The relationship between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is all about breaking traditions. With Markle being an American, mixed race, divorced actress, she becomes the first person who is not of British citizenship.
The couple is also breaking tradition by living together before marriage. Markle was also invited to spend Christmas with the royal family, despite not being married to Harry yet. When Kate Middleton was engaged to Prince William, she was not invited to the Christmas festivities.
"We had great fun staying with my brother and sister-in-law and running round with the kids," Prince Harry said of his and Markle's Christmas festivities. "Christmas was fantastic. I think we've got one of the biggest families that I know of, and every family is complex as well. She's done an absolutely amazing job. She's getting in there and it's the family I suppose that she's never had."
Harry is so in love with his wife-to-be that he gave up cigarettes because of her healthy lifestyle.
"Harry has promised no smoking at all at home. It's not nice for Meghan as a non-smoker," a friend of the couple told the Daily Mail. "So there's no more hanging out of the window for a quick puff. Harry has quit for Meghan."
But now, Harry has given up something else for his fianceé, except this time it's a family tradition he's partaken in for 21 years.
Since he was 12 years old, Prince Harry has participated in the royal family's Boxing Day shoot. However, this year he chose not to participate in order to appease Meghan Markle. Harry, William, and their father, Prince Charles, traditionally have conducted a hunting expedition on the Sandringham estate, and the gameskeepers were surprised by the Prince's choice to bow out.
"The Boxing Day shoot was always going to be a tricky issue," a royal insider said. "Meghan is a keen animal rights campaigner and doesn't like hunting in any form. Harry loves it and has always been out there on Boxing Day. But if it means breaking with long-standing royal traditions to avoid upsetting her, so be it. It's fair to say that there are some pretty stunned faces around here."
"If Meghan's not comfortable with him doing the shoot, he wouldn't want to upset her," said a friend close to the couple.
