- Meghan Markle participated in the “2026 is the new 2016” trend on Instagram.
- She shared two photos for the trend, one of which featured her and Harry during a trip to Botswana early in their relationship.
- Harry has previously said that the Botswana trip made him realize he wanted to marry Meghan.
In case you somehow missed it, 2016 is trending everywhere, and for good reason — people simply cannot seem to accept the hellfire that is the year 2026, and as a result are taking a nostalgic look back in time to when things were better, simpler, and less imposing. Think: Sepia toned Instagram pics, that dog filter on Snapchat, King Kylie and the like.
Even Meghan Markle couldn't resist hopping on the trend, and shared a throwback to Instagram that featured a sweet moment shared between her and Prince Harry in the earlier stages of their relationship.
“When 2026 feels just like 2016….you had to be there,” Meghan captioned the post. The first item in the carousel was a simple black and white video of them dancing in the grass, taken by their daughter Lilibet, while the second picture featured them almost knee-deep in grassland waters—a throwback of the couple during their trip to Botswana that doubled as their third-ever date.
The couple started dating away from the cameras in 2016, and the Botswana trip essentially cemented Meghan in his mind as his future wife and “soulmate.” Around the time of their engagement, Harry opened up about the Botswana trip in an in an interview with Vanity Fair and revealed that he invited Meghan to Botswana after going on dates in London. “We camped out with each other under the stars,” he recalled. “She came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic. So then we were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure that we had a chance to know each other.”
“I was astonished that she said, ‘Yes,’” Harry gushed during the filming of their Harry & Meghan docuseries. “This woman, that I’ve really met twice…she’s coming to Botswana, and we’re gonna be living in a tent for five days!”
And the rest, as they say, is history!
