In their 2022 Netflix docuseries detailing the course of their relationship and events leading to their dramatic split with the monarchy, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle revealed that Halloween played an important role in the timeline of their personal and public lives.

The couple met while Meghan was spending the summer in Europe in 2016 while on a break from filming her TV show, Suits, and Harry was living at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London while undertaking full-time royal duties.

Harry & Meghan on Netflix revealed never-before-heard details about the couple’s early relationship, later followed by an extended account in Harry’s Spare memoir, including how the prince had first come to know his future wife after asking a friend to connect them after seeing her in a social media post.

In July 2016, the couple began seriously dating. Through the early months of seeing each other, both anticipated the story being picked up by the British press, which maintained an interest in Harry’s dating life.

While the couple got to know each other in relative secrecy they later revealed that things all changed three months in, around the time they attended a Halloween party with Harry’s cousin.

Here, Newsweek looks at everything Harry and Meghan have said about the Halloween party that served as a last hurrah before their relationship was made the subject of international headlines.

‘This Might Be Our Last Shot’

After they started dating in July 2016, Harry and Meghan’s relationship became serious, with the couple quickly embarking on a bonding vacation to Botswana and spending time between their homes in London and Toronto.

While in these early stages the press hadn’t caught on to the identity of the prince’s new girlfriend until the couple received a tip in October 2016 from Harry’s palace communications secretary, Jason Knauf, alerting them that a tabloid planned to break the story the next day.

Recounting their reactions to the tip in their Netflix docuseries, Meghan told viewers: “We said: ‘Well, if its going to come out tomorrow then lets go and have fun tonight.'”

That evening, the couple attended a post-apocalyptic Halloween party held at Soho House in Toronto, accompanied by Prince Andrew‘s daughter, Princess Eugenie, and her future husband, Jack Brooksbank.

“We went to this Halloween party together where we could be completely dressed up and no one would know,” Harry said in the series, with Meghan adding that he had borrowed a “great costume.”

“We were like ‘Well this might be our last shot to just go out and have fun,'” she said.

Meghan then revealed that the party was “so great. So silly. And then…” after which she snapped her fingers and news commentary about their relationship was played closing out the first episode of the 6 part show.

‘Everything Was Changed Forever’

In his memoir, released a month after the Netflix show, Harry gave readers some more insight into the Halloween party and its aftermath, including the detail that his post-apocalyptic costume had been borrowed from Mad Max actor Tom Hardy.

He described the party as “loud, dark, drunk—ideal” and noted that while some attendees recognized Meghan among the crowds, he passed by unnoticed.

While describing the fun time the group had together, he also explained that it marked a moment where “everything was changed forever,” as the couple prepared for the scrutiny that would come with the press and public attention on their relationship.

“We’re going to be hunted” he told Meghan, as he prepared to head back to London after the party while reports began to surface online.

Following the party the rest of Harry and Meghan’s relationship played out in the public eye, with attention reaching it height around the November 2017 announcement of their engagement and May 2018 wedding day at Windsor Castle.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.