Meghan’s Paris Fashion Week Debut

The Duchess, 44, made her Paris Fashion Week debut on October 4, attending Balenciaga’s show in support of the label’s new creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli.

Meghan has long expressed her affection for Paris. In a 2014 post from her former lifestyle blog The Tig, she wrote, “Oh, how I love the city of lights. Yes, it has been romanticized in our minds from cinematic shots of the Eiffel Tower to long walks on the River Seine — from Before Sunrise to Amélie to Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. The food, the accent, the je ne sais quoi of the women with their inherent chicness – I sigh un petit peu just typing this.”

Revisiting Painful Memories

Prince Harry has his own emotional connection to Paris. In his memoir Spare, he recalled driving through the same tunnel where his mother died while in the city for the 2007 Rugby World Cup semifinal.

“It had been a very bad idea,” he wrote. “I’d told myself that I wanted closure, but I didn’t really. Deep down, I’d hoped to feel in that tunnel what I’d felt when JLP gave me the police files—disbelief. Doubt. Instead, that was the night all doubt fell away. She’s dead, I thought. My God, she’s really gone for good.”

Diana’s Spirit and Meghan’s Similarity

Though Meghan never met her late mother-in-law, Harry has often spoken about the striking similarities between them. During Meghan’s appearance on The Jamie Kern Lima Show in April, the host reminded her of Harry’s public comment: “So much of what Meghan is and how she is so similar to my mum. She has the same compassion. She has the same empathy. She has the same confidence. She has this warmth about her.”

“It’s beautiful,” Meghan replied softly. “I wish I could have met her.”