Walking hand-in-hand along the paved promenade next to a sun-drenched marina, they could be any young couple enjoying a Caribbean vacation.
But that romantic couple is the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal, have jetted off to the tiny island of Canouan in St Vincent and the Grenadines after spending a week promoting mental health projects in New York .
A photo taken by a passerby on Friday shows the couple leaving a gourmet food shop inside the Sandy Lane Yacht Club and Marina in Glossy Bay.
Meghan, 42, wore a simple ivory maxi dress and a striped Panama hat, while husband Harry, 39, kept it casual in navy shorts and a white T-shirt and flip-flops.
Harry and Meghan jetted off to the tiny island of Canouan in St Vincent and the Grenadines after a week spent promoting mental health projects in New York.
A photo taken by a passerby on Friday shows the couple leaving a gourmet food shop inside the Sandy Lane Yacht Club and Marina in Glossy Bay.
During his weeklong visit to New York City, the pair attended a summit to mark World Mental Health Day
The island – whose name means “turtle island” in the Caribbean language – is a short 45-minute hop from Barbados or an even shorter 15-minute trip from St Vincent.
The pair were childless Archie, 4, and two-year-old Lilibet and were ‘in love’ with each other according to the onlooker.
A source told DailyMail.com: “They looked happy. As Harry left the shop he bumped a little into one of the barrels (outside) and they both laughed and Meghan reached out for his hand.
They just looked so happy to be spending the holidays together.
Meghan and Harry had been shopping at Faye – a high-end grocer which bills itself as offering an “exclusive selection of fresh seasonal organic produce, from vegetables to cheeses, sweets, seafood and exclusive cuts of meat” imported from France.
After browsing the racks, the couple enjoyed a stroll along the bougainvillea-adorned promenade before boarding a luxury tender that whisked them away to Canouan’s northern coast.
The tiny Caribbean island is only three miles wide, but has a reputation as the place where ‘billionaires go to escape millionaires’ due to its gorgeous sandy beaches and handful of luxury resorts.
Options include the glamorous Canouan Estate Resort and Villas, Mandarin Oriental and Soho Beach House Canouan.
Rooms at the Mandarin Oriental start at $837 and rise to more than $9,000 a night for the property’s four-bedroom luxury villa, while the Soho Beach House is a relative bargain at $1,200 for its most luxurious room, though members like Meghan get a discount and pay $1020 per night.
Meghan has long been linked to the Soho House properties due to her long-standing friendship with Markus Anderson, the lifestyle club chain’s chief membership officer.
It was Anderson who arranged a private room at London’s Soho House for the Montecito-based couple’s first date, while Meghan enjoyed a quiet night before her 2018 nuptials at Soho Farmhouse in Chipping Norton, UK.
Like Oxfordshire, Canouan is popular with many friends and acquaintances of the couple, with George Clooney and his wife Amal among the famous names who have fallen in love with the island’s charms.
Other fans of Canouan include Robert Downey Jr and Leonardo DiCaprio, both of whom have been known to holiday there.
The tiny Caribbean island is only three miles wide, but has a reputation as the place where ‘billionaires go to escape millionaires’ due to its gorgeous sandy beaches and handful of luxury resorts. Options include the glamorous Canouan Estate Resort and Villas, Mandarin Oriental and Soho Beach House Canouan
Soho Beach House rooms cost $1,200 a night for its most luxurious accommodations, Meghan has long been associated with Soho House properties due to her longtime friendship with Markus Anderson, the chain’s Head of Membership of living.
Meghan and Harry had been shopping at Faye – a high-end grocer which bills itself as offering an “exclusive selection of fresh seasonal organic produce, from vegetables to cheeses, sweets, seafood and exclusive cuts of meat” imported from France.
After browsing the racks, the couple enjoyed a stroll along the bougainvillea-lined promenade before boarding a luxury tender that whisked them away to Canouan’s north coast
The island — whose name means “turtle island” in the Caribbean language — is a short 45-minute hop from Barbados or an even shorter 15-minute trip from St. Vincent.
Commercial flights to Barbados and St. Vincent are widely available while the Grenadines Air Alliance has frequent scheduled flights between the islands, although many celebrity visitors choose to fly direct by private jet.
It’s also a long way from another royal favorite – the island of Mustique, also part of St Vincent and the Grenadines, where the late Princess Margaret owned a luxury villa called Les Jolies Eaux (the beautiful waters).
In recent years, Mustique has become a favorite of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who often holiday there with their three children and Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton.
Like Canouan, Mustique is a small, secluded island that offers the ultimate in luxury accommodation and boasts some famous fans, including Mick Jagger, Bryan Adams and Tommy Hilfiger, who all have homes there.
The Sussexes’ Caribbean holiday comes at the end of a week which saw them return to New York City for the first time since being involved in a “near-disastrous” car chase in Manhattan in May.
The pair were widely mocked after releasing a statement describing a ‘relentless pursuit’ lasting two hours that resulted in ‘multiple near misses’ only for the NYPD to say the incident was just ‘a bit chaotic’.
This week’s visit proved less controversial with the pair attending a summit to mark World Mental Health Day.
The eco-conscious couple, who were staying at the Equinox Hotel at Hudson Yards, got a bit of a kick out of getting stuck in a seven-car convoy of gas-guzzling SUVs to the event, but otherwise enjoyed a quiet ride. .
Meghan, 42, arrived at the summit in a $987 off-the-shoulder white Altuzarra blazer with matching white trousers and heels, which she accessorised with a $4,100 gold and emerald choker by Logan Hollowell.
Meghan, who wore a $987 Altuzarra blazer for the panel discussion, used the discussion to share her fears for children using social media, saying:
“As parents, even though our kids are really young, they’re two and a half and four and a half… but social media isn’t going away.
“I think by design, there was an entry point that was supposed to be positive in creating community and something has gone through, and there’s no way to listen to that and not try to help these families get their stories heard .”
The couple’s trip to New York also saw them visit a school in Brooklyn and weigh in on the crisis gripping the Middle East after Hamas terrorists killed 1,300 Israeli civilians in a horror attack last Saturday.
A statement released through the Archewell Foundation’s website said: “At the Archewell Foundation, with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, we stand against all acts of terrorism and brutality.
“We are supporting our partners and organizations on the front line in Israel to provide the urgently needed aid and help all innocent victims of this unconscionable level of human suffering.”
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