In a statement released from Kensington Palace on Monday, Harry and Meghan confirmed the news.
“His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle. The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.”
The statement also revealed that the couple have been engaged for several weeks now.
“His Royal Highness and Ms. Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry Has also sought and received the blessing of Ms. Markle’s parents.”
The couple is going to live together in the Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.
Markle's parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, also issued a statement, saying, "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."
Harry's brother and sister-in-law, Prince William and Kate Middleton also issued a statement, adding, "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."
The news comes just weeks after ET reported that the pair were preparing to move in together and that a wedding in June 2018 was looking likely.
“I am told by my sources that Meghan is likely to be moving to London as soon as November,” royal expert Katie Nicholl told ET in October. “She's not signing up for another series of Suits. She's planning to leave Canada and make London her new, permanent home."
The pair reportedly met in May 2016, when Harry was in Toronto, Canada (where Suits is filmed), for a visit to the Invictus Games, and the engagement comes one year after he confirmed the relationship by releasing a statement condemning those who had harassed and verbally abused the actress.
In September, the cute couple made their first public appearance together, attending a wheelchair tennis match at the 2017 Invictus Games, where they were photographed laughing, holding hands and adorably whispering into each other’s ears.
Markle, 36, finally broke her silence about the royal romance in the October issue of Vanity Fair, admitting that dating the 33-year-old prince wasn’t always easy.
“It has its challenges, and it comes in waves -- some days it can feel more challenging than others,” she told the magazine. “And right out of the gate it was surprising the way things changed. But I still have this support system all around me, and, of course, my boyfriend’s support.”
“At the end of the day I think it’s really simple,” she added. “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. Nothing about me changed. I’m still the same person that I am, and I’ve never defined myself by my relationship.”
Things then took an even more serious turn when Markle reportedly joined Harry for afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in mid-October.
“It was apparently in the Queen's private sitting room on Thursday afternoon when she was taking tea,” Nicholl told ET. “The meeting lasted for about a half an hour.”
Markle's happily ever after appeared to be further falling into place as predicted by Nicholl when her Suits body double, Nicky Bursic, posted a farewell message to the actress on Instagram on Friday. Wishing Markle "all the happiness in the world," Bersic hashtagged the caption with "#youdeserveitall."
Nicholl predicts a June wedding would fit in perfectly around the couple’s second anniversary and allow pregnant Kate Middleton time to get back into shape after welcoming her third child with Prince William.
“The duchess will have to get her figure back in time for a wedding and Prince William, who we are all assuming will be best man, will need to be available and not thinking about rushing off to a hospital,” she said. “So, I think there will need to be a bit of space between the royal baby being born mid-April and Meghan and Harry tying the knot. This summer is probably going to be the best bet for a royal wedding.”
Congratulations to them.
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