Meghan Markle could have had a drastically different life if she had accepted a date with former Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole. The Duchess of Sussex, who is now married to Prince Harry and living in Montecito, California with their two children, Archie and Lilibet, was once pursued by Cole before she met her future husband.
However, journalist Katie Hind advised Meghan against dating the footballer due to his reputation for infidelity. Reflecting on the incident in her column for the Daily Mail, Hind admitted that she often wonders “what if” and speculates about how different things might have been if she hadn’t warned Meghan off. She even suggested that Meghan and Ashley could have ended up getting married.
“If ever there was a ‘sliding doors’ moment, this was it,” she wrote. “The moment I told a thirty-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.
“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?” she mused.
Meghan and Harry’s love story began on a blind date in July 2016. A mutual friend played cupid for the pair, who admitted to having 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 reminisced during a chat with the BBC. This led to a series of consecutive dates in London in the days that followed.
Two years after their 2018 wedding, the couple stepped back from their roles as senior royals and moved to the United States, citing concerns over media intrusion. Their departure also followed rising tensions within the Royal Family, culminating in Meghan and Harry’s widely publicised 2021 allegation that a family member had made a racist remark.
Meanwhile, Cole retired from his distinguished playing career in 2019 and transitioned into coaching. He has since held roles at Chelsea, Everton, and with the England national team.
Following the end of his high-profile relationship with Cheryl Tweedy in 2010, Cole began dating Italian model Sharon Canu. The couple welcomed a son in 2016 and a daughter in 2018, and they married in 2023.
