- - Prince Harry Planned Secret Trip for First New Year's With Meghan Markle—Including 7 Days of This Unexpected Activity

Rachel BurchfieldDecember 31, 2025 at 10:00 PM

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announcing their engagement on November 27, 2017The Gist -

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met and began dating in the summer of 2016.

They didn’t spend their first Christmas as a couple together, as Harry went to Sandringham while Meghan celebrated in Toronto, where she was living at the time.

They did sneak away for a romantic New Year’s getaway to Norway, though.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle initially met over the summer of 2016, and while Meghan didn’t spend Christmas at Sandringham that year, she and Harry did ring in the new year side-by-side in a secret trip to Norway.

Harry spent Christmas 2016 with the royal family at Sandringham, while Meghan hosted her mother, Doria Ragland, in Toronto, where she was living at the time filming Suits. For the new year, though, the couple traveled to Tromsø, Norway, where The Sun reported they enjoyed “whale-watching, sunsets in the snow, and watched the Aurora Borealis.”

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

“Harry wanted to make this first holiday something [she] will never forget,” a source told the outlet. “It wasn’t an obvious choice like a glitzy beach resort or tropical island. He’d put a lot of thought into it and wanted to make it as romantic and special as possible.”

“Harry wanted to get away from everyone and be totally on their own—just them,” the insider added. “The Northern Lights are at their best at this time of year and currently have been the most amazing for ages. They really have had an unforgettable time.”

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on December 1, 2017

In their 2020 book Finding Freedom, royal biographers Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand wrote that “Harry planned a New Year’s trip where they could really get away from it all. He rung up his pal Inge Solheim, a Norwegian adventure guide Harry had befriended during a Walking with the Wounded charity trek back in 2011. Inge had gone all out for Harry when he was with [ex-girlfriend] Cressida [Bonas], arranging a top secret 2014 ski trip to Kazakhstan.”

Solheim said, “it’s always my pleasure to help a friend like Harry,” and the trip was arranged, per Finding Freedom, to provide “absolutely no chance of being bothered by photographers. There, Harry and Meghan enjoyed seven days of dog sledding, whale watching, dining on local delicacies, and snuggling to watch as the Aurora Borealis lit up the skies.”

Upon returning to London from Norway, Meghan met Kate Middleton for the first time, right after the future queen’s January 9 birthday.

Getty Images Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on September 25, 2017

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Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Philip, Meghan Markle, and Prince Harry on December 25, 2017

“Harry is more serious [about Meghan] than he ever has been about a woman before,” a source told E! News at the time. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s already thinking about engagement just because that’s where his head goes, but that’s not where the relationship is at right now.”

Harry proposed 10 months later in November 2017, and the couple spent their first Sandringham Christmas together the next month before sneaking away to the French Riviera for New Year’s 2018. Of her first Christmas at Sandringham, Harry later told BBC Radio 4’s Today program, “It was fantastic. She really enjoyed it. The family loved having her there.”

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Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”