Meghan Markle almost ended up dating a former Chelsea footballer
Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was once asked out by former Chelsea, Arsenal and England footballer Ashley Cole before she eventually met and married Prince Harry.
The couple now reside in Montecito, California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, but things could have been so different had Meghan taken Cole up on his offer of a date around a decade ago. Journalist Katie Hind reportedly dissuaded Meghan from accepting, warning her about Ashley’s reputation for infidelity.
Reflecting on the incident, Katie still ponders over the “what if” scenario, wondering what might have happened had she not cautioned Meghan. In her column for the Daily Mail, Katie mused: “If ever there was a ‘sliding doors’ moment, this was it.
“The moment I told a 30-something American actress, who had just confided in me that she was being pursued by a famous British footballer, to steer well clear of him.”
She speculated that things could have been very different had she encouraged Meghan to “go on that date and try out as a WAG”, even suggesting that Meghan and Ashley might have ended up getting married.
Katie mused: “And if they had [married], would Prince Harry still be a working royal here in the UK, a valued and popular member of the Firm, close to his father Charles, brother William, and sister-in-law Kate?
“Might he have resumed a relationship with one or other of his exes, Chelsy Davy or Cressida Bonas, or met someone new and be settled now in Kensington Palace or at Windsor with a growing family?”
Meghan and Harry’s romance began on a blind date in July 2016. A mutual friend played matchmaker, and the pair admitted to feeling an instant connection.
“We met for a drink, and then I think very quickly into that we said, ‘well what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again’,” Meghan recounted during a chat with the BBC. This led to a series of consecutive dates in London in the days that followed.
In 2020, two years after their 2018 marriage, the couple stepped down from their roles as senior members of the Royal Family and relocated to the United States, citing ongoing issues with media intrusion. Their decision also came amid escalating tensions within the monarchy, highlighted by Meghan and Harry’s unsubstantiated 2021 revelation that an unnamed royal had made a racist comment.
Cole, on the other hand, concluded his celebrated football career in 2019 and moved into coaching. Since then, he has held positions at Chelsea, Everton, and with the England national team.
After his highly publicised split from Cheryl Tweedy in 2010, Cole began a relationship with Italian model Sharon Canu. The couple have two children – a son born in 2016 and a daughter born in 2018 – and were married in 2023.
