The Transformation Of Delfina Blaquier, The Wife Of Prince Harry's Best Friend
Delfina Blaquier has always been an equestrian at heart. Growing up in Buenos Aires, she watched her father play polo and fell in love with horses. While she didn't follow in his footsteps, she was an athlete in her own right. She excelled in high jump and even represented Argentina in a couple of competitions. By the time she turned 18, however, she set her sights on other things. She obtained a degree in landscape design, but by the time she left university, Blaquier pursued other avenues, including modeling work and photography.
Blaquier is a jack of all trades, and she's added plenty of achievements to her CV since. Not only did she work at Ralph Lauren, but she also co-founded the fashion line Àcheval Pampa, which consists of practical, feminine pieces described by The Newsette as "equestrian-chic." Before she became an entrepreneur, Blaquier also made appearances in prestigious magazines like Vanity Fair and Vogue.
These days, Blaquier is better known for her relationship with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. She and her husband Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras are among the remaining few who are still in Prince Harry's inner circle, so naturally, the world is more interested in them than ever before — especially since Blaquier and Meghan seem to get on like a house on fire. If you're curious about the multi-talented former model, read on to discover just how exciting her life has been up until this point.
Delfina was a real tomboy as a kid
She might be a fashion guru nowadays, but when she was a kid, Delfina Blaquier couldn't care less about what was fashionable — she just wanted to be comfortable. The latter hasn't changed, even though her style has. She told Vogue in 2014 that her mother eventually gave up on trying to get her to wear dresses when she was a young girl. "... she knew I would wreck them," Blaquier said, explaining that she would often try to transform herself into some version of a horse while she was playing. "I would dress up like a horse with saddles and bridles!" she said. "I was kind of a tomboy as a kid in Argentina, so I wore gaucho pants, shorts, palazzos, and jeans. I love pants!"
Even though her style has changed over the years, Blaquier still loves comfortable clothes, but now she wears the occasional dress every now and then. "I need to be comfortable and ready to go at the same time — jeans, flats, and light dresses," she shared. And when it comes to accessories, Blaquier has forfeited little Delfina's penchant for saddles and bridles and now opts for simple pieces that match whatever event she's attending.
She started dating Nacho Figueras in 1998
Prince Harry's pal Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras was once named the second most handsome man in the world. He also happens to be Delfina Blaquier's husband. We're all just a little jealous. Funnily enough, his looks are what Blaquier noticed first when she met him at a polo match in 1997 (we don't blame her). "... I asked my friend, 'Who is that pretty guy?'" she told Tatler. At the time, Blaquier was 17 and Figueras was 21. The two only started dating in 1998, and it soon became clear that things were pretty serious. Two years later, Blaquier and Figueras celebrated the birth of their first child. In 2005, the two finally tied the knot, and they've been happily married ever since, and have welcomed three more children.
When you ask Figueras about his wife, it's clear that the man is still as smitten as he was when he first met her. "[She's] an amazing mother and a great friend," he told Palm Beach Illustrated in 2017. Blaquier, on the other hand, shared that she knew she'd met her soulmate the moment she was introduced to Figueras. They bonded over their love for horses, and even though Blaquier wasn't a polo player, she had an appreciation for the sport. Having grown up around horses, she could also ride very well. Now, she and Figueras travel the world with their kids in tow for his polo matches, and they're loving every second of it.
She uses her photography skills to chronicle her family's life
Those in the know are aware that, aside from being incredibly photogenic, Delfina Blaquier is also a talented photographer. These days, she uses her skills to capture sweet moments with her family. What makes these photos special, as anyone who's scoured her Instagram page can confirm, is that they always seem to tell a story instead of just being posed pictures. Blaquier has an eye for beautiful things — that cannot be disputed — and she told Vogue that her camera is one of her favorite accessories when she visits the Hamptons. "... the light turns magical after 7 p.m. in the summer, so I bring my camera — I'm obsessed with it!" she said.
Thanks to her husband Nacho Figueras' polo career, Blaquier gets to travel frequently. "We're kind of like these gypsies going around the world playing polo," Figueras told Palm Beach Illustrated. Blaquier uses her camera skills to capture her family's travels, which provide plenty of photo opportunities. She also specializes in abstract horse photography. In an interview with Fancy Kids, Blaquier said that she enjoys sharing her hobbies, like photography, with her kids and often asks for their input because they're brutally honest. "The most fun thing about being an artist is you can share them with the children, I love to hear their opinion. They will tell me the truth no matter what and I love that. It also involves them ... and that gives me joy," she said.
She's tried to raise her four kids in the same way she grew up
Delfina Blaquier grew up among horses. She was never a city girl and has a profound appreciation for nature and animals. It makes sense, then, that she's raising her kids the same way. "... I am happy that I can still be around [horses] and share the same passion with my kids. My favorite quote is from Winston Churchill: 'There's something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of the man,' ...I totally agree," she told Fancy Kids.
That doesn't mean she thinks city life is inferior, but because she's never experienced it herself, she said that she doesn't really know what she's missing (and neither do her kids). "Well I never lived in the city so I'm sure there must be a lot of benefits there too," she said, also explaining that being in nature around horses and getting to travel often for her husband's polo games is a pretty good life. "They have been the best years of my life, traveling with the whole family is the best thing that has ever happened," she said. Blaquier admitted that their nomadic lifestyle does come with some challenges. For instance, establishing a lasting routine for her children has proven difficult at times. "... but I find that the harder it is, then the reward is bigger as well," she said. Blaquier's children are all avid equestrians, and some of them also enjoy playing polo.
She and her husband started their own horse-breeding operation
Given their mutual love for horses, it's no surprise that Delfina Blaquier and Nacho Figueras started their own horse-breeding operation. Speaking to Palm Beach Illustrated in 2017, Blaquier said that she and her husband had been in the horse-breeding business for 10 years at that point. Getting started was no easy feat, however. You need to know what you're doing. "We got genetics from the best players and started creating our own curation of bloodlines," she explained. "We handpicked every single combination of mares with stallions and then came out with all these quality ponies."
When Blaquier and Figueras do something, they give it their all, so when they started this business, they built stunning stables to house the horses, and to say that a lot of planning went into it is an understatement. Speaking to Coveteur in 2018, Blaquier explained that it took three years to build the stables, which can house 44 horses. She and Figueras worked on the idea together and brought it to life with the help of an accomplished designer. "The whole idea was to have something different from a regular stable — something that would pay homage to the horse," she explained. "We are breeders — we collect bloodlines, and the way that we could showcase our bloodlines was building a gallery or museum for our horses. I think it was very well accomplished," she said.
She chose to homeschool her children part-time
When you travel as much as Delfina Blaquier and Nacho Figueras do, keeping your kids in school can become a challenge. Still, Blaquier and her husband have managed to give their kids the best of both worlds. Blaquier previously revealed on her blog that her children are homeschooled, and during an interview with Fox News, Figueras explained that, aside from homeschooling for part of the year, their kids also attend school in Argentina. "But when we are traveling, which is eight months out of the year, they homeschool. So we travel with a tutor," he said.
This arrangement allows Blaquier and Figueras to have a lot of family time, and Figueras said that he doesn't take it for granted. "So I always say that I'm a very lucky guy because I have lunch and dinner with my kids almost every day of my life, which is a super blessing and something that most people that actually go to an office or that used to have a regular job, don't have the pleasure of doing," he said. Blaquier and Figueras are also very intentional with their time together as a family. To me, it's the most amazing treasure that I have to be able to be with my wife and my children all day long," Figueras said, adding that, while they do often have to exercise some patience with each other as a family, they've learned to respect each other's space.
She and her husband worked together on a book series
Prince Harry wrote a tell-all memoir, and Delfina Blaquier and Nacho Figueras worked together on a fictional series that focused on the world of polo. It seems that being a celebrity and writing a book are synonymous with each other these days. Like Harry, Figueras didn't write his books himself. However, he and Blaquier came up with the storyline, and according to Tatler, these tales of fiction are as spicy as they come.
Speaking to the outlet, Figueras said that the idea for the books came from one of his friends, Luke Janklow, who also happens to be a literary agent. Since the stories focused on the world of polo, Figueras and Blaquier provided plenty of input. "So we started talking on the phone, every week for a couple of hours, telling them stories, what we do, the places we travel to," Figueras explained. Even though the books are largely romance novels, Blaquier wanted to make sure the female character in the first release wasn't your typical damsel in distress — she wanted her to be smart and strong and provided plenty of input before the book finally got published.
She attended Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding
In 2018, Delfina Blaquier found herself invited to the most-anticipated event of the year: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding. Thanks to her husband Nacho Figueras' long-time friendship with Harry, their invitations were practically guaranteed. After the fairytale event, Blaquier told Us Weekly that year that it was a magical day and that she suspected Harry and Meghan would get married the moment the prince first told her and Figueras about the new woman in his life. "... we had dinner together and he told us he had met this girl and his eyes sparkled differently. So I knew it was a different girl," she said, adding that Meghan was everything Harry had always been looking for in a wife and that she believed it was true love.
Blaquier's favorite moment from Harry and Meghan's wedding was walking into the chapel and seeing the couple emerge after their nuptials. "They were overwhelmed with happiness," she recalled. Figueras agreed. "I was there for my friend's wedding and that to me was what was special. I was very happy to be there for him. I was very happy to see him happy. I wish them all the best," he said. Another highlight for Blaquier was when Elton John took to the stage at the reception to serenade the newlyweds.
She released a fashion line in 2019
Delfina Blaquier was arguably one of the best-dressed celebrities at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, and not long after turning heads at one of the most memorable events in modern history, she launched her own fashion line.
In 2018, Blaquier launched Àcheval Pampa with three of her friends. The line, which features casual, everyday pieces, was inspired by Blaquier's Argentinian heritage and is an homage to the gauchos, an Argentinian folk symbol. "Gaucho for us is like your cowboy. It's a very elegant land worker, very passionate about the horse, the vast land, and being protective," Blaquier explained to CBS News. One of the dresses in the collection was almost an exact replica of the dress Blaquier wore to Harry and Meghan's wedding, with some slight alterations.
The collection did not just consist of dresses but also included accessories like necklaces and belts. Describing the collection, Blaquier said, "It's casual, it's easy, it's everyday wear and the classics are season-less. We tweak them, we change fabrics, but we move around the same silhouettes per collection."
She started her own blog
Given how much Delfina Blaquier travels, it's no wonder that she decided to start a blog to chronicle her family's nomadic lifestyle. Titled, "We Are Figueras," the blog served as a space where Blaquier could share a glimpse into her life with fans. It is on this platform that she shared about the decision to homeschool her kids and offered readers fashion advice and tips.
On the blog, Blaquier gave readers a swift overview of why she created the platform, and it's mostly because she's an artist at heart who loves to create and share things. "As the children grow older, I felt I needed to work on something for me, I consider myself a creative type of person and had all [these] ideas of doing something fun," she explained (via the Daily Mail). Getting the platform up and running was challenging, but Blaquier said that she had fun doing the work required. She enjoyed sharing her views, hobbies, travels, and favorite pastimes with readers. "There is so much out there, and I thought it was a good idea to do it every where [sic] I was," she wrote.
She became close friends with Meghan Markle
Since Prince Harry and Nacho Figueras are good friends, it was only a matter of time before Delfina Blaquier and Meghan Markle became besties. News of their budding friendship made headlines when the two women were seen cheering on their husbands at a polo game in 2022. Blaquier later told Hello! what an amazing human Meghan is. "She is so wonderful and strong. Stronger than she knows. I love being around my friends, and I will always support her," she said.
Blaquier has also previously taken to Instagram to gush about her new bestie, calling the duchess "my sister." In the post, she praised Meghan for her resilience and big heart. "M — Looking forward to many more of these times with you and H. Getting to spend time together over these [two] months was so special. I wish everyone new [sic] you the way you are," she captioned an image of her and Meghan. She went on to say that she respected her friend and encouraged her to follow her heart. "You have a big one and it's a beautiful one. I love you my darling," she concluded the post.
Meghan and Blaquier met up again for a charity polo match in April 2024. The two appeared thrilled to see each other and Figueras told People that they were planning on spending the weekend with the Sussexes. Here's hoping we get to see more of the two couples soon.