Northward Bound

A Guide to Meghan Markle’s Canada

Eight people and places that await the Sussex trio, now that the British commonwealth is poised to become a more permanent home.

By Michelle Ruiz

January 16, 2020

From left Meghan heads to an afternoon yoga in Toronto with Markus Anderson at the Invictus Games wearing her...

O, Canada: It’s the country Meghan Markle fell in love with while filming Suits in Toronto (“This California girl is now a pro at Canadian winters,” she once said) and the British commonwealth that hosted Prince Harry on multiple royal tours. But following Meghan and Harry’s recent resignation as senior royals, with plans to split their time between the U.K. and an undisclosed city in North America, Canada is poised to become a more permanent home for the superstar royal couple.

“There will be a period of transition in which the Sussexes will spend time in Canada and the U.K.,” a statement from Queen Elizabeth confirmed on Monday.

Holding their first public engagement of the new decade at London’s Canada House on January 7 was no coincidence: While the book deals might be in New York and the Obama-style streaming contracts in Los Angeles, Canada holds unparalleled sentimental value for Meghan and Harry. While long-distance dating in secret, they are said to have holed up at her rented townhouse in Toronto’s charming Seaton Village, and their public debut as a couple came at the city’s 2017 Invictus Games. Even eight-month-old Archie is getting to know his mom’s adopted country, reportedly staying with Meghan’s best friend Jessica Mulroney last week while Meghan and Harry unveiled their shocking, “progressive” new model of royalhood.

After some brutal treatment by the British tabloids, Canada’s notable niceness is probably rather appealing. “As much of a big city as Toronto is, it’s so different from L.A. or New York. There [are] no paparazzi,” Meghan said in 2015, “so it’s really easy to just have a normal life.”

Whether they will settle in Toronto or in Vancouver, where they reportedly spent their holiday break, remains to be seen. But from woodsy getaways to tony social clubs, ahead is a guide to the already beloved people and places that await Harry and Meghan in the Great White North.

Casa Mulroney

While hoping to retain Frogmore Cottage as their royal residence, Meghan and Harry have a home away from home in the “Canadian palace” where her close friend, stylist Jessica Mulroney, lives with her husband, TV host (and Canada’s former first son) Ben, and their three children, John, Brian, and Ivy. The Mulroneys’ home has long been a refuge for the Sussexes: Harry and Meghan reportedly hid out there, lolling with the Mulroney kids, after news of their relationship broke in 2017, and paparazzi swarmed Meghan’s house.

Jessica gives frequent glimpses at the glitzy home on Instagram, showcasing the sparkling backyard pool and a stiletto-lined walk-in closet the size of a New York studio apartment. The Sussexes will feel extra cozy in the living room, where royal wedding photos—John and Brian were wee page boys and Ivy a bridesmaid—are mounted on the walls.

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Markus Anderson and Soho House

When the Sussexes settle in, Ontario-bred Anderson will likely plan the welcome party. A longtime member of Meghan’s inner circle, Anderson is a consultant at Soho House, the private club with locations around the world. According to Vanity Fair royals correspondent Katie Nicholl’s biography Harry: Life, Loss, and Love, Meghan and Harry’s first meeting took place at the London clubhouse 2016. The Toronto outpost reportedly set the scene for another storied moment in the Sussex mythology (as documented in the Lifetime movie Harry and Meghan: A Royal Romance): a masked, incognito Harry joining Meghan for a Halloween party when they were still secretly dating.

Harry and Meghan even jetted to Soho House’s Amsterdam opening in 2018 in support of Anderson, whom Markle, in a now-deleted Instagram ode, called “my loving, supportive, and endlessly fun friend.”

Modo Yoga

The daughter of a yoga instructor—Meghan’s mom, Doria Ragland, has been known to practice with Oprah Winfrey—Meghan once sought solace at the airy yoga chainlet, formerly called Moksha. “When I first got here, Suits wasn’t aired in Canada for the first two years. I was going to Moksha downtown and trolling for girlfriends,” she told the Toronto Star in 2016.

Now that she’s returning to Canada—and possibly looking for new mom friends?—Toronto yogis could have another chance to downward-dog with the duchess at Modo, which boasts sustainably-built studios run on renewable energy.

The Fairmont Royal York

The regal Toronto hotel stood in for the Plaza when Meghan’s Suits character planned her dream wedding in season six. In real life, Harry stayed at the historic downtown luxury hotel—there is photo evidence he signed the guest book—during the 2017 Invictus games, following in the footsteps of Queen Elizabeth II, a four-time guest. The hotel even celebrated its special royal connection with a lush English garden installation in the art deco-style lobby during the Sussex wedding. If—gulp—Harry’s family ever comes to visit, the majestic Governor General suite awaits.

Vancouver Island

Harry and Meghan took their long holiday break from London—and likely solidified a more permanent unraveling from royal life—on this picturesque Pacific island, reportedly staying at a woodsy, waterfront $14 million beach estate arranged by super-producer David Foster. “My goodness, it was just such an incredible time we were able to have there and with our son too,” Meghan told diplomats at Canada House upon return, marveling at “the beauty of Canada.” Indeed, the couple’s Instagram photo of Harry and Archie—ensconced in all manner of cozy fleece—doesn’t lie.

Mackage

Returning to Canada’s punishing winters means Meghan can shop in person (or her stylist can, anyway) at the downtown Toronto boutique that’s home to one of her favorite coat brands. Meghan famously matched Prince Harry in a navy “Elodie” coat by the Montreal-based Mackage during their first joint post-royal-engagement event in 2017. The following year, she memorably wore a belted, sand-colored Mackage Mai coat with a “waterfall collar” in Belfast. Luckily Mackage has a men’s line too, should Harry need a fresh down parka.

Trinity Bellwoods Park

Meghan was known to walk her rescue dogs, Bogart and Guy, in the so-called “hipster’s paradise” and Toronto’s answer to Central Park, an ideal place for Archie to toddle on the playground and for his parents to peruse the greenhouse and farmers market. For an idyllic rehabilitated royals turned regular people outing, Meghan could lead the family east of the park to Kensington Market, the foodie paradise where she used to buy fresh bread from Blackbird Baking Co. Nearby Sanagan’s Meat Locker offers hormone-free, farm-to-table-style meats. Roast chicken, anyone?