Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had only been dating for one year when they got engaged and this was because of a crucial reason, a royal author has claimed.

The couple’s love story began with a blind date in 2016. The following year, they announced their engagement and then they got married in a star-studded ceremony at Windsor Castle in May 2018.

It is claimed that Harry’s brother, Prince William, who dated Catherine for eight years before proposing, was “nervous” about how quickly the couple were moving at the beginning of their relationship as he worried that Meghan would struggle to adapt to royal life in such a short time. However, Harry brushed off his brother’s concerns, claiming he had to marry Meghan quickly as her “biological clock was ticking” since she was almost 35 years old, according to royal author Tina Brown.

Harry and Meghan with William and Catherine following the death of Queen Elizabeth II ( 
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She wrote in her book “The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor” that William was worried Harry “was heading for trouble” due to the fact Meghan had to change her whole life, give up acting, and move from the US to the UK, where she didn’t know many people. Ms Brown, who previously edited Tatler and The New Yorker, claimed William was also worried that Meghan was not prepared for the “scorching scrutiny and harassment” that comes with being a member of the Royal Family.

But according to the book, Harry’s response to William’s concerns was that he would need to marry Meghan “as quickly as possible” so that she could receive the same police protection that he did while he was still a working royal. And it has also been claimed that Harry said that Meghan’s biological clock was ticking since she was a month from turning 35, the Daily Mail reported.

In 2022, a similar claim was also made by royal author Tom Bower, who wrote in his book that after her first date with Harry, Meghan told a friend her biological clock was ticking and she wanted children. The couple, who moved to the US in 2020 after stepping down as senior royals, are now parents to Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three.

Harry and Meghan engaged their engagement in 2017 ( 
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Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Back in 2017, Harry admitted “the stars were aligned” as he opened up on his relationship with Meghan. He told BBC presenter Mishal Husain during their first joint TV interview: “The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was confirmation to me that all the stars were aligned, everything was just perfect. This beautiful woman just tripped and fell into my life, I fell into her life.”

Speaking about the moment Harry got down on one knee, Meghan said: “Just a cosy night, it was – what we were doing just roasting chicken and having …” Interrupting Meghan, Harry said: “Roasting a chicken, trying to roast a chicken.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Unidad Recreativa El Vallado in Colombia in August ( 
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Archewell Foundation via Getty Images)
Meghan continued: “Trying to roast a chicken and it just – just an amazing surprise, it was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee.” The former actress admitted she “barely” let her now-husband finish proposing before she said: “Can I say yes now?”

Harry added: “She didn’t even let me finish, she said can I say yes, can I say yes and then were was hugs and I had the ring in my finger and I was like can I – can I give you the ring? She goes – oh yes the ring. So no it was – it was a really nice moment, it was just the two of us and I think managed to catch – catch her by surprise as well.”