Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's evening shattered by tragic call

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have cherished Halloween since their romance began in 2016, but their first celebration together took an unforgettable and emotional twist. 

Just a few months into dating, Harry and Meghan joined Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, for a festive night out in Toronto. 

The couples attended an Apocalypse-themed Halloween party at the city’s Soho House, where Harry famously dressed as Mad Max, borrowing the costume from actor Tom Hardy.

What began as a thrilling evening soon took a somber turn when Harry and Meghan received a phone call that changed everything. 

The night and their unexpected news were later highlighted in the Sussexes' Netflix docuseries, offering glimpses of the costumes and the unforgettable impact of that Halloween evening—a celebration they’d never forget.

However, that Halloween night in 2016 took a heartbreaking turn when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle received a "devastating" call—an event that would forever alter the course of their lives. 

At the time, the couple was keeping their budding relationship under wraps, juggling their time between London and Toronto, where Meghan was filming Suits. 

In Finding Freedom, biographers Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand recount the couple’s excitement as they planned their 'perfect' evening. 

Dressed in their best apocalyptic attire, the night was everything they had hoped—until it suddenly wasn't. Scobie and Durand describe how, "a cocktail or so into the party," their relaxation was cut short by a call from one of Harry’s aides at Kensington Palace. 

Their romance had been discovered by the press, with plans to break the story the next day. Harry later reflected on the news in Spare: "Well, we said, staring anxiously at our phones, it was going to happen eventually." 

He added, "We’d been tipped, before heading off to the Halloween Apocalypse, that another apocalypse might be coming."