Meghan Markle Meets Beyoncé at 'The Lion King' Premiere in London

• On Sunday night, Beyoncé and the other stars of Disney's new The Lion King remake stepped out in London for the film's European premiere.
• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) were also invited to the star-studded event and walked the red carpet together.
• Even before Buckingham Palace confirmed that Meghan would attend the premiere with Harry, fans got excited about the possibility of the duchess meeting Beyoncé (opens in new tab).

This is not a drill: Meghan Markle (opens in new tab), actual British royalty, has met Beyoncé (opens in new tab), music royalty.

How did this come to be? Well, Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, were guests at the European premiere of Disney's The Lion King in London on Sunday night, along with the film's stars. That, obviously, includes Queen Bey. 

We've known for a while that Harry would be attending the Lion King premiere (opens in new tab). Royal correspondents reported that Harry was on the premiere's guest list in late June. On June 28, royal reporter Omid Scobie wrote (opens in new tab):

"Prince Harry will attend the Euro premiere of @disneylionking on July 14, which is being held in support of his conservation work through The Royal Foundation.@WaltDisneyCo have also announced #ProtectThePride, a campaign to protect the dwindling lion population across Africa."

Immediately, royal fans jumped to the next logical conclusion: Meghan will go too and then she will meet Beyoncé (opens in new tab) and life will be complete. But, as much as fans hoped that Meghan would attend the premiere, Buckingham Palace didn't confirm the news (opens in new tab) until Thursday.

There's been love for Meghan from Bey before, too. In February, the singer included a regal portrait of Meghan in the background of her BRIT Awards acceptance video:

That gets us all caught up on the journey that brought Meghan and Beyoncé together. As royal correspondent Rebecca English pointed out, however, security around Bey at the premiere was even tighter than it was around Harry and Meghan when they arrived.

When Meghan, Harry, Beyoncé, and Jay did meet, the entire exchange was so perfect, you'll think it was plagiarized right out of your celebrity day dreams. Once again, Rebecca English captured the magic for all of Twitter:

She even shared what the royals and musicians were saying to each other during their first meeting:

Beyoncé: The baby, so beautiful. We love you guys.

Harry: And how are the twins?

Beyoncé: They are not here. They don’t come on every trip. We left them at home. They would loved to have been here.

Jay-Z: The best advice I can give you, always find time for yourself.

Another Twitter user even shared footage in which Bey appears to call Meghan "my princess," which is just SO amazing.

And here, for your viewing/bathing in eternal envy pleasure, are pictures of Meghan and Beyoncé (and Harry and Jay) hanging out and, presumably, becoming lifelong best friends:

Harry and Jay also seem to get along swimmingly, which will make double dating a breeze:

THEY EVEN HUGGED. It's official, they ARE best friends (at least in my imagination):

For more stories like this, including celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, and fascinating features, sign up for the Marie Claire newsletter.

subscribe here (opens in new tab)