Where will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle be staying the night before the wedding?

The pair will be apart on the evening before the wedding. Credit: PA

Meghan Markle will spend the last night as a single woman, and a commoner, at an exclusive hotel which once was the setting for the political scandal, the Profumo Affair.

Ms Markle and her mother Doria Ragland will stay at Cliveden House on the National Trust estate about 10 miles from the wedding venue in Windsor.

The hotel was where the Minister of War John Profumo met Christine Keeler and so began a scandal that shook the British establishment to its core.

Christine Keeler was at the centre of the Profumo Affair. Credit: PA

At the height of the Cold War, the revelations of affairs and mistresses and Ms Keeler’s links to a suspected Russian spy destabilised Harold Macmillian’s government and it never recovered.

Profumo first met Keeler at a pool party at Cliveden House in 1961, and even the hotel now refers to its own history at that time as ‘unapologetic debauchery’.

Meghan Markle will depart from the hotel in a car with her mother for the drive to St George’s Chapel.

The designer of the dress will remain a secret until the moment she meets her father at the steps of the chapel.

Prince Harry and his best man, Prince William, will not stay at Windsor Castle either.

On Friday night, the two brothers will spend the evening at Cowarth Park, about 15 minutes from Windsor.

The brothers at a charity polo match at Cowarth Park in 2011. Credit: PA

It’s where Harry has played polo many times before. The couple will be married at 12 noon on Saturday.

  • Special coverage of Harry and Meghan – The Royal Wedding will be broadcast on ITV from 9.25am on Saturday 19th May.

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