Suits fans think they’ve figured out the exact moment in show that gives away when Meghan Markle began dating Prince Harry

Suits fans think they have figured out the exact moment in the show that gives away when Meghan Markle began dating Prince Harry. 

The former actress, 43, starred in the American legal drama for seven of its nine series, from 2011 to 2018, before the show’s finale in 2019. 

She married the British royal, 40, in May 2018, after meeting him on a blind date set up by a mutual friend in July 2016. 

They stepped back as senior royals in March 2020 and moved to Montecito, California, where they now raise their two children Archie, six, and Lilibet, three. 

Harry’s fractious relationship with his father King Charles, 76, and his brother Prince William, 43, since then has faced much scrutiny in recent years.

But fans have also turned their attention to another aspect of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex‘s lives – namely when in the filming of Suits they met. 

One fan, who started watching when the programme was added to Netflix in June 2023, said they thought it must be series six, released from July 2016 to March 2017. 

Interestingly, they based this on the progress of the romance between Meghan’s character Rachel Zane and her fellow lawyer Mike Ross (Patrick J Adams). 

The viewer said, on discussion site Reddit: ‘I’m basing this on Mike and Rachel kissing and hugging once despite some seriously intense moments in their story. 

‘Harvey [Specter, a partner in the firm played by Gabriel Macht] and Mike have more sexual chemistry and honestly, I’m rooting for them to make it.’

Another fan agreed: ‘Her hemlines grew even longer and her buttons more buttoned-up on her shirts later in season six. 

‘No more lingering shots on her a** as she walked away too.’

Someone else came down on this side too: ‘I agree on this. 

‘Their chemistry completely disappears and to be honest, I never really thought they had a lot of it to begin with. 

‘But it almost looks like they want nothing to do with each other. Her stress over him going to prison is hardly believable.’

After just two dates, Meghan went on holiday with Harry to Botswana for five days in summer 2016 – which he has said was when he knew she was his ‘soulmate’. 

Initial news of the pair’s romance broke publicly just before Halloween that year and Harry confirmed it in the November. 

They were first photographed together in December 2016, before attending their first public event as a couple in May 2017. 

They announced their engagement in November 2017, before taking on their first royal duties as a pair in December of that year.  

Another fan thought the point in the Suits shoot where Harry and Meghan met could be slightly later than series six. 

The sixth series only came out in July 2016 – just at the point when the Sussexes have said they first met. 

But Meghan has also previously said to Vanity Fair she and Harry were dating for around six months before it became public in late October 2016. 

This suggests they could have met even earlier, perhaps in the late April or May – which muddies the consideration of the Suits shoot timeline even more.  

The fan explained: ‘I was rewatching season seven [released from July 2017 to April 2018] and noticed she was wearing actual pajamas, not lingerie, while sitting up in bed.

‘Mike was not in the bed next to her but sitting aside the bed. I’d say that’s when I noticed for sure but I’m slow on the uptake!’

Someone else agreed: ‘I also noticed in season seven Rachel was a lot more modest.’ 

Similarly, one user commented: ‘I noticed her wearing a lot more baggy and shapeless articles of clothing in season six and wondered if that was why but it looks like the timeline doesn’t add up.’

Beyond Suits, Harry and Meghan’s relationship with Netflix has already sent ripples through the Royal Family. 

In 2020, the streaming service reportedly paid $100million (£73.5million) to the couple for a five-year deal. 

This would include the Sussexes’ incendiary tell-all docuseries Harry & Meghan, which was released in December 2022.

In that programme, Meghan said she had been prevented from getting help when she was feeling suicidal. 

Harry, meanwhile, said the Royal Family had shown unconscious racial bias and of briefing the press to print negative stories.

Following this, Meghan’s first lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan, started streaming on the platform in March, while her brand As Ever was launched in April.

Her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, also released its first episode this spring.

During each of the eight 33-minute episodes of her Netflix show, Meghan was joined by guests as she offered lifestyle tips from inside a rented $8million (£5million) mansion near the Sussexes’ Montecito home. 

With Love, Meghan gives viewers an intimate look into everyday life for the Sussexes, including how the children named two of the chickens ‘Phil’ and ‘Jill’.

The duchess, who lives in an $14million (£11million) home with Prince Harry and their children, says even people in ‘little flats’ in London can enjoy a ‘small piece’ of her luxury Californian lifestyle.

But With Love, Meghan quickly came under attack from reviewers who described it as ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ with a ‘tangible desperation’.

Suits is available to stream on Netflix.