Prince Harry realized Meghan Markle was his “soulmate” during one of their trips to Africa.
The Duke of Sussex, 37, recalled the sweet memory Monday while delivering a keynote address in honor of Nelson Mandela International Day at the the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
“Since I first visited Africa at 13 years old, I’ve always found hope on the continent,” he shared, calling it his “lifeline” where he’s “found peace and healing time and time again.”
“It’s where I felt closest to my mother and sought solace after she died,” he went on, “and where I knew I’d found a soulmate in my wife.”
Harry and Meghan, 40, visited the continent twice during their courtship and once after they were married.
The couple first traveled to Botswana shortly after they began dating in July 2016 and returned the following August to celebrate the Duchess of Sussex’s 36th birthday.
Days after they unveiled their joint Instagram account in April 2019, Harry and Meghan shared a photo from their second trip to Botswana that showed them putting a satellite collar on a bull elephant to help conservationists keep track of the animal’s critical migratory patterns to protect it from poachers.
The two tied the knot in May 2018 at London’s St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in a high-profile wedding attended by royals and celebrities alike.
The following September — less than five months after Meghan gave birth to the couple’s first child, son Archie — the family of three embarked on a 10-day tour of Africa.
Harry told a British broadcaster at the time that he felt “more like myself” in Africa than anywhere else, adding that Cape Town would be an “amazing place for us to be able to base ourselves,” per the Sunday Times of London.
However, in early 2020, Harry, Meghan and Archie, now 3, briefly moved from the UK to Vancouver Island in Canada after stepping back as senior members of the royal family.
The Sussexes, who are also parents to 1-year-old daughter Lilibet, soon ended up setting up shop in Santa Barbara, Calif., where they currently reside in a $14.7 million Montecito mansion.
