Game of Thrones stars Kit Harington and Rose Leslie welcomed their first child this week, which many fans see as a huge step for their favorite Westerosi couple. Harington and Leslie played lovers on the hit HBO fantasy series and fell in love for real. The tale is enough to warm any heart — even that of a cynic like Tyrion.
Most fans know Harington best for playing Jon Snow, one of the lead characters on Game of Thrones for almost a decade. Some may know Leslie best for her role there, too, although she has plenty of other major credits to her name — including Downton Abbey, The Good Fight and The Last Witch Hunter. Either way, Harington and Leslie played out a fan-favorite romance from George R.R. Martin’s novels, and many fans were delighted when their love story became real.
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Harington and Leslie keep a relatively low profile for celebrities, avoiding the public eye in their down-time. The couple is not photographed by the paparazzi when they can help it, and even in interviews, they tend to keep things pretty low-key.
Still, there are plenty of revelations about Harington and Leslie’s charmed life for fans to keep up with as their romance turns into a shared life. Here is what you need to know about Harington and Leslie’s real-life love story.
Leslie
Leslie was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and raised in Lickleyhead Castle — a literal castle and the ancestral home of her family going back to the 15th century, according to a report by The Daily Record. Leslie attended prestigious schools and pursued the arts from a young age. She started her career on BBC Radio, then at the historic Globe Theatre before making her way to TV.
While Leslie is now an A-lister in Hollywood, she has often lamented leaving Scotland. In a 2015 interview with The Scotsman, she said: “Aberdeen… in the middle of the countryside, all trees and nature… I feel very much at peace in Scotland.”
Harington
Harington was born in London, England to a businessman and a playwright. His birth name is Christopher Catesby Harington, and he took the nickname Kit because his namesake, Christopher Marlowe, used the same one. Like Leslie, Harington’s family has a long history in the annals of the British aristocracy.
Harington studied drama and theater in college, inspired by classic Shakespearean performances, according to an interview with Mr. Porter. He started his career in theater and took his first TV role ever at the age of 25. That role would end up making him one of the biggest stars in the world.
Engagement
There was little fanfare around Harington and Leslie’s real-life romance at first, in spite of the obvious intrigue. Fans had watched every moment of their tragic love story play out in Westeros, but in real life, there were only scattered reports and rumors that they were together. These stories first emerged in 2011, at which point Leslie’s role in the show was just beginning to air.
Real confirmation of their romance did not come until their engagement. Following all the protocols of their aristocratic upbringings, Harington and Leslie formally announced their engagement in The Times on Sept. 27, 2017.
Wedding
Harington and Leslie were married on June 23, 2018, at Rayne Parish Church in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Their reception was held at the Wardhill Castle — another ancient stronghold of Leslie’s family. Many of their Game of Thrones co-stars were in attendance, including Peter Dinklage (Tyrion), Maisie Williams (Arya), Sophie Turner (Sansa) and Emilia Clarke (Daenerys), according to a report by the BBC.
Around this time, Harington and Leslie began to speak publicly about their relationship more often, detailing their meet-cute in retrospect. Harington told Vogue that his favorite memory of filming Game of Thrones was a three-week shoot in Iceland where they filmed Season 2 — the beginning of Jon Snow and Ygritte’s arc.
“Because 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 becomes very easy to fall in love.”
Historic Home
Since their wedding and the end of Game of Thrones, Leslie and Harington have been keeping to themselves. In an interview with Make Magazine in September, Leslie described their new home — an historic Tudor mansion in the countryside of eastern England. She said that the couple has enjoyed spending their coronavirus isolation in their new house.
“It’s incredibly old,” she said. “We have a thatched roof, which currently has an enormous hornet’s nest in it. I do love to think about the house and all the people who have lived there. Were they happy, how did they live? All the families passing under those ancient beams.”
Leslie and Harington previously lived in New York City, but Leslie described this new, permanent home as “the house that Jon Snow built.” She went on: “What a glorious thing to be able to run to the countryside and recoup. It’s a great privilege to be surrounded by greenery, birdsong and hedgerows, and our delightful neighbors. It’s so peaceful.”
Pregnancy
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Leslie revealed her pregnancy for the first time in that same September interview with Make Magazine. She posed for one photo while visibly pregnant, saying nothing about it in the interview. Unsurprisingly, she and Harington kept to themselves throughout the pregnancy, thanks in no small part to the pandemic and the isolation mandates.
Son
Finally, the latest news on Leslie and Harington is that they have welcomed their first child — a baby boy — to the world. The 33-year-old new parents were seen with their baby on Tuesday, Sept. 16 in London, according to a report by E! News. Reps for the two actors said that their newborn is healthy and that all three of them are “very, very happy!”
