Prince Harry is to marry his American actor girlfriend, Meghan Markle, in spring next year, Clarence House – the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall's official residence – has announced.
“His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle,” it said in a statement on Monday.
Visiting Poundbury in Dorset, Prince Charles said he was thrilled and that Harry and Meghan would be “very happy indeed”.
The ceremony is likely to be conducted by Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, who said he was delighted by the news and had been impressed by Harry’s “immense love for his family”.
Harry’s brother and sister-in-law, Prince William and Kate, 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.”
Clarence House said the couple became engaged in London this month. They were expected to show off the engagement ring at a photocall on Monday afternoon, outside Kensington Palace, where they will live in the two-bedroom Nottingham Cottage.
Details of the venue and timing of the wedding are expected to be released on Tuesday, with aides saying only that it will be “a happy church wedding”. March is the most likely month, leaving enough time to ensure Kate is not about to give birth to her third child.
News of the wedding will prompt a media frenzy that is likely to further test Harry’s relationship with the press. The prince, 33, spoke out about the way Markle, who is divorced, was portrayed when news of the relationship became public just over a year ago.
He condemned some of the newspaper reports and comment pieces as racist – Markle, 36, is of mixed ethnicity – and sexist. His spokesman criticised the “racial undertones of comment pieces” and referred to “the nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers”.
Among the headlines that were believed to have angered the palace were one on Mailonline.com that read: “Harry’s girl is (almost) straight outta Compton”, referring to the city in Los Angeles that has become known for gang violence.
Harry also complained of “a smear on the front page” of the Sun, which ran still images of Markle in the television drama Suits appearing on Pornhub, an adult website. It was headlined “Harry girl’s on Pornhub” even though what was posted were clips of intimate scenes from the programme, and not pornography.
The news sparked a torrent of vitriol against Markle on Twitter and other social media platforms as well as in public comments below online news stories.
Markle has spoken of her heritage as a source of pride. “My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African-American,” she has said in the past. “To say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman.”
Harry is understood to have told his close staff two weeks ago that he wanted to make the engagement public, and planning has been under way since then.
The delay in announcement was partly due to Markle needing to finish filming on Suits, which she completed the week before last.
Like her fiance, Markle has been involved in humanitarian work. She has travelled to Rwanda as a global ambassador for World Vision Canada and has worked as a women’s advocate for the UN.
Her parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, said in a statement on Monday: “We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person. 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.”
Markle and Harry were reportedly introduced by the consultant Markus Anderson in 2016. Their relationship became public after about six months.
As well as the tone of the coverage of Markle, there have been complaints of harassment, a sensitive subject for Harry given the circumstances of his mother Princess Diana’s death 20 years ago. Kensington Palace protested last year at the “bombardment of nearly every friend co-worker, and loved one in [Markle’s] life”.
In September this year, in an interview with Vanity Fair, Markle spoke about her relationship with Harry, saying: “We’re two people who are really happy and in love. We were very quietly dating for about six months before it became news, and I was working during that whole time, and the only thing that changed was people’s perception.”
In the same month, the couple made their first public appearance, at the Invictus Games in Toronto.
