We’re all familiar with the fairytale romance of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. A friend set them up on a blind date, and the rest was history — but apparently, Jenna Bush Hager‘s sister Barbara almost dated Prince Harry instead! On Friday’s Today show, Hager reminisced about interviewing Harry for the Invictus Games in 2016, and shared that, during that interview, she tried to set up Harry on a date with her sister, Barbara Pierce Bush. According to Hager, everything was going according to plan — but Harry’s suggestion that they don sunglasses for the interview ultimately created a “barrier” between them.
During Today, Hager recounted the moment when Harry requested they put on sunglasses. “He has really beautiful light eyes, which are sensitive to the sun. I know because my daughters have light eyes,” the co-host explained. “Prince Harry was like, ‘We have to wear sunglasses, don’t you think? I was like, ‘Well, if he says it’s OK!'”
When Harry’s romantic life came up in the interview, Hager took the opportunity to throw Barbara’s name in the ring. “Everybody’s always asking me [about children],” Harry bemoaned to her. “I have no idea. I haven’t even got a girlfriend at the moment.” Hager quickly replied: “I have a single sister, and she feels the same way. Listen, she’s available. She’s going to kill me.”
Remembering the experience on-air, Hager once again laments the sunglasses: “I felt like maybe if he could see straight into my eyes,” she said. “That could have worked if my sunglasses weren’t blocking […] He said ‘Let’s talk later,'” she recalls. “Then he got married to Meghan Markle.” Ah well. Hager’s regrets aside, Meghan and Harry do seem like a perfect match — and even the best blind date might not have stopped that marriage from happening.
Talking to People after the show, Hager confessed that she’d tried to set up Barbara before, but “never with a prince.” While Hager says Barbara was “humiliated” at the time, it’s always nice to have a sister willing to slip your phone number to handsome royals she meets — just maybe next time, she can do it in a slightly more private setting.
Leave a Comment