Prince Harry Says Prince William "Recoiled" When Meghan Hugged Him

Meghan Markle and Prince William's first meeting didn't go particularly smoothly, if a leaked excerpt from Prince Harry's memoir Spare is to be believed.

As is reportedly her way, the Suits alum immediately hugged William upon seeing him, which he wasn't prepared for at all.

"[It] completely freaked him out," Harry writes (via Us Weekly). "He recoiled. Willy didn’t hug many strangers. Whereas Meg hugged most strangers."

Explaining why Meghan had felt empowered to embrace her brother-in-law-to-be, Harry continues, "When meeting my grandmother [Queen Elizabeth II], I’d made it clear—this is the Queen. But when meeting my brother, it was just Willy, who loved Suits."

This story is eerily reminiscent of Meghan's own account of meeting Princess Kate for the first time. "I was a hugger, I've always been a hugger, I didn't realize that that was really jarring for a lot of Brits," she revealed in Netflix' Harry & Meghan docuseries.

There's more to William's reaction to Meghan's hug than meets the eye, though, because apparently he and Kate were huge fans of Suits before Harry started dating his now-wife. When Harry told them he was in a relationship with her, William reportedly said it was "impossible."

Harry writes in Spare, "I was baffled, until Willy and Kate explained that they were regular—nay, religious—viewers of Suits. Great, I thought, laughing. I’ve been worrying about the wrong thing. All this time I’d thought Willy and Kate might not welcome Meg into the family, but now I had to worry about them hounding her for an autograph."

Sadly, it appears there was quite a bit more to be worried about.

If you want to read more, Spare is currently available to pre-order from all major online retailers, including Amazon (opens in new tab), ahead of its official release on Jan. 10.