Prince Harry to wed ‘Suits’ actress
It was love at first sight, popular royal says as engagement to TV star revealed
BRITAIN’S Prince Harry is thrilled to be marrying American girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year, he said yesterday, confirming months of speculation about the playboy royal and the glamorous actress. The prince, 33, said he fell for Markle the first time they had met, as the pair posed smiling and laughing for photographers in the gardens of his home at Kensington Palace.
The actress of hit legal drama television series Suits, wearing a white coat and high heels, said she was very happy as she held Harry’s hand and showed off her diamond engagement ring.
Queen Elizabeth, Harry’s grandmother, led the chorus of approval for the couple, who the palace said became engaged in secret in London earlier this month.
The announcement ended speculation about the younger prince, once the bad boy of the House of Windsor, who has become one of the most popular royals.
He has been dating Markle, 36, since last year – but the pair made their first public appearance together only in September.
“His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle,” Clarence House, the office of Harry’s father, Prince Charles, said. “The wedding will take place early next year.” After their engagement, Harry informed the queen, close members of the royal family and also sought the blessing of Markle’s parents.
He designed the ring himself – it contains one diamond from Botswana, which he had visited numerous times, and two from the personal collection of his late mother, Princess Diana.
A message on the monarch’s official Twitter page said: “The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness.”
The couple will live at Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace, where Harry’s older brother, William, and his pregnant wife, Kate, live with their two children – Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.
Harry’s bride-to-be, who has already been married, is best known for her role as a lawyer in Suits, but is now expected to become a duchess. Markle has reportedly already begun moving her two dogs, Guy and Bogart, to London, ahead of what will be Britain’s first royal wedding since William and Kate in 2011.
Her parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, said they were incredibly happy.
“Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person,” they said.
“To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a great joy for us as parents.” It is set to be a busy spring for the royal family, with the wedding and the arrival of a new child for William and Kate providing light relief from the dour Brexit political headlines.
Wellwishers gathered outside Buckingham Palace yesterday.
John Egan, 72, was one, who said: “It is good for the country.
“The royal family is too tight, too controlled, the older ones exist in the last century, they really need to modernise.”
Harry, the second son of Prince Charles and Diana, spent 10 years in the British army, serving two tours of duty in Afghanistan.
In his younger days, he regularly hit the headlines for his partying and his outspoken criticism of the media, whom he blames for the death of his mother.
However, he has turned himself into one of the royal family’s most popular figures after defining a role as a caring but robust champion of veterans – and the outdoors among wildlife.
William and Kate said they were very excited for the couple.
“It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan,” they said.
The couple met in July last year in London, introduced by mutual friends, and the relationship was later confirmed by Harry’s office following speculation in the media.
Prime Minister Theresa May offered her congratulations, writing on her official Twitter page that it was a time of huge celebration.
Bookmakers have already started taking wedding related bets, with Westminster Abbey a firm favourite to host the event and fashion label Alexander McQueen to design the dress.
Paddy Power offers odds of 7/1 for Markle to already be pregnant when walking down the aisle, while Elton John, who had been close to Diana, is 6/1 to perform at the service.