Why a Phone Call Warning of an Impending "Apocalypse" on Halloween 2016 Changed Everything for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might be two of the most scrutinized people in the world right now, but in 2016, their relationship was a secret from everyone except a select few people. However, an apocalypse-themed Halloween party that year marked a turning point for the couple, who headed out for one last night of freedom with Harry's cousin Princess Eugenie and her now-husband, Jack Brooksbank.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex recalled what happened that night in both their Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan and the Duke of Sussex's memoir, Spare, with the Sussexes sharing that they knew their time was running out when it came to keeping their relationship under the radar.

"We'd been tipped, before heading off to the Halloween Apocalypse, that another apocalypse might be coming," Prince Harry penned in his memoir, adding, "more proof that the universe has a wicked sense of humor."

In the Netflix doc, the duke shared that they decided to "pull the pin on the fun grenade" while disguised in Halloween costumes that year, sharing previously unseen photos of himself, Meghan, Eugenie and Jack dressed in very Mad Max-style dystopian costumes. Harry's, in fact, was an actual costume from the movie, borrowed from his friend Tom Hardy, as he wrote in Spare.

"Meg, meanwhile, wore torn black shorts, a camo top, fishnet stockings," Prince Harry wrote, adding, "if that's the apocalypse, I thought, bring on the end of the world."

Since the couple was operating on borrowed time, they let loose that evening, with Harry noting in Spare that his "scary" costume rendered him "unrecognizable."

"I wished I could wear this disguise every day," he mused in the book.

In their Netflix series, the Duchess of Sussex described the party at Toronto's Soho House as “so great" and "just silly fun," while Harry penned in Spare that it was "loud, dark, drunk—ideal."

However, their good times came to a screeching halt the next day, with the duke writing in his book that "everything was changed forever" after receiving a call that their relationship was about to go public in the press.

"Well, we said, staring anxiously at our phones, it was going to happen eventually," he concluded.

Of course, the couple would go on to get engaged the next autumn and married in May 2018 as the world watched on, but for one last Halloween, they got to experience true anonymity as a couple.