Prince Harry is to marry US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle. The couple have been dating since summer last year. Picture: Getty.

Prince got down on one knee to ask for Meghan’s hand in marriage during a cosy night in cooking roast chicken dinner

Prince Harry proposed to fiancée Meghan Markle during a cosy night in as they cooked a roast chicken dinner, 16 months after the pair first met on a blind date.

Harry was the perfect romantic and got down on one knee to ask for her hand in marriage and Ms Markle could not wait to say “yes”.

Revealing the depths of his feeling for his bride-to-be, the prince suggested they were destined to meet and fall in love, with the royal believing “the stars were aligned, everything was just perfect”.

Harry’s moving comments came in a joint interview with Meghan at Kensington Palace to mark their engagement announcement.

The pair told BBC broadcaster Mishal Husain, how Ms Markle has met the Queen twice, and described her as an “incredible woman”.

During the interview Ms Markle confirmed she is giving up her acting career after it was widely reported she had left the hit series Suits.

Asked about her “new role” Meghan suggested she would become a full-time royal, saying: “I’m excited to just really get to know more about the different communities here, smaller organisations that are working on causes that I’ve always been passionate about under this umbrella, and also being able to go round to the Commonwealth, I think it’s just the beginning.”

Harry also spoke about his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, saying he thought she would have been best friends with his bride-to-be.

He said he wanted the princess, who died in 1997, to be part of his and Ms Markle’s “crazy journey together”.

Ms Markle’s engagement ring features diamonds from Diana’s personal collection, and a stone from one of their favourite places, Botswana.

Asked what his mother would have thought of Ms Markle, Harry replied: “Oh they’d be thick as thieves, without question. I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, you know, so excited for me.

“You know it is days like today when I really miss having her around, and miss being able to share the happy news.”

Earlier the happy couple made their first appearance in public since the announcement of their impending wedding, posing for photographs in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace.

Their anticipated engagement was announced by the Prince of Wales yesterday morning.

A beaming Ms Markle, clutched Harry’s hand with both of hers as they posed briefly, smiling and giggling throughout their appearance.

Fifth in line to the throne Harry, 33, has been dating the 36-year-old star, who found fame in the US legal drama Suits, since the summer of 2016.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh said they were “delighted” for their grandson and Ms Markle, and “wish them every happiness”, while the prince’s father the Prince of Wales said he was “thrilled”.

Ms Markle’s parents Mr Markle and Ms Ragland wished their daughter and Harry “a lifetime of happiness”.

The couple are planning to make Harry’s current base, Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace, their marital home.

Ms Markle will most probably become HRH the Duchess of Sussex, if Harry is made the Duke of Sussex by the Queen on the morning of his wedding.

The pair are to marry in a church wedding in the spring next year.

Any offspring they have may be highly unlikely to ascend the throne, but that didn’t stop the world’s media from greeting the news of Prince Harry’s engagement to American actress Meghan Markle with feverish excitement.

News outlets across the world gave the news near blanket coverage.

The Washington Post hailed news of the proposal of the “ginger-beard prince” but also sounded a note of caution, pointing out that the last time an American married into the royal family in 1936 it sparked a crisis, with King Edward VIII abdicating the throne to marry the American socialite and divorcée Wallis Simpson.

However, one need not rewind that far through history to recall difficult times for the royals. In the wake of the death of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, the monarchy came in for unprecedented criticism. Many believed an image change was required, and it has largely fallen to Harry and his elder brother William to show how the institution can remain relevant, necessary even, in the modern era.

It is a role they have delivered with some aplomb. Harry’s Invictus Games have captured the imagination on a worldwide scale, thrusting the young royal further still into the limelight.

The global reaction to yesterday’s news provided fresh evidence of just what an important and significant symbol the royals remain for our nation.