Meghan & Harry - A Modern Royal Romance (sampler)

M E GHAN

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HARRY

THEIR STORY IN PICTURES

A SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE TRIBUTE ON THE OCCASION OF THEIR ENGAGEMENT

A Modern Royal Romance

We are engaged: Harry and Meghan look relaxed and delighted to share their news during their first photocall as husband and wife to be in the gardens of Kensington Palace

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‘All The Stars Were Aligned’

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave everyone cause to celebrate when they announced their happy news On 28 November, when Prince Charles announced the engagement of his youngest son Prince Harry to American actress Meghan Markle, the nation gave a cheer. It’s been over six years since William and Kate delighted us all with their lavish wedding and now, at last, here’s something else to celebrate. The news was a ray of heart-warming sunshine amid the gloom of Brexit and belt-tightening austerity. And when 33-year-old Harry and Meghan, 36, made their debut as an engaged couple later that day, it was clear that theirs is a true love match. Posing together for a photocall in Kensington Gardens, the pair positively glowed with happiness as a radiant Meghan showed off her sparkling ring, designed by Harry and containing diamonds from his mother Diana’s own collection. Asked when he knew Meghan was the one, Harry said with a smile, ‘The first time we met.’

Eighteen months earlier Harry had never even heard of Meghan Markle, the American actress who shot to fame as Rachel Zane in the US legal TV drama Suits. Daughter of TV lighting director Thomas Markle and African-American clinical therapist, Doria Ragland, Meghan knew nothing about Harry, either. At the time she was living in Toronto, where the TV series is filmed. In many ways, their backgrounds and the worlds they inhabited couldn’t have been more different. Indeed, the couple may never have met at all if it hadn’t been for a matchmaking mutual friend who introduced them in July 2016. ‘It was definitely a set-up, a blind date,’ says Harry. ‘I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her. I thought, I’m really gonna have to up my game.’

Meghan was mutually impressed. After only two dates, the pair went on a five-day holiday to Botswana and got to know one another as they camped out under the stars. ‘The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was confirmation to me that all the stars were aligned,’ said Harry.

Timing, as they say, is all.

The smitten couple enjoyed six months of privacy before their relationship became public. Their first public appearance together at the Invictus Games in Toronto in September provoked much anticipation about a forthcoming engagement. Then, in October, the media went into a speculative frenzy when Meghan was invited to meet the Queen over tea.

Meghan’s Toronto home looked deserted and she seemed to be spending all her time in Harry’s cottage on the Kensington Palace estate.

But if everyone else sensed a proposal in the offing, Harry managed to give Meghan an ‘amazing surprise’ when he went down on one knee. He

It was Harry’s father Prince Charles who, in a statement from Clarence House, first announced the news that everyone had been waiting for popped the question at home one evening in early November as a chicken roasted in the oven. ‘It was sweet and natural and very romantic,’ revealed Meghan in a BBC interview following the engagement announcement.

Even the most cynical couldn’t have failed to be captivated by the couple’s first joint TV appearance. From Harry’s little shiver of excitement when he was referred to as ‘husband’, to Meghan’s adoring gaze at her fiance, their joy in one another was delightfully obvious. It invited comparisons with another engagement interview in 1981, when an adoring Diana gazed coquettishly at her newly announced fiance Charles. But while Diana was unworldly and tongue-tied, with little experience of talking to the press, Meghan was confident and eloquent in expressing both her love for Harry and her awareness of the responsibilities that come with her new role.

Harry, meanwhile, revealed himself as a man with sense of purpose, a man head over heels in love who also knows the challenges ahead and will face those shoulder to shoulder with his wife.

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A NATURAL ROYAL: Already master of the royal wave, Prince Harry starts his first day at nursery in Notting Hill, September 1987 16

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The People’s Prince Prince Harry has grown from little brother and party boy to the mature man who has continued his mother’s compassionate legacy

Princess Diana is never far away from Prince Harry. She is there in his childhood photographs, screaming with glee on an amusement-park ride, or laying a reassuring hand on her spirited, flame-haired son. She shines out of his warm, fun-loving and compassionate personality, and she is there, at least in spirit, for every milestone that Harry has encountered since losing his beloved mum when he was just 12 years old.

Diana certainly shared in the joy of his recent engagement to Meghan. It was surely no coincidence that the happy couple were photographed in the Sunken Garden, Diana’s favourite area of the Kensington Palace grounds.

When Harry designed Meghan’s engagement ring, he made sure that the central stone from Botswana was flanked by diamonds from Diana’s personal collection. And as he talked on camera about his personal joy at becoming engaged, his thoughts turned inevitably to his late mother. ‘She would be over the moon, jumping up and down, so excited for me,’ he said when asked what Diana would have thought of his fiancee. ‘It’s days like today when I really miss having her around and miss being able to share the happy news.’

Diana described young Harry as ‘a complete joy’. Born on 15 September, 1984, Henry Charles Albert David had a shock of red hair and a twinkle in his eye. As the so-called ‘spare’ to the heir, Harry had none of the sovereign responsibility carried by his older brother William and his natural playfulness was not quashed by his fun-loving mum. ‘That childish, fun element really came out when she was spending time with us,’ says Harry. ‘I can hear her laugh in my head, that crazy laugh where there was pure happiness shown on her face. One of her mottos was, “you can be as naughty as you want just don’t get caught.”’ Harry also remembers his mum sneaking him into the cinema and sticking sweets down his and William’s football socks. Keen to make sure that her sons had as normal a childhood as possible, Diana took the boys for burgers and amusement parks, showering them with laughter, love and affection in a way that broke the royal mould. As well as having a special relationship with his doting mum, Harry was close to his brother and father, whose support he would need in the tragic months after the unthinkable happened.

Few of us will forget the sight of 12-year-old Harry walking behind his mother’s coffin in September 1997. Flanked by his brother, father and grandfather, he seemed so heartbreakingly small. If his mother’s death

Harry shows an early love of dogs on holiday with his parents as guests of King Juan Carlos, August 1986 signalled the end of his carefree childhood, Harry’s journey into manhood was a bumpy one. After earning a reputation as a party boy, he was also involved in some scandals that put him in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, including dressing as a Nazi. ‘I probably let myself down,’ he said in 2012 after being caught partying with his pants down in Las Vegas.

But then the party boy grew up. Harry distinguished himself with two tours of duty on the frontline in Afghanistan, earning the respect of his colleagues and the public. After leaving the military he has fulfilled his lifelong commitment to helping wounded servicemen and women. As well as founding the Invictus Games, Harry has carried on the charitable legacy left by Diana, including supporting her landmine charity The Halo Trust, and setting up a charity in Lesotho to help children affected by AIDS. Always a well-loved royal, Harry never lost the public’s affection even as a hellraiser, and now he has become a global favourite. Like his mother, Harry wears his heart on his sleeve and he has learned how to use this as a source of strength, a way to help others. Whether it be showing

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A PRINCE IS BORN: Proud parents Charles and Diana leave St Mary’s hospital with oneday-old Harry, September 1984

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TOP: Prince Harry has fun at the wheel of a 1937 fire engine, October 1990 ABOVE: Young swimmer Harry on holiday with his mum on Necker Island, British Virgin Islands, January 1989 to a vulnerable African child, or talking about his own ➻ warmth depression, he knows how to reach out to people. Diana would

no doubt be proud to see the fine man Harry has become and she would delight in his popularity as well as his current happiness as a husband to be. When Meghan was set up on a blind date with Harry, she was only interested in one thing, was he kind? She wasn’t disappointed.

There is no doubt that the stars were aligned when Harry met Meghan.

The most eligible bachelor in the world has not only met his match, but he met her at the right time. The mature and confident Prince is ready to be a husband and when the time comes, there’s no doubt he’ll be a fine father.

It’s expected that brother William may well do the best man honours, as Harry did for him. And as he waits nervously at the altar for his bride, Harry may also feel the presence of another family member, his mother jumping for joy.

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When Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, married Prince William in Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, her dress married the modern with the traditional.

Her stunning gown, designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, featured an ivory satin bodice and delicate lace detail.

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The Radiant Bride

When it comes to the crucial choice of the dress, will Meghan take inspiration from other more recent royal brides, or will she set a new tradition?

There was a time you couldn’t buy a pair of L K Bennett nude court shoes as seen on Kate Middleton - for love nor money. Such is the effect of being a royal bride. And now there’s the Markle effect. Once Meghan wears it, we all want it. From tote bag to sunglasses, coats to frocks, Meghan can make them all fly off the shelves. Now, as royal wedding fever takes hold, everyone is focusing on just the one frock. The wedding dress. It is the most important part of any bride’s big day and doubly so when the whole world is watching. But who will create the most eagerly anticipated dress of 2018? As designers on both sides of the Atlantic hope for a call, we can perhaps look for clues in Meghan’s own wardrobe.

Just like her Suits character Rachel Zane, Meghan favours classic, clean lines. She likes figure-skimming dresses and design with a cool, quirky detail. She loves British luxury brands such as Mulberry, Barbour and Burberry, but will also happily sport an all-American off-duty look of jeans, tee and oversized jacket. In her first public engagement as a bride-to-be, her outfit gave a nod to both sides of the Atlantic: the long, doublebreasted coat was made by Canadian label Mackage, while her Jigsaw skirt flew the flag for Britain. So what does that tell us about her likely choice of bridal gown?

Based on her taste for streamlined simplicity, it is unlikely that Meghan’s dress will resemble the kind of luscious confection designed

by David and Elizabeth Emanuel for Harry’s mother in 1981. For one thing, there may not be room for it in St George’s Chapel. Alternatively, Meghan may take inspiration from her soon-to-be sister in law, Kate Middleton. Thirty years after Diana walked down the aisle with her 25ft train, Kate wore an Alexander McQueen dress that was altogether smaller and less extravagant than Diana’s but still had the full fairytale effect. With a nipped-in waist, full skirt and lace detail, it was a flattering and perfect combination of the traditional and modern.

‘Classic and simple’ was how Megan once described her idea of the perfect wedding dress. But it has to be said, she did look good in the fairytale gown she wore as Rachel Zane in her final series of Suits when she finally married her boyfriend Mike Scott.

Whether her real-life wedding dress is classic fairytale, modern minimalist, or tradition with a twist, it will be made by the best. There are many predictions about who will win the job, from Brits such as Stella

Fairytale bride Diana Spencer stands at the altar with her father Earl Spencer and Prince Charles McCartney and Jenny Packham, to Americans Vera Wang and Oscar de la Renta. Some have tipped French designer Roland Mouret to get the call as his simple silhouettes are likely to appeal to Meghan’s love of pareddown style. One of the hot favourites is Canadian-Turkish designer Erdem Moralioglu, already a firm favourite with Meghan who wore an Erdem tropical printed maxi dress to a wedding in Jamaica earlier this year.

While the speculation continues, all will be revealed on the big day.

Until then we can only be sure of one thing: Meghan will be a beautiful bride.

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Looking every inch the romantic heroine, Diana leans in to kiss her prince. Her sumptuous dress was made of ivory silk taffeta and antique lace.

Her veil of ivory silk tulle, spangled with mother of pearl sequins, was held in place by the Spencer Family diamond tiara 107

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OVER 120 PAGES OF BEAUTIFUL AND CANDID IMAGES CELEBRATING THE ROYAL ENGAGEMENT OF HRH PRINCE HARRY TO MEGHAN MARKLE

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