How Harry and Meghan’s Matchmaker Has Key Link to Queen Camilla

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s romance has been explored in multiple accounts since their marriage in 2018, but most thoroughly through the couple’s own media projects—namely their Netflix show and the prince’s memoir.

Though it was accepted that the couple had been introduced by a mutual friend in the summer of 2016, the identity of the friend in question wasn’t fully confirmed until Harry’s book publication seven years later.

The friend, Violet von Westenholz, is a key figure in the couple’s romantic timeline but she also has long-running family links to the royal family. These were displayed prominently on Wednesday, when her parents attended the Royal Ascot horse racing festival alongside Queen Camilla.

Here, Newsweek takes a look at how the friend credited with being Harry and Meghan’s matchmaker is linked to Queen Camilla, and what the couple said about her role in their royal romance.

Violet von Westenholz is a British socialite and public relations director for the American fashion brand Ralph Lauren.

She is the daughter of Baron Piers von Westenholz, a former Olympic skier and celebrated interior decorator. The baron is currently married to his second wife, Baroness Jane von Westenholz née Leveson. Together they have three children: Piers, Violet and Victoria.