EXCLUSIVE: How Harry and Meghan’s Matchmaker Has Key Link to Queen Camilla

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s romance has been explored in multiple accounts since their marriage in 2018, but most thoroughly through the couple’s own media projects—namely their Netflix show and the prince’s memoir.

Though it was accepted that the couple had been introduced by a mutual friend in the summer of 2016, the identity of the friend in question wasn’t fully confirmed until Harry’s book publication seven years later. The friend, Violet von Westenholz, is a key figure in the couple’s romantic timeline but she also has long-running family links to the royal family. These were displayed prominently on Wednesday, when her parents attended the Royal Ascot horse racing festival alongside Queen Camilla.

Here, Newsweek takes a look at how the friend credited with being Harry and Meghan’s matchmaker is linked to Queen Camilla, and what the couple said about her role in their royal romance. Violet von Westenholz is a British socialite and public relations director for the American fashion brand Ralph Lauren.

She is the daughter of Baron Piers von Westenholz, a former Olympic skier and celebrated interior decorator. The baron is currently married to his second wife, Baroness Jane von Westenholz née Leveson. Together they have three children: Piers, Violet and Victoria. The baron is an old friend of King Charles III’s. As the head of his own antiques and interiors firm he was given the task of heading the interior redecoration of Charles’ Scottish home, Dumfries House, which is where the operations of his King’s Foundation charity are based.

This is a new title created for the reign of King Charles and Queen Camilla and is ostensibly a rebrand of the antiquated “Lady in Waiting” position. There are six Queen’s Companions who regularly attend events with Camilla or are able to formally represent her at official occasions. They have been personally chosen by the queen and have longstanding social links with her dating back decades.

They include: Fiona, the Marchioness of Lansdowne, who was on-duty during the coronation last year; Lady Katharine Brooke; Baroness Carlyn Chisholm; Sarah Troughton; Lady Sarah Keswick; and Baroness Jane von Westenholz. Von Westenholz was on-duty on Wednesday as she appeared in the queen’s party during the second day of the Royal Ascot horse-racing festival. The baroness took part with her husband in the carriage procession at the start of the day’s events.