Clarence House confirms Prince Harry, Meghan Markle to marry
Harry proposed to Meghan Markle during a cosy night in over a roast chicken and designed her engagement ring himself.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle effusively gushed about their relationship in a candid first interview since announcing their wedding in the northern hemisphere Spring, with Prince Harry revealing he got down on bended knee while roasting chicken in their Nottingham Cottage love nest.
Ms Markle revealed she didn’t wait for Prince Harry to finish asking the question before saying, “yes, yes, yes’’. Prince Harry added that he had to ask her if she then wanted to see the ring he had specially designed.
“It was so sweet and natural and very romantic,’’ Ms Markle said.
In a 21-minute interview that sees both interject and finish each other’s sentences, it emerges that Ms Markle has met the Queen several times, and the corgis sit on her feet, as well as meeting Prince Charles and the close family and friends of Princess Diana.
Ms Markle hinted that she and Prince Harry may visit Australia soon, with remarks that she saw her position as focussing energy on causes as well as “also go around the Commonwealth’’.
Prince Harry revealed that children are very much in their plans, but laid to rest rumours that Ms Markle was already pregnant.
“Not currently no,’’ he said when asked about children. “I think one step at a time and we will start a family in the future.’’
The Royal romance began with a blind date and introductions by a female friend and Ms Markle said she got a second date because of the kinship both felt about charity work.
Prince Harry admitted he thought to himself he had to up his game when he first laid eyes on Ms Markle — someone he had not known of and had not watched in the US hit series Suits — and from day one he was in love with Ms Markle.
“I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly ... All the stars were aligned — everything was just perfect. It was this beautiful woman just sort of literally tripped and fell into my life — I fell into her life.’’
The couple arranged to not go without seeing each other for more than a fortnight and managed to continue the trans-Atlantic courtship for nearly six months before it became public.
Only weeks into the fledgling relationship Prince Harry encouraged Ms Markle to camp with him in Botswana for five days, which fast tracked their relationship.
“I persuaded her to join me in Botswana and we camped out under the stars and we were then really by ourselves and it gave us a chance to get to know each other,’’ he said.
Ms Markle, 36, said that when the relationship became public she made a conscious decision not to read anything and focus her energies on “us’’. She said the focus on her mixed race ethnicity was ‘’disheartening’’.
“It’s a shame that the climate to focus on that matter would be discriminatory; at end of the day I am proud of who I am and where I come from. We didn’t focus on that, just on us as a couple, and when you take that away, we just enjoy just being together.’’
Prince Harry said he didn’t believe he was bringing something new to the Royal Family, but rather his soon to be wife was “an added member’’ to the now foursome of his brother Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge to carry out work for the younger generation.
The radiant couple emerged holding hands shortly after 2pm local time (1am AEDT), after publicly announcing their engagement. The couple walked through the rose garden of Kensington Palace for the first official photo call several hours after releasing a statement indicating a wedding next northern hemisphere Spring.
Markle, in a white coat, and Prince Harry, in a sharp blue suit, looked slightly nervous and ignored calls by the phalanx of photographers to kiss. But Markle held out her hand to show off her diamond ring, which had been designed by Prince Harry.
The main diamond stone comes from Botswana and two outside diamonds which came from the personal collection of Princess Diana.
Ms Markle said “I am very happy’’ in response to how she was feeling while Prince Harry said he knew Ms Markle was the one for him “the first time we met’’.
The couple’s eagerly anticipated wedding is tipped to be non-traditional, but involving the Archbishop of Canterbury. It has catapulted the Royal Family into modern times, with the Queen accepting Ms Markle who is a divorcee and commoner from the United States.
The trans-Atlantic love story has added another spark of excitement to the Royal family diary for next year and has marked a new stage of life for Prince Harry, who was well known for falling out of nightclubs and cavorting naked in a private party in Las Vegas before developing a more serious side, including serving in Afghanistan.
In the official Royal statement, the happy couple are to wed in the northern hemisphere spring, presumably just after the birth of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge’s third child, due in April. Prince George and Princess Charlotte are tipped to be in the wedding party.
The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle. pic.twitter.com/zdaHR4mcY6
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) November 27, 2017
The news was announced by Clarence House, the official residence of Prince Harry’s father, the Prince of Wales, and the couple quickly received congratulations from the Queen, Ms Markle’s parents, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge and political figures including prime minister Theresa May. Australia has been informed via diplomatic channels and unlike in 1932 when a Royal, King George VIII wanted to marry an American divorcee Wallis Simpson, the Australian government has not objected.
Prince Harry, 33 and fifth in line to the throne, met Markle in Toronto, where she was acting in a television series, Suits. Before he had met the 36 year old actress, Prince Harry had confided to friends that his ideal woman was Markle’s character Rachel Zane. Prince Harry got down on bended knee in London earlier this month and soon after introduced his bride to be to the Queen over afternoon tea.
Markle’s divorced parents, African-American Doria Ragland, a 61 year old yoga instructor and her Mexican-based father Thomas Markle, an Emmy award winning lighting director, have approved. They said: “We are incredibly happy’’ for the couple and “we wish them a lifetime of happiness’’.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said of the engagement:
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 27, 2017
'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to
know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.'
Markle has already wound up her acting duties and the couple has been house hunting in the Cotswolds, west of London. She has moved her belongings and her two “loves’’, a Labrador shepherd cross, Bogart, and a beagle called Guy, to London. She has already become a much photographed style icon, with her sassy look and beaming smile, taking the pressure off her future sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge.
Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge said: “We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together’.
Markle has written of her mixed race in an essay for Elle magazine: ”Being biracial paints a blurred line that is equal parts staggering and illuminating. While my mixed heritage may have created a grey area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that. To say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman.”
Markle had previously been married to Trevor Engelson in a Jewish service but the marriage only lasted for two years, although they had been in a relationship for seven years beforehand.
She has two older half-siblings: Samantha Grant, who has multiple sclerosis and Thomas Markle junior. Early in the couple’s relationship Thomas junior had encouraged Prince Harry to get on with marrying his sister because ‘’she’s hot commodity’’.
Researchers have uncovered Prince Harry and Markle are distant cousins going back to the late 15th century. An English sheriff called Ralph Bowes is Meghan’s ancestor from 15 generations ago, and Prince Harry’s relative through the Queen Mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
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