Tom Bower’s new book “Revenge” says that when Meghan Markle met Prince Harry, she was still living with Cory Vitiello.
A new book says that when Meghan Markle went on her first date with Prince Harry, she was still living with her chef boyfriend at the time, Corey Vitiello.
“Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors,” which is now out in the UK, says that Meghan, who was an actress on the USA Network show “Suits” at the time, made a plan in 2016 to make friends with a group of well-connected Brits.
Violet von Westenholz, a childhood friend of Harry’s who worked as a publicist for Ralph Lauren, was one of them. Meghan was hired by the designer to wear his clothes at the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2016.
Tom Bower writes that Meghan talked to Von Westenholz at Wimbledon and convinced this “sensitive soul” to set her up on a blind date with the prince.
“Her problems were the same as those of all unknown, unmarried actors in their mid-thirties: fear of being alone and insecurity in their personal lives and finances,” Bower writes. “It’s not a surprise that Meghan was worried about her own financial security and about finding a husband.”
The book says that before Westenholz agreed to the set-up, he sent Harry photos of the actress with dark hair.
Piers von Westenholz, Von Westenholz’s father, is an interior decorator and antique dealer. He is also an old friend of Camilla, Prince Charles’s wife. As kids, Princes Harry and William played with Violet when they went to the Westenholz’s country estate in Hertfordshire on the weekends and on family trips.
Bower says that Meghan’s two-year relationship with Vitiello, a chef from Toronto, was coming to an end when she met Harry, but they were still living together.
The book also says that two weeks after their first date on July 1, 2016, “Harry flew secretly to Toronto. He stayed at the house of a friend of Meghan’s, probably Jessica Mulroney, for about a week. Cory was still living in Meghan’s house, which made things difficult but not impossible.
“When he went back to London at the end of the week, Meghan was sure that her spell had worked and that her relationship with Harry was set in stone. She told Cory that she was done with him,” Bower writes.
“He was relieved,” the book says of Vitiello. “The last months had been bad.”
