Prince Harry to marry US actress Markle next spring

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Prince Harry said he was thrilled after he and US actress Meghan Markle yesterday announced they were engaged with the couple to tie the knot in the spring of next year.
Harry, 33, Queen Elizabeth's grandson and fifth-in-line to the British throne, and Markle, 36, best known for her role in the US TV legal drama Suits, got engaged this month in London.
'Thrilled, over the moon, said Harry as he posed for photographs with his fiancee in the grounds of Kensington Palace in central London where the couple will live in a cottage.
Asked when he knew Markle was 'the one, he replied: 'The very first time we met.
Markle, who wore a white coat, said she was 'so very happy as she clutched her future husband's arm tightly during their brief appearance.
They left with their arms around each other.
She showed off a dazzling three-stone ring, designed by Harry himself with at its centre a diamond from Botswana, which his office said was a place special to the couple, surrounded by two diamonds taken from the personal collection of his late mother Princess Diana.
The Queen, who had to give her assent for the union, and her husband Prince Philip were delighted, Buckingham Palace said, while Harry also received the blessing of Markle's parents.
'We're thrilled. I hope they will be very happy indeed, his father, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles said.
Harry and Markle, who is a divorcee, met in July 2016 after they were introduced through friends. The prince, the younger son of Charles and his first wife Diana, publicly confirmed their relationship months later in a rebuke to the media over its alleged intrusion into Markle's private life.
But it was not until September that they made their first public appearance together at the Invictus Games in Toronto, a sports event for wounded veterans.
'We're in love, Markle told Vanity Fair magazine that month. '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.
'This is a time of huge celebration and excitement for two people in love and, on behalf of myself, the government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Twitter.
The wedding is likely to attract huge attention across the world, as did the marriage of Harry's elder brother William to Kate Middleton in 2011.
'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan, William and Kate said in a statement. 'It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.
In his office's warning to the media, Harry referred to the sexism and racism directed at Markle, whose father is white and her mother African-American.
'We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person, Markle's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland said in a statement.
'To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents. We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together.
Harry's previous girlfriends included Zimbabwe-born Chelsy Davy and actress Cressida Bonas.
Educated at the exclusive Eton College, Harry's teenage years were overshadowed by negative press headlines, fostering an intense dislike which he and his brother harboured because of the way papers hounded their mother.
She died in a Paris car crash in 1997 while being chased by paparazzi.
Harry was portrayed as a royal wild child and playboy prince, and in 2002 he admitted smoking cannabis and getting drunk when underage in a pub near the royal family's country estate amid suggestions he had fallen in with a bad crowd.
He later scuffled with paparazzi outside a London nightclub and drew outrage by dressing as a Nazi officer at a party.

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