Palace goes into wedding mode

Engagement fever mounts as aides told to search for suitable date for ceremony

PRINCE Harry has told Buckingham Palace aides to start planning for a royal wedding, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Senior members of the Royal Family are understood to have been asked to look at their diaries to shortlist a series of suitable weekends next year – the clearest sign yet that an engagement announcement is imminent.

The news comes days after Harry and his girlfriend Meghan Markle held a private meeting with Queen Elizabeth, seen by insiders as a sign that she has given the union her blessing.

It is unlikely there would be any official announcement until after the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth’s 70th wedding anniversary on November 20.

It may be significant, too, that the Palace chose to release news of the Duchess of Cambridge’s April due date comparatively early. A wedding is believed to be out of the question until Prince William and Kate’s third child is born.

One important consideration both for courtiers and the Church of England is Meghan’s status as a divorcee. Under Church rules, she would be unable to have a religious wedding and, although it could take place in church, a ceremony would be a blessing instead, with a civil marriage taking place separately.

This could lead to the choice of a comparatively low-profile venue, such as the Royal Military Chapel at Wellington Barracks at St James’s Park.

Meghan is currently in Toronto filming scenes for her legal drama Suits, and work will not finish on the series until the middle of November.

Sources in her circle believe she will then move into Kensington Palace, where Harry occupies the two-bedroom Nottingham Cottage. Meghan is believed to have told studio bosses that she will not return for another series of Suits next year, reportedly telling friends she was ‘happy to make this career sacrifice’ in order to concentrate on her charity work and her new life as a senior royal.

Meghan, who made her first official public appearance alongside Harry at the Invictus Games in Toronto, is also planning to travel to India for the charity World Vision, of which she is a patron.

Palace aides have already been advising Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, a 60-year-old yoga instructor and therapist who lives in Los Angeles – a sign of how seriously the relationship is being taken in royal circles.

‘She has told friends she is sacrificing her career’