Following their appearance at the Prince of Wales' 70th Birthday Patronage Celebration, days after their wedding on 19 May, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were noticeably M.I.A from London until the Trooping the Colour on Saturday afternoon.
The reason?
The newlyweds are rumoured to have squeezed in a two-week holiday between their public appearances at a mystery destination.
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The location of their romantic getaway is yet to be disclosed, but the Canadian resort - Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta's Jasper National Park - where the royal couple were rumoured, were forced to deny that the royals had booked a stay there.
Meanwhile, despite reports from TMZ suggesting the newlyweds might have booked a stay at the Fairmont hotel in Toronto, that resort also denied any such thing.
Other possible destinations include Botswana - a special location for the couple where the Prince sourced diamonds for Meghan's ring - and Zambia, where the couple stayed in a £2,500-a-night safari lodge last year.
Before their holiday, royal expert Omid Scobie, who was ABC News's royal contributor during the wedding, explained the lengths the newlyweds were going to make sure their trip stayed private.
‘The honeymoon destination has changed a few times since they started planning,’ Scobie told ELLE.
‘If a location leaks prior to travel, it compromises their safety on the trip, and they’ll be advised by their protection team to change plans. William and Kate’s protection officers ended up doing recon on two destinations before they settled on the Seychelles for their 2011 honeymoon. I heard that just over a month before the wedding, Harry and Meghan hadn’t even booked a destination, so these plans have come together rather quickly!’
Harry and Meghan delayed their honeymoon to the undisclosed location in order to fulfil their royal duties.
‘The couple will be going on honeymoon, but not straightaway,’ Kensington Palace spokesman Jason Knauf said, according to People, before their nuptials. ‘They will have their first engagement as a married couple in the week after the wedding.’
Prince Harry was spotted for the first time since his rumoured romantic holiday at Kensington Palace on Thursday 7 June for the OnSide Youth Zones gala dinner where he was being honoured.
Similarly, Prince William and Kate Middleton postponed their honeymoon to the Seychelles for 10 days after their wedding. Instead, the newlyweds - who married in 2011 - opted to spend their first weekend as newlyweds in the UK.
At the time, a St James's Palace spokesman said: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen not to depart for a honeymoon immediately.
‘Instead, after spending the weekend privately in the United Kingdom, the Duke will return to work as a search and rescue pilot next week.
‘The locations of both their private weekend before the Duke returns to work and their future honeymoon, which will be overseas, will not be disclosed in advance.’
Prince William was due back at work on the four days after his wedding to his job as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot in Anglesey, Wales.
Weeks later, the couple jetted off to the exclusive Seychelles North Island destination - nicknamed ‘the Island of Love’ - and on their return thanked the island’s officials for a ‘memorable and special 10 days’, revealing they ‘thoroughly enjoyed their time together’ on the island.
Following the couple's visit, the head of the Seychelles tourism board, Alain St Ange, told the Associated Press: 'They left happy and clearly content with their stay.'
It was widely speculated several newspapers knew of the secret location of William and Kate’s honeymoon before they jetted off, but the majority chose not to send photographers after the royal couple’s requests for privacy.
However, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were reportedly ‘surprised and upset’ after beach photographs of their honeymoon appeared in Australian magazine, Woman’s Day. The snaps reportedly showed the couple in swimwear on a beach.
Following Prince Charles’ marriage to Princess Diana on 29 July 1981, the couple reportedly spent the first few days of their honeymoon at the royal estate in Balmoral before boarding the Royal Yacht Britannia and enjoying a two week honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean.
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Anyone want to place bets on where Harry and Meghan jetted off to for their honeymoon?
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
