Entertainment

Prince Harry & Ellie Goulding Might Be A Thing

by Michelle McGahan

With summer 2016 officially becoming the Season of Celeb Breakups, here's some (happy!) relationship news that pretty much no one was expecting: Prince Harry and Ellie Goulding are reportedly dating — that is, according to UK tabloid The Sun. While your immediate reaction to a headline like that may be all ~WTF shruggy arms~ (mine certainly was), this alleged pairing might not be as entirely random as we initially thought.

According The Sun, the redheaded royal, 31, and the "Love Me Like You Do" singer, 29, "spent the night canoodling" — how very Mean Girls of them — at the recent Audi Polo Challenge in England, where an eyewitness told the paper that the two kissed under a blanket. In fact, "Harry and Ellie only had eyes for each other all night — they spent a lot of time sitting together under blankets," the insider claimed, adding that the prince "has told friends how much he likes Ellie and she is clearly taken by him."

As it turns out, Prince Harry and Goulding actually have quite the connection: They've been friends for years, the paper reports, having met when the singer performed at Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011. (Did I mention that Ellie Goulding performed at the Royal Wedding? Because clearly that proves she's already royal family-approved.)

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And the two were clearly happy to see each other at Prince Harry's Invictus Games in 2014, with the royal wrapping up Goulding in a tight bear hug (see above), and smiling broadly as the two posed for photos.

"They’d always got on very well through their various meetings after she was the wedding singer at Kate and William’s wedding reception," the Sun source said. "But things stepped up a gear and they had been in touch in recent weeks and their first really public meeting since was at the polo."

Looking back at Goulding and Prince Harry's dating histories, their potential pairing seems even less random. As all royal watchers know, Harry's most serious girlfriend was Chelsy Davy, with whom Goulding has the whole "long, bleach blonde hair" thing in common. As for the British singer, she once had a little something going on with Ed Sheeran, so the #GingerLove is there, too.

As for this rumored relationship turning into anything serious, hold those (royal) horses just yet. While Goulding is clearly favored among the royal family as a close friend and Royal Wedding performer, she may not make the cut for Serious Girlfriend due to her celebrity status, the insider claimed.

"There’s already a lot of talk amongst friends that the palace wouldn’t allow her as a serious girlfriend because of her celebrity background," the source said.

Considering we have to take this entire apparent relationship with a grain of salt (the two could just be good friends, after all), let's hold off on the whole future princess thing, too — not because Goulding is too ~celeb~ for the Royal Family, but because it's way too premature to even be thinking that far in advance yet.

Image: Giphy