Prince Harry is unashamed about professing his love for Meghan Markle — and his certainty that his mum would have been thrilled with his choice.

“They would have been best friends,” he said in a TV interview.

In his own words “the stars were aligned” when he met Meghan in July 2016.

The odds of a girl from LA, who becomes an actress based in Canada, meeting and marrying a British prince were extremely low,
but that’s just what happened in a love story that surprised the world — and the couple themselves.

“Everything was just perfect. This beautiful woman just sort of … tripped and fell into my life; I fell into her life,” Harry said.

They were introduced by a female friend who set them up on a blind date. Both said they knew nothing about each other.

“I’d never even heard about her until this friend said ‘Meghan Markle’, said Harry.

“I’d never watched Suits. I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her. I was like, ‘OK, well, I’m really gonna have to up my game!’”

“Because I’m from the States, you don’t grow up with the same understanding of the Royal Family,” Meghan said.

“I didn’t know much about him, and so I had one question. I said, ‘Well, is he nice?’ Because if he wasn’t kind, it just didn’t seem like it would make sense.”

But it quickly made sense to the love-struck pair, who set about having a long-distance relationship.

“Five hours apart does have its challenges,” Harry said.

“But we made it work.”

Things moved swiftly — date three was a trip to Botswana where the couple slept under the stars.

“We were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure that we had a chance to get to know each other,” Harry said.

They spent five months dating in secret, with Harry flying over to the Suits set in Canada at every opportunity. But by December, their secret was out and they were snapped buying a Christmas tree in London. It would be their last Christmas apart — the next one Meghan would spend with The Queen.

As things got serious, Meghan met Harry’s family and friends. In March 2017 the couple went to Jamaica, where Meghan attended the wedding of Harry’s friends Tom Inskip and Lara Hughes-Young and was introduced to his social circle.

Two months later she attended the polo in Ascot, where she applauded Harry’s efforts from the royal box and also went to Pippa Middleton’s wedding, albeit staying away from the cameras.

By September, with her lifestyle blog The Tig shut down, it was clear the pair was getting serious and a Vanity Fair cover and interview confirmed it.

“We’re a couple. We’re in love,” Meghan said.

“I’m sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time.”

Later that month, they made their public debut as a couple arriving at the Invictus Games in Toronto hand-in-hand.

And Meghan met The Queen.

“She’s an incredible woman,” she said.

The corgis, crucially, loved her.

Finally, Harry popped the question, on a quiet night at home in Nottingham Cottage, Kensington Palace, while cooking a roast chicken for dinner.

He presented Meghan with a ring using a diamond from Botswana and two more from his mother’s collection.

“It was just an amazing surprise,” Meghan said.

The pair announced their engagement on November 27, beaming with joy as they posed on the steps of Kensington Palace.

Compared to his parents’ awkward engagement interview when Prince Charles famously replied “Whatever ‘in love’ means” when asked if he loved Diana, Harry and Meghan’s affection was plain to see.

And when the official engagement photos were released by photographer Alexi Lubomirski, the beautiful images of the couple gazing adoringly at each other touched the hearts of even the most cynical republicans.

Things moved swiftly, with The Queen showing how much the monarchy had modernised
by approving of Harry and Meghan living together and inviting his fiancee to spend Christmas at Sandringham — the first time a non-spouse had done so.

It is expected the couple will not wait long to become parents.

“Having their own family would really help them settle into a new identity as committed and responsible model for us all,” says Dr Janet Hall, clinical psychologist.