Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have taken a detour through Portugal on their way home from the Invictus Games, according to reports.
According to Portuguese media, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, 39 and 42, took a “lightning romantic escape” to the village of Melides in the Alentejo region after a week in Dusseldorf – and may have caught up with Princess Eugenie. and so does Jack Brooksbank.
Prince Andrew’s daughter, 33, and her wine merchant husband, 37, have strong ties to the region where Jack works in marketing and sales at the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club.
Now Portuguese magazine Nova Gente has reported that the Sussexes flew back to Montecito, California, via Portugal at the invitation of Eugenie.
Despite a fraught relationship with most of his family, Prince Harry has revealed he is close to Eugenie and shared clips of days out with her in his $100 million Netflix series last December.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex may have returned to California via Portugal, to an area where Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank spend a lot of time
In several of Harry and Meghan’s clips, Eugenie is pictured visiting the Sussexes in California as they go on bike rides together.
The Sussexes also shared photos from the Halloween party they held at Frogmore Cottage shortly before their relationship went public, which saw the foursome all dressed up as pilots.
Over the years, Eugenie has been Harry’s close friend, confidante and even matchmaker. Now seen as one of his closest allies within the royal family, she remains steadfast in her support of him and Meghan in the wake of their move to California and a series of explosive tell-all interviews.
In their smash Netflix series Harry & Meghan, the Sussexes revealed they had partied with Eugenie and Jack at Frogmore Cottage before their relationship went public
A source said this last month People that Harry and Eugenie are ‘best friends’ and ‘talk constantly’.
Harry has long had a good relationship with Beatrice and Eugenie.
Harry and Eugenie grew up together in royal parks and frolicked on the slopes on family ski holidays. Although their older siblings, Prince William and Princess Beatrice, were also there, it was always clear that Harry and Eugenie’s relationship was special.
Their connection is rooted not only in their shared experience as young royals and younger siblings finding their own paths in life, but also as children of parents whose dirty laundry was aired in the press.
“From an early age, Eugenie had to deal with embarrassing headlines from both her father and mother,” Prince Andrew author Nigel Crawthorne previously told Femail.
‘Harry also had to deal with his share of headlines, and this bond between them was a great comfort to them.’
Despite being born five years apart, Harry and Eugenie often spent time together as children thanks to the friendship between their mothers, Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson, who packed the kids for joint family holidays.
Photos from a ski trip in 1995 show William and Harry laughing in the snow with the two young sisters from York, trudging up the slope with the girls following determinedly behind them. Beatrice and Eugenie also featured in the last Christmas card Princess Diana sent before her death.
“Of all the Queen’s grandchildren, Harry and Eugenie have one of the most natural connections,” wrote Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand in the Sussex biography Finding Freedom. The book also describes them as the ‘best friends’.