cat was out of the bag on October 2016. Incidentally, Eugenie was one of the first few people who knew Harry was dating his future bride.
According to Marie Claire, Harry and Meghan were with Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, the princess' future husband at the time, at a Halloween party in Toronto when the Duke of Sussex got a call from Kensington. The aide told the royal that the press was all set to publish that he's been dating the Suits actress. Prince Harry was, also, told that the leak came from a York royal aide.
Finding Freedom detailed that Harry and Eugenie are very close to each other. The cousins have a natural connection and Harry used to confide in her about women. The Duke of Sussex, apparently, trusts the York princess because she always had great advice. Eugenie once matched her older cousin to her friend, Cressida Bonas, and the pair would date for two years.
But, Eugenie, also, approved of Harry's relationship with Meghan. Apparently, the York princess has been hoping for her cousin to finally settle down. When he met Meghan, the princess thought she was the "tonic" that Harry needed.
The Sussex pair often hung out with Eugenie and Jack during their dating phase. The foursome actually spent holidays together and even went to George and Amal Clooney's Lake Cuomo estate in Italy.
However, Finding Freedom also detailed that Eugenie was upset when Meghan revealed her pregnancy to some of the guests at the Brooksbank couple's wedding in 2018. Eugenie, apparently, told a friend that she had hoped the Sussex pair waited until after the wedding to tell people they were expecting.
The resentment, however, likely didn't last long since the book also noted that Eugenie visited the Sussexes and their son, Archie, in the Frogmore Cottage home in Windsor. The house is near the Royal Lodge, which is the York family's estate.
