Kate Middleton was truly invested in Prince Harry's love life—and far beyond just giving dating advice, as previously reported. Royal correspondent Katie Nicholl writes in her new book Harry: Life, Loss, and Love that Middleton was one of Harry's matchmakers pre-Meghan Markle.

'Harry wasn't giving up [after things ended with exes Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas], even going on blind dates organised by Kate and his cousin Princess Eugenie, who had a good track record when it came to setting Harry up,' she wrote (via E!).

Harry had tried to make things with Davy work up until summer 2015, when they had 'one last hurrah' in Africa with the hopes of reconciling. Their time spent there was kept secret from the press.

'You sort of get the feeling that neither of them were quite ever willing to completely let go of that love affair,' Nicholl told InStyle. 'They'd carved their names into one of the tree trunks on the family estate. It was such a love affair, it really was. Right up until 2015 they were trying to give it another chance. I was quite struck by that and I think everyone that's been in love, you know, you never forget your first love, and in that respect I think Prince Harry was no different. And I think what's so lovely is he still manages to have a friendship with Chelsy, and there's that amazing respect between the two of them. Neither of them have spoken about their relationship and I think you have to respect and admire them for that.'

Before meeting Markle in July 2016 through mutual friend, Ralph Lauren PR girl Violet von Westenholz (who gave Markle's number to Harry), Harry was secretly dating British model Sarah Ann Macklin. It wasn't specified whether that was a Kate or Eugenie set up.

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Markle, before meeting Harry, had just ended her relationship with Canadian chef Cory Vitiello. Per InStyle, she was traveling around Europe with her friends Lindsay Roth and fashion designer Misha Nonoo shortly before her royal romance began.

From: ELLE US
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Alyssa Bailey
Senior News and Strategy Editor

Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.