Prince Harry has opened up about a surprising piece of advice he gave to Meghan Markle when they first started dating: not to take a photo in front of the Taj Mahal.
The Duke of Sussex shared this detail in his memoir Spare, which was released on Tuesday (December 14). In the book, he recounts his life as a royal, his relationship with Meghan, and his decision to step back from his duties.
Harry explained that he warned Meghan not to pose at the Taj Mahal because he did not want her to be compared to his late mother, Princess Diana, who famously sat alone on a bench outside the monument in 1992.
The iconic photo of Diana was taken during her visit to India with Prince Charles, and it became a symbol of their troubled marriage, which ended in divorce in 1996. Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
Harry wrote that he told Meghan: "Do not take a photo in front of the Taj Mahal."
He continued: "She'd asked why and I'd said: 'My mum'. I'd explained that my mother had posed for a photo there, and it had become iconic, and I didn't want anyone thinking Meg was trying to mimic my mother."
However, Harry said that Meghan had never seen or heard of the photo of Diana, and that she was "baffled" by his request.
"Meg had never heard of this photo, and found the whole thing baffling, and I loved her for being baffled," he wrote.
Harry said that he appreciated Meghan's ignorance of the photo, as it showed that she was not interested in the media attention or the public perception of their relationship.
He said that he wanted to protect Meghan from the scrutiny and criticism that his mother faced, and that he wanted to carve out their own path as a couple.
Harry and Meghan met in 2016 and got married in 2018. They have two children, Archie and Lilibet. In 2020, they announced that they were stepping back from their roles as senior royals and moving to the US, where they have signed deals with Netflix and Spotify.
Harry's brother, Prince William, and his wife, Kate Middleton, visited the Taj Mahal in 2016, during their tour of India. They posed for a photo on the same bench as Diana, but they smiled and held hands, in contrast to Diana's somber expression.
William and Kate said that they wanted to pay tribute to Diana and to create their own memories at the Taj Mahal, which is known as a symbol of love.
