Just hours after announcing their engagement, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appeared together at Kensington Palace on Monday to celebrate the happy news and pose for their official engagement photos.
The couple held their photo call in the Sunken Gardens, which was one of Diana, Princess of Wales’, favourite places.
Harry, wearing a blue suit and tie, said he was “thrilled” and that details about his proposal would come out later. He was then asked if the proposal was romantic and he replied: “Of course!”
READ MORE: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle engaged
Markle, who said she was “so happy,” was wearing an engagement ring for the first time in public. She held Harry’s hand and rubbed his arm.
They left with their arms around each other. The couple plan to give their first interview later in the day.
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Harry’s brother, Prince William, and his wife Kate Middleton welcomed Markle to the Royal family.
“We are very excited for Harry and Meghan,” they said in a statement. “It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.”
Harry’s father, Prince Charles, told reporters he was “thrilled” with the engagement.
“They’ll be very happy indeed,” he said.
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The engagement announcement says the couple became engaged in London earlier this month and that Harry has informed his grandmother, the Queen. It says he sought and received the permission of Markle’s parents.
The couple plan to live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace. Markle is also reported to have started the sometimes time-consuming process of moving her dogs from Canada to Britain. She recently left her television show, a development that helped fuel engagement speculation.
The marriage represents a first-ever blending of Hollywood glamour with the once-stuffy Royal family, which has of late seemed less fixed in its ways, and brings a mixed-race American divorcee into a highly visible role.
It won’t be the first time that a British Royal has married an American or a divorcee. In 1936, Edward VIII famously abdicated after he was forced to choose between the monarchy and his relationship with twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson.
Harry will marry Markle in the spring, palace officials confirmed Monday.
— With files from the Associated Press