Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Threw an Animal Onesie Engagement Party

After getting engaged, celebrating the exciting news and kicking off the wedding festivities with a party is pretty standard. At least it is when we're talking about an evening filled with cocktails, appetizers, music, and maybe a few games, surrounded by your loved ones. In true royal fashion, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle commemorated the milestone a little differently. In the second episode of their new Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, which was released on December 8, 2022, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reflected back on their engagement and the “onesie party” they hosted. 

Lucy Fraser, a friend of the couple, says in the episode that Harry and Meghan were thrilled to be engaged. Before the official announcement, the newly-engaged pair wanted to bask in the excitement, so they invited their closest friends to a party with a very casual and comfortable dress code. “Everyone was dressed in animal onesies, and Meg and Harry were in matching penguin onesies because penguins mate for life, and they were so sweet,” Fraser recounts.  

In the docuseries, Harry and Meghan also revisit the night they got engaged. While cooking a roast chicken in Frogmore Cottage, Harry opened a bottle of bubbly, which made Meghan suspicious. “I did pop a bottle of champagne while she was greasing the chicken, and that kind of slightly gave the game away,” he shares in the episode. “She was like, ‘You don’t drink champagne. What’s the occasion?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know. Just had it lying around, whatever.'” 

After trying to play it off, Harry retreated to the north garden, where he spread a picnic blanket and decorated the site with 15 electric candles and roses, according to the episode. While Harry was setting up the display, Meghan shared a play-by-play with her friend Jess over videochat. “Oh my God, Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess, it's happening, it's happening, it's happening!” Meghan exclaimed to her friend. “Oh my God, he told me not to peak. Oh my God!" When Meghan found Harry, he was on one knee, holding a diamond sparkler. Meghan's answer, of course, was “yes.” “We were so joyful and excited,” Meghan reflects. “I was like, ‘Ah, we’re doing this!”

At the start of the next episode, Harry and Meghan reveal the truth behind their engagement interview with Mishal Husain of BBC, which took place after they shared the news from the Sunken Gardens of Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017. Meghan describes the interview as an “orchestrated reality show.” “It was, you know, rehearsed,” she recalls. “So, we did the thing out with the press, and then, we went right inside, took the coat off, and did the interview, so it was all in the same moment.” Meghan clarifies that it felt superficial because they weren’t the ones who spearheaded the conversation. “My point is, we weren’t allowed to tell our story,” she notes. 

The final three episodes of the six-part Netflix docuseries will be available to stream on Thursday, December 15. We anticipate many more royal wedding moments to come.