Prince Harry once revealed an unusual ritual involving singing to seals off the Scottish coast became a cherished superstition for him and Meghan Markle – with the Duke later crediting the strange tradition passed on by King Charles as a lucky omen before the couple learned they were expecting their first child.
OK! can reveal the story is buried in Harry’s memoir Spare, in which he recounts the months following his May 2018 wedding to ex-Suits actress Meghan, 44.
Determined to start a family immediately, the couple traveled to the Castle of Mey in Scotland during the summer of that year, where Charles shared local folklore about mythical “selkies” – creatures said to resemble seals and grant wishes.
Prince Harry married Meghan Markle in May 2018.MEGA
What began as a light-hearted royal anecdote soon evolved into a ritual Harry and Meghan embraced before returning to Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace, where they later discovered Meghan was pregnant with their son Archie, now 7.
A source familiar with the royal family’s Scottish traditions said: “What started as an amusing piece of folklore quickly became something Harry and Meghan treated as a personal good-luck ritual. They were eager to begin a family and were willing to embrace the romance and symbolism of the story, even if they knew it was little more than a superstition.”
Another insider said: “This witchcraft-style ritual may sound unusual, but it reflected a hopeful moment in their lives. Harry has always been sentimental, and after hearing Charles’ stories about the selkies, he wanted to believe there was something magical about the experience. When Meghan became pregnant shortly afterward, it only reinforced that feeling.”
The pair live in California with their two kids. MEGA
In Spare, Harry explained the couple’s desire to become parents.”We didn’t want to wait. We both wanted to start a family straightaway,” Harry recalled, adding becoming parents had “always been our main priority.”
During their stay in Scotland, Charles introduced him and Meghan to local legends surrounding seals spotted near the coastline.
Harry added: “‘Scottish mermaids,’ (Charles) said. ‘They took the form of seals and cruised along the shore outside the castle, within a stone’s throw of where we were sitting. So, when you see a seal,’ he advised, ‘you never can tell… Sing to it. They often sing back.'”
Harry admitted he initially dismissed his father’s story as a fairytale, but he and Meghan eventually decided to try it for themselves after spotting seals in the water.
Prince Harry is returning to the U.K. this summer. MEGA
According to Harry, the animals only responded once Meghan joined in the singing. Inspired by the moment, he decided to take things a step further.
He wrote: “A seal opera. Silly superstition, maybe, but I didn’t care. I counted it a good omen. I took off my clothes, jumped into the water, swam to them. Later, Pa’s Aussie chef was horrified. He told us that this had been a supremely bad idea, more ill-advised than diving heedlessly into the darkest water of the Okavango. ‘This part of the Scottish coast was teeming with killer whales,’ the chef said, ‘And singing to seals was like calling them to their blood-soaked deaths.'”
A source close to the Sussexes said: “The whole episode became one of those stories they laughed about afterward, but Harry clearly attached real emotional significance to it. In his mind, the timing made it impossible to ignore.”
Shortly after returning home, the couple took a pregnancy test, which confirmed Meghan was expecting.
Prince Harry wrote about the seal moment in his book. MEGA
Harry later revealed the extent to which he connected the folklore with the happy news.
He wrote: “I thought: ‘Thank you, selkies.'”
Archie was born in London on May 6, 2019. Harry and Meghan are also parents to Lilibet, 5, who was born in California on June 4, 2021.
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