Jenna Bush Hager believes her attempt to set up her twin sister Barbara with Prince Harry just two months before he met Meghan Markle on a blind date failed because of a pair of sunglasses of all things.
The 37-year-old host recounted the hilarious story on the Today show on Friday, explaining that she was interviewing the once-eligible bachelor at his Invictus Games in Orlando, Florida, in May 2016 when she asked about his love life.
‘Does it make you laugh that people are already asking you about children? I mean, it’s sort of jumping ahead a couple steps,’ she said, prompting the now-34-year-old royal to admit he didn’t even have a girlfriend at the moment.
Memories: On Friday’s episode of the Today show, Jenna Bush Hager, 37, recalled trying to set up her twin sister Barbara Bush with Prince Harry back in 2016
Makes sense! The former first daughter explained that they were both single at the time, and she thought they might make a good match
Jenna saw an opportunity to make her move and not-so-subtly suggested that he date Barbara, saying: ‘I have a single sister, and she feels the same way. Listen, she’s available!’
‘We can talk maybe off air,’ Prince Harry replied.
‘Okay, I’ll give you her number,’ the Today star told him, adding: ‘She’s going to kill me.’
Although Harry and Barbara are both married now, the former first daughter believes her attempt to get them together may have been more successful if she was able to make better eye contact with him.
Throwback: Prince Harry told Jenna he was single when she interviewed him at his Invictus Games in Orlando, Florida, in May 2016, prompting her to try to set him up with Barbara
Foiled plan: The Today star believes her matchmaking attempt may have been more successful if they weren’t wearing sunglasses and she was able to make eye contact with him
‘He has really beautiful light eyes, which are sensitive to the sun. I know because my daughters have light eyes,’ she explained. ‘Prince Harry was like, “We have to wear sunglasses, don’t you think?” I was like, “Well, if he says it’s okay!”‘
However, she admitted that she ended up regretting that decision because she felt like their shades created a ‘barrier’ between them.
‘I felt like maybe if he could see straight into my eyes,’ she said. ‘That could have worked if my sunglasses weren’t blocking.’
Just a few months later, Prince Harry was set up on a blind date with Meghan in London in 2016.
Missing out: ‘I felt like maybe if he could see straight into my eyes,’ she said. ‘That could have worked if my sunglasses weren’t blocking’
Look of love: Two months later, Prince Harry was set up on a blind date with Meghan in London in 2016. The couple wed in May 2018 and recently welcomed their first child, Archie
All worked out! Barbara married her own Prince Charming, screenwriter Craig Coyne (far right), in October 2018, five months after the royal wedding
‘We were introduced by a mutual friend,’ he revealed in an interview with the BBC shortly after they publicly announced their engagement a year later.
The couple has never named the person who set them up, but despite the conflicting rumors and reports, Meghan’s close friend Misha Nonoo is widely believed to be their mystery matchmaker.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex said ‘I do’ in May 2018 and welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Archie, a year later.
And Barbara didn’t stay single for too long either.
She has found her very own Prince Charming, screenwriter Craig Coyne, whom she married in October 2018 — five months after the royal wedding
Could have been family! Prince Harry posed for photos with Jenna’s parents, George W. and Laura Bush, at the opening ceremony at the 2016 Invictus Games in Orlando
Good sport: After her matchmaking fail, Jenna admitted her sister was ‘humiliated’ but ‘also got a kick out of it’
A former first daughter marrying a prince makes a lot of sense on paper, and it’s easy to see where Jenna was coming from when she was playing matchmaker.
Being set up certainly worked for her parents, George W. and Laura Bush, who have been married for more than 40 years.
‘You know, my parents were set up on a blind date, so if I could set my sister up . . . And Prince Harry’s a great guy,’ she told People in 2016. ‘I mean, the work that he does with the Invictus Games is so important.’
Jenna admitted that she had played Cupid on Barbara’s behalf before, but she noted that her conversation with Prince Harry was the first time she ever tried to land her twin a prince.
‘I couldn’t help, when he said he was single, to throw my sister under the bus — just like sisters do,’ she said. ‘Frankly, I think that I was doing her a favor She was humiliated. But I think she also got a kick out of it.’