As Meghan Markle and Prince Harry celebrate their three-year anniversary as a couple, royal experts believe this will be a “very, very hard time” in their relationship.
According to Angela Mollard from New Idea Royals, the three-year-mark is a crucial time for a couple.
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot because three years is generally understood by relationship psychologists and counsellors to be the point where you move out of the limerence phase,” said Mollard.
“Limerence is deeper than infatuation, but it’s the beginning of a relationship where it’s all butterflies and you laugh together all the time and you’re very amenable.”
WATCH: Meghan Markle shares emotional ‘surprise’ video
The royal commentator said that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have reached the more realistic part of a relationship.
“Three years is around the stage where reality starts to kick in,” said Mollard, and added that their son Archie also played a huge factor.
“Their relationship has moved very quickly by necessity – if she wanted to have a baby they had to move quickly.”
Mollard compared the suddenness of their committed relationship with the slow-burning courtship between Prince William and Kate Middleton.
“Obviously they took a completely different approach to the Cambridges, who had a very long courtship.”
Ms Mollard continued: “It’s that transition phase, to real life, with a baby, with the pressure of your jobs.
“There are a lot of conflicting forces within their lives.
“I think they have to have a marriage that is stronger than most.
“And, I think that’s going to be very, very hard.
“They will have to work very hard with a lot of pressures that most people don’t endure, to make sure that they focus on their relationship staying really strong.”
The royal expert also raised the notion of the couple needing adequate support around them (Prince Harry admitted to seeking professional help in 2017 at the insistence of his brother Prince William and the royal family).
“I know that Harry has had a lot of counselling in the wake of his mother’s death, and I hope that they have the support around them to guide them through the next stage,” she said.
According to Mollard, the Duchess hinted at their relationship struggles in the past, saying:
“We have the fairytale, with the first tour, and everyone swept up in Meghan and Harry.
“We know from what Meghan said at the Lion King premiere when she was talking to Pharrell Williams, when he commented on their relationship and how much of an inspiration they are.
“She was heard to say, ‘They don’t make it easy’.
“Now, we don’t know who she means by ‘they’, does she mean the public, the media?
“But, there was a first acknowledgement ever there, that it is hard, and it is challenging for them.”
She concluded: “The reason I think it’s the make-or-break time, as I say, they’re at the three-year point in their relationship, they’ve had a new baby which is a pressure in itself, and they’re in this invidious position where they are Royal, but not-Royal, having ordinary lives.
“I’m hopeful, but I don’t think it’s going to be easy. It’s hard enough for ordinary people.”