When Harry met Meghan: the blind date that changed the Royal family

Ms Markle, now the Duchess, told confidantes after their third date, a trip to Botswana: "I've never felt that safe, that close to someone in such a short amount of time."

For their "Sussex Squad", the romantic journey from blind date to very quickly being "almost obsessed with each other" is the ultimate confirmation of true love. For others, the description in Finding Freedom may give greater insight into the concerns of friends and family around them.

Previous extracts of the book, serialised in The Times and The Sunday Times, claimed the Duke of Cambridge felt bound to reassure his younger brother that he should "take as much time as you need to get to know this girl", after around nine months of dating and ahead of their engagement.

Prince Harry considered the phrasing "snobbish" and condescending, it is claimed, beginning a rift between the brothers. Last night, details of the courtship were made public in a new extract, detailing the first blind date in the Dean Street Townhouse in Soho, through to the Duke's determination to cut anyone who questioned their relationship out of their lives.

"Almost immediately they were almost obsessed with each other," a friend told authors Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie. "It was as if Harry was in a trance."

Shortly afterwards, Ms Markle began to follow a mystery account named @SpikeyMau5 on Instagram, belonging to an undercover Prince Harry. After a second date: "Harry knew they would be together at that point. She was ticking every box fast."

A trip to Botswana, technically their third date, saw them "already dancing around the idea that this just may be a forever thing". And after three months, they declared their love.

"It was Harry who said it first, but Meghan immediately replied, 'I love you, too'," the book says.

From the moment of their meeting, the authors say, Prince Harry was "sensitive to even the slightest hint of prejudice". "When some questioned his new relationship, and whether she was suitable, he would wonder, 'Is this about race? Is it snobbery?'."

"An old friend of Harry's spent an afternoon gossiping about Meghan, making disparaging remarks about her Hollywood background. Word got back to Harry, and the prince immediately cut him off."

According to The Sunday Times: "No personal detail is spared in the book."

"From their son Archie's expression as he entered the world, to the name of their labrador, sensitive conversations with members of the Royal family... it is all in there."

It is understood that the labrador, which has moved with her owners in Los Angeles, is called Pula, which translates in Botswana to "rain" and means "blessing", used as an expression of good luck.

The Telegraph, London