- Kit Harington and Rose Leslie reportedly fell in love on the set of Game of Thrones in 2012.
- They made their love official in June 2018 with a romantic wedding in Scotland.
- Stepping out for the Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere in New York, Harington and Leslie looked as adorable ever.
Rose Leslie and Kit Harington went from on-screen couple to real-life husband and wife.
According to the BBC, the former Game of Thrones co-stars registered their wedding date of June 23, 2018 at a local office in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where Leslie’s father owns a castle. Their big day was attended by their co-stars like Peter Dinklage, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, and Emilia Clarke.
The couple has kept most aspects of their relationship private, but as they transitioned from colleagues to husband and wife, they’ve revealed some adorable details about their love story. Here’s how the two fell for one another both on and off the set.
Their characters fell in love before they did.
The two met on the set of Game of Thrones when Leslie played Ygritte, a wildling who falls in love with Harington’s character, Jon Snow. In a 2016 interview, Harington said the two fell in love in real life while filming the show’s second season in Iceland. “The country is beautiful, because the Northern Lights are magical, and because it was there that I fell in love,” he said. “If you’re already attracted to someone, and then they play your love interest in the show, it’s becomes very easy to fall in love.”
Spoiler alert: Ygritte was eventually killed on Game of Thrones, and Leslie moved on to star in the CBS legal drama The Good Fight. Now, Leslie has forbidden Harington from spoiling her about what happens on Game of Thrones, even non-verbally. "I for sure ask Kit not to show me his excitement after he has read an episode, simply because I don’t want to read anything in his eyes," she told Entertainment Weekly. “So when he’s at the other end of the room and reading the episode, it’s like, no… we are not going to have eye contact for a long time. Go make a cup of tea. Calm down."
They like to keep their private life private.
At first, Harington and Leslie kept their relationship a secret, but they were eventually photographed together, and made their red carpet debut as a couple in 2016, at the Olivier Awards in London.
Still, they kept things quiet, and Harington declined to say too much in an interview with Esquire, only saying “it's as much her relationship as it is mine and I can't speak for both of us. But yeah, we are very, very happy. So that's what I'll say about that." Harington even said the two decline to take pictures with fans as a couple, because “then it makes our relationship feel like… puppets. Like we’re a walking show.”
They moved in together, and Harington almost ruined things with a prank.
The two ended up moving in together in 2017. And it was their shared home where Harington pulled an epic prank on Leslie for April Fool’s Day, putting what looked like a severed head in the refrigerator. “After that, she was in tears, and I was there going, ‘April Fools.’ It didn’t go down well,” Harington said on The Jonathan Ross Show. "She pretty much told me that if I did it ever again, that would be it, and I think that’s marriage included.”
They got pressure from an Oscar-winner to put a ring on it.
During an interview on The Late Late Show With James Corden, Nicole Kidman pressured Harington to propose. "No, I just think it's kind of nice if you're going to live together maybe to at least get engaged,” she told him. "I've been put on the spot by Nicole Kidman! I mean, well, it's step by step, step by step."
Harington's proposal was romantic, and their announcement was old-school.
It turns out an engagement may have been in the works all along. Harington revealed he proposed to Leslie during a romantic night in the country—even though he was supposed to pop the question at a different time afterward. "I did have some plans to do it, I was going to string up some lights in some trees and do all the romantic stuff, but we were in the country and we were under this beautiful night sky and had a log fire burning and red wine and I blew my load early," he said on The Jonathan Ross Show, then realizing his unfortunate turn of phrase. "Sorry, that’s a really bad expression!"
Leslie also discussed the proposal in an interview with TV Week explaining, "I was blissfully surprised when he dropped to a knee and asked me to marry him," she said. "We happened to be in the English countryside, which is kind of an area that I don't know that well. It was at night time under a beautiful blanket of stars. The man did well. It was highly romantic."
The couple announced their engagement in September 2017, and did so the old-fashioned way: with an announcement in The Times of London. “The engagement is announced between Kit, younger son of David and Deborah Harington of Worcestershire, and Rose, middle daughter of Sebastian and Candy Leslie of Aberdeenshire.”
Their wedding invites featured Game of Thrones stamps.
The couple reportedly invited 200 guests to their wedding, and used stamps featuring Harington as Jon Snow. That’s because the Royal Mail issued limited edition Game of Thrones stamps, so he could literally use his face as postage. Not a bad way to get a wedding invite.
It seems clear that Harington was already a hit with the Leslie family when the invites went out, because he was spotted dragging Christmas trees across the grounds of Wardhill Castle, which is owned by Leslie’s family and would be the couple's wedding venue. It turns out he was working as a Christmas tree seller on the property, helping load the trees into customers’ cars.
Their romantic wedding took place in an idyllic setting.
Despite keeping their relationship as secret as possible, Leslie and Harington were photographed at their wedding on June 23, 2018. The ceremony took place at the lovely village church, Kirkton of Rayne in Scotland, and was followed by a private reception at Leslie's familial home, Wardhill Castle in Aberdeenshire.
A plethora of the couple's Game of Thrones co-stars were in attendance including Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Sophie Turner, and Maisie Williams, along with other celebrities like Malin Akerman.
Harington credits Game of Thrones with finding his wife.
Speaking to reporters backstage at the Emmys in September 2018, Harington explained why Game of Thrones was so important to him. Per TIME, the actor revealed, "I met my wife in this show, so in that way it gave me my future family and my life from here on in." He continued, "That's the main thing it did for me, and then it's changed it completely in the last 10 years. You could not ask for a better job to have in your twenties, to take you through your twenties, than to be an actor on Game of Thrones."
Harington denies cheating rumors.
In November 2018, Harington was forced to deny cheating rumors when Russian model and actress, Olga Vlaslova, claimed she'd had an affair with Jon Snow himself. The actor's representative told ET Canada, "The allegations in this story are completely false," and continued, "[Harington] has never even been to Luxembourg nor has he ever met Olga Vlasova."
Leslie and Harington hit the red carpet for the Season 8 premiere.
Looking completely besotted with one another, Leslie and Harington arrived together to celebrate the end of an era with the Season 8 premiere of Game of Thrones in New York. At the premiere, Harington told a reporter, per Daily Mail, "I said to Rose the other night, I was like, 'We've been tethered by this show, a long time we've loved it.'"
A few days prior to their red carpet appearance, the married couple were seen snuggling up on the streets of New York, and looked as adorable as ever. Clearly, their love story will endure long after Game of Thrones is over.
They quietly celebrated their wedding anniversary.
According to People, the couple rang in their one-year wedding anniversary in England together this June. At the time, the two were "enjoying the summer, spending time with family and friends," a source told the outlet. By then, Harington had already returned to London after checking into a wellness facility for "personal issues."
Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Her bylines include Harper's BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness, and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics.
