Meghan Markle wanted to work on West End but offered role in pantomime in UK before first date with Prince Harry

Some years before the first date with Prince Harry that would begin one of the royal family’s greatest and polarising love stories, Meghan was offered a role in the UK that wasn’t quite what she was expecting.

Meghan had travelled to London to meet with agents and public relations firms in her bid to break into the UK market and had hopes of getting a role on the famous West End.

She had previously met Nick Ede, who describes himself as a “culture and brand expert”, when he asked the-then actress to co-host the Global Gift Giving Gala in 2013, in London.

READ MORE: King and Kate make triumphant return to major royal event

They were friends for a few years but Ede eventually lost contact with Meghan soon after she started dating Prince Harry when “she had to cull everybody”, he said previously.

Now, Ede has opened up about Meghan’s push to find local acting opportunities including dreams of landing a starring role in a play or musical on West End, London’s equivalent to Broadway in New York.

“She asked me to find her an agent,” Ede told HELLO!‘s A Right Royal Podcast.

“At the time she was going to be on Suits, she had three or four months where she could kind of do what she wanted to do.

“She’d seen other celebrities go into the West End and offer them a short run. So she wanted to do that. So I took her around to see some agents.”

READ MORE: Windsor, Wales and Sussex – who has a surname in the royal family

But what was suggested to Meghan was a little less prestigious.

“On one occasion, which I won’t name the agent who we took her to, but he was very pompous and he turned around to her and he said, ‘Ah, I can’t really imagine you on the West End stage, but you know David Hasselhoff?’

“And she was like, ‘Yeah, I know David Hasselhoff.’

A closer look at Kate’s jewels with links to royal history

“‘Well, he makes a lot of money in pantomime, and I can see you in pantomime.'”

Meghan never ended up on stage and didn’t end up working in the UK as an actress.

She returned to England in 2016 when she was travelling in between seasons of Suits.

Meghan and Prince Harry first had contact via Instagram after Harry reached out to their mutual friend, who contacted Meghan via email, and said “Prince Haz” wanted to meet her.

Their first date was at Soho House in London.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal relationship in pictures

By August 2016, she and Harry had met twice in-person, and decided to meet up in Botswana for a five-day camping trip to really get to know each other. In October 2016, their relationship was confirmed to the public.

November, 2017, saw Prince Harry announce his engagement to Meghan and they married inside St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in May 2018.

Ede said he lost contact with Meghan soon after her relationship with Harry was made public.

“I got the Piers Morgan treatment in the end, but actually, we were messaging each other when she felt pretty bullied and Prince Harry put out that statement,” he said.

“We were messaging each other and I said, ‘Look, I’m really glad you’ve got somebody who’s actually supporting you.’ She was like, ‘that really means a lot.’

“Our friendship was a genuinely good friendship.”

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.