With Love, Harry » Rihanna

|Interview

Int: How much did you Prince Harry know about Rihanna? Had you seen her on TV?

Prince Harry: Yes, I've heard about her until this friend said "Rihanna" I was like right, "OK, give me, give me a bit of background." I'd heard of Rihanna before. And I was beautifully surprised when I, when I walked into that room and saw her. There she was sitting there, I was like, "OK, well, I'm really gonna have to up my game!" (laughs) Sit down and have a drink and make sure I've got good chat.

"I think for both of us though, it was, it was really refreshing because given that I didn't know a lot about him. Everything that I've learned about him, I learned through him. As opposed to having grown up around different news stories, or tabloids, or whatever else. Anything I learned about him and his family was what he would share with me. And, vice versa. So for both of us, it was just a really authentic and organic way to get to know each other." Rihanna said.

Int: And was that quite refreshing for you, in the way that you've been brought up, you know, with a lot of people knowing a lot about you?

Prince Harry: Well, thinking they know.

Int: Well, thinking they know.

"Exactly." Rihanna said.

Prince Harry: Yeah, no. It was hugely refreshing to be able to get to know someone who isn't necessarily within your circle, doesn't know much about me, I didn't know much about her, so to be able to start almost fresh, right from the beginning, and getting to know each other step by step, and then taking that huge leap of only two dates, and then (Rihanna chuckles), and then going holiday together in the middle of nowhere. And you know, sharing a, sharing a tent together and all that kind of stuff. It was, it was fantastic. It was absolutely amazing to get to know her, as quickly as I did.

Int: Starting a long distance relationship, you were working on music and many projects you had, I imagine, a packed filming and recording schedule, you've got lots of commitments of your own, how hard was it, to keep things going?

Prinec Harry: (takes a breath) It was-

"It was just a choice. Right? I think that very early on, when we realized we were going to commit to each other, that we knew we had to invest in the time and the energy and whatever it took to make that happen. And, so yes. With the filming schedule, (laughs) it was not the easiest, because it of course included a lot of travel. Back and forth, but." Rihanna said.

Prince Harry: Other than you had any idea what time zone you'd be... for the last year and a half.

"No." Rihanna said. (laughs)

Prince Harry: Coming over here four days or a week, and then going back and then straight into filming the next day. 4 A.M. wake calls, on a Monday, straight into set, you know.

" Right off the plane and straight to set. Just coming back into it again." Rihanna said.

Prince Harry: And just trying to, just trying to stay as close as possible. But, you know, on two different time zones. And five hours apart does have its challenges. But, but you know, we made it work, and now we're here. So, we're thrilled.

Int: But in the case of your relationship, unlike for most people, there's this whole layer of what it means to get involved with someone from the royal family. How much of a sense did you have, Rihanna, of the enormity of what you were getting into? What it might mean for your life?

"I think I can very safely say as naive as it sounds now, having gone through this learning curve in the past year and a half I did not have any understanding of just what it would be like. I don't think either of us did that we both said that even though we knew that it would be." Rihanna said.