For many people, the Royal Family offers a glimpse into a world that is both traditional as well as fascinating. This is true for people in the United States as well as around the world. It seems as if royal relationships are particularly interesting, which does put an incredible amount of pressure on both the royal as well as those they chose to date.

Recently, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced their engagement, which seems like a picture-perfect relationship in every sense of the word. This is made somewhat more controversial, at least for the Royal Family, due to Meghan’s past marriage and divorce.

The Importance of Waiting

A very important part of having a successful relationship, particularly in high-profile and always under the scrutiny press situation, is to be comfortable with dating and having friendships that are not escalated prematurely or to satisfy the need for the individual to be seen as “in a serious relationship.”

With Prince Harry, as well as with Meghan Markle, who is famous in her own right as an actress and humanitarian, both had past relationships and were comfortable with being in the spotlight. They are both clearly aware of what they were looking for in a prospective partner, and they took their time in building the relationship while also pursuing their own individual commitments and passions.

In many ways, these passions dovetailed, with both very focused on humanitarian issues as well as getting to know more about each other. While Prince Harry reports he knew Meghan was the one from their first date, he stressed the importance to get to know each other away from the scrutiny of the public eye before determining just how far the relationship would go.

The Result

The result of building a relationship while still maintaining an individual perspective is critical for everyone, and not just those that are famous. In my new book, “The Marriage Junkie: Kick Your Obsession with Relationships and Learn to Love Living with Yourself,” the importance and the result of being true to oneself and not becoming consumed by the relationship become clear.

Learning, like Prince Harry, to wait for the right one and be happy with your life results in finding a person to commit to who will be a positive and empowering match.

Sherry Gaba, LCSW is a Radio Host, Certified Transformation Coach and author of the award winning book The Law of Sobriety: Attracting Positive Energy for a Powerful Recovery and Ecourse. You can take her quiz to find out if you are co-dependent or sign up for a 30 minute strategy session with Sherry. Check out Sherry’s new book The Marriage and Relationship Junkie: Kicking Your Obsession.