Exclusive: Inside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's double date at royal favourite Vancouver restaurant
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex enjoyed an intimate dinner with close friend Michael Buble and his wife Luisana on Saturday February 8, after celebrating the opening of the 2025 Invictus Games.
The pair were joined by Michael and three friends at Vij's, an Indian restaurant south of downtown Vancouver, where they visited in 2024, and where Prince William and Princess Kate have also dined.
"They are amazing, extremely beautiful, and very friendly," Vikram Vij, the owner and head chef told HELLO!
"Meghan is awesome and loved all the food. She remembered the chilis from last time, and I was totally impressed because she knew bhindi is the hindi word for okra."
Prince Harry had the lamb popsicles - a rack of lamb with fresh mint - and after dinner they visited the kitchen where they had were "gracious and grateful".
"They ate a lot," said Vikram, sharing that they also had his favorite snack, a schnitzel with butter chicken sauce, and that Meghan was surprised to learn about their pasta dish, cooked with prawns and coconut milk curry sauce.
Vancouver received a lot of snow fall this last week, and Vikram shared that the parking lot "was covered in snow and I was holding Meghan's hand as I didnt want her to slip, I was so worried she would slip!"
Prince Harry "was wearing fancy shoes, and I said, "Do you want me to hold your hand?""
The Montecito locals have been friends with Vancouver-born Michael and his wife Luisana for several years, with the famous Canadian singer also joining them at a curling event in 2024 at Hillcrest Community Centre.
Day one of the Invictus Games kicked off with an incredible opening ceremony that saw Harry and Meghan on their feet dancing.
The two exchanged a series of loving looks throughout the event at BC Place in Vancouver as they enjoyed performances from Coldplay's Chris Martin, Katy Perry and Nelly Furtado inside the packed BC Place Stadium.
The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans. The inaugural event was held in London, followed by Orlando two years later, Toronto in 2017, Sydney in 2018, The Hague in 2022 and Dusseldorf in 2023.
Video from inside the opening ceremony showed many of the competitors from the 23 nations becoming emotional as Harry spoke of their courage and spirit.
"Over the past decade I've lost count of the times we've heard you tell us that the Invictus Games saved you. Respectfully, I disagree. Invictus didn't save you. You saved yourself," he said.
"It was you, who pushed through the doubt and despair. You, who summited your own mountain and brought us along with you. It was you who kept going even when you didn't think you had any more to give. We didn't do that. You did."
After the ceremony Harry and Meghan watched NHL team the Canucks play the Maple Leafs; Harry dropped the puck alongside two members of the Canadian Invictus team, Lee Jarratt and Andre Crocker, and Canucks Sports & Entertainment Chairman Francesco Aquilini.
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