--- title: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Got a Halloween Spook description: While at an event in New Zealand, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were surprised by the appearance of a costumed character for Halloween. canonical: https://time.com/5437674/meghan-markle-harry-halloween/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-29T15:42:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:42.375Z og:title: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Got a Halloween Scare og:description: A 'Lord of the Rings' character showed up at a creative arts event og:url: https://time.com/5437674/meghan-markle-harry-halloween/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0399a63d0db77b1/69893db7fb4eac93c08980d1/meghan-harry-halloween.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit New Zealand - Day 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Got a Halloween Scare twitter:description: A 'Lord of the Rings' character showed up at a creative arts event twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0399a63d0db77b1/69893db7fb4eac93c08980d1/meghan-harry-halloween.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Got Spooked for Halloween > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 29, 2018 3:42 PM UTC  Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit Courtnay Creative for an event celebrating the city's thriving arts scene on October 29, 2018 in Wellington, New Zealand. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit Courtnay Creative for an event celebrating the city's thriving arts scene on October 29, 2018 in Wellington, New Zealand. Samir Hussein—Samir Hussein/WireImage  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 29, 2018 3:42 PM UTC It takes more than just a scary Halloween costume to throw off [Prince Harry](http://time.com/5437462/new-zealand-prince-harry-meghan-markle/) and [Meghan Markle](http://time.com/5435882/meghan-markle-zika-tonga/). During their visit to Wellington, New Zealand on Monday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex dropped by a local performance and [rehearsal space](https://www.miramarcreative.nz/courtenay-creative/) to check out the city’s arts scene — and were welcomed at the entrance by a gruesome [orc](http://time.com/5376610/fall-of-gondolin-jrr-tolkien/), of [_Lord of the Rings_](http://time.com/5427122/lord-of-the-rings-viggo-mortensen-bombs/) fame, decked out in an appropriately dramatic mask and ragged clothing. The _Lord of the Rings_ movies were [famously filmed](http://time.com/4325907/new-zealand-volcano-mordor/) in locations around New Zealand, which perhaps makes this choice of character especially apt for the area. But although the orc told one reporter that the royal couple looked “quite scared” by his surprise appearance, they seemed to get along just fine with the spook, continuing on to take photos with the many elaborately-costumed attendees of the event at Courtenay Creative, including medieval soldiers, Day of the Dead skeletons and even a monkey. (The Duke and Duchess did not arrive in costume themselves.) According [to local news](https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/107912312/Goblins-and-ghouls-to-greet-Royals-as-Courtenay-Creative-throws-open-its-doors), Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were treated to a creative exhibition at the venue that showed off makeup, prosthetics, costumes and “mixed-reality” projects from students in the area. The pair are nearly done with their [16-day tour](http://time.com/5435634/harry-meghan-tonga-forest-reserve/) of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand, with just two more days in New Zealand ahead of them before returning to London just after Halloween. > [](https://twitter.com/Hannah%5FFurness/status/1056796972106047488) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5437674/meghan-markle-harry-halloween/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5437674/meghan-markle-harry-halloween/"},"headline":"Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Got Spooked for Halloween","datePublished":"2018-10-29T15:42:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:42.375Z","description":"They entered an elaborate costume party","url":"https://time.com/5437674/meghan-markle-harry-halloween/","keywords":["Newsfeed","royals","halloween","meghan markle","halloween 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0399a63d0db77b1/69893db7fb4eac93c08980d1/meghan-harry-halloween.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0399a63d0db77b1/69893db7fb4eac93c08980d1/meghan-harry-halloween.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit New Zealand - Day 2","caption":"The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit New Zealand - Day 2","creditText":"Samir Hussein—Samir Hussein/WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5437674/meghan-markle-harry-halloween/","name":"Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Got Spooked for Halloween"}}]}] ```