Harry and Meghan give first interview

The New York Times story about the engagement has a lively introduction that highlights the extent to which the couple represent a changing monarchy.

It reads:

Quote Message: He is a flame-haired former wild child, who courted controversy in his youth by smoking cannabis and by once wearing a Nazi uniform to a party. She is a biracial, divorced actress from abroad. Together, they are taking the British monarchy - that most conservative of institutions - into a more modern era."

He is a flame-haired former wild child, who courted controversy in his youth by smoking cannabis and by once wearing a Nazi uniform to a party. She is a biracial, divorced actress from abroad. Together, they are taking the British monarchy - that most conservative of institutions - into a more modern era."

Many people have hailed the engagement as a milestone for the Royal Family because of Ms Markle's ethnicity.

She was born to a white father and an African-American mother.

British viewers appear to have wasted no time honing in on the most important detail of the interview.

If you think it was the ring, the date, the feelings... you would be sorely mistaken.

Watch the moment below.

The wedding will take place in Spring next year, but it doesn't look like you're going to get a day off.

Social media isn't impressed...

Back in November last year, Prince Harry spoke out against what he called a "wave of abuse and harassment" against Ms Markle from the media and others.

In a statement, he said there had been "racial undertones" in comment pieces and "outright sexism and racism" on social media.

Ms Markle spoke in the interview earlier about her reaction to the coverage.

"Of course it's disheartening. It's a shame that is the climate in this world, to focus that much on that, or that it would be discriminatory in that sense," she said.

"At the end of the day I'm really proud of who I am and where I come from and we have never put any focus on that, we just focus on who we are as a couple."

BBCCopyright: BBC

Tonight's Eastenders will feature a short scene, filmed earlier today, which will make reference to the engagement.

The scene is set in Kathy’s cafe.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Prince Harry described the ring he gave to Ms Markle, which he designed and which includes diamonds from Diana's jewelry collection.

He said the inclusion of the diamonds was "to make sure she is with us on this crazy journey together".

Asked what it meant to her, Ms Markle said: "Not being able to meet his mother, it's so important to me to know that she's a part of this with us."

Harry said Diana would have been "over the moon, jumping up and down" at the engagement and "best friends with Meghan".

"It's days like this I really miss having her around," he said.

Ms Markle said she had met members of Harry's family on Charles and Diana's side, and described them as "so welcoming".

She said she had met the Queen "a couple of times".

"It's incredible to meet her through his lens... The love that he has for his grandma, all of those layers have been so important to me."

Asked about their own plans, Harry said: "One step at a time, hopefully we'll start a family in the near future."

You can watch the interview live now on BBC One using the player at the top of this page.

Prince Harry described the couple as a "fantastic team" and said Ms Markle would easily take to the role of being a member of the Royal Family.

"The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was confirmation to me that all the stars were aligned," he said.

"This beautiful woman just tripped and fell into my life, I fell into her life. I know that she will be unbelievably good at the job part of it as well."

She said she would "transition out of my career but into the role" of being in the family.

"I'm excited to really get to know more about the different communities here and smaller organisations that are working on the same causes that I've always been passionate about."

The couple were introduced by a mutual friend in July 2016. Both knew they were being set up, but said they knew little about each other before the date.

Ms Markle said the only thing she asked their mutual friend was: "Is he nice?"

Harry said he had never heard of Ms Markle and never seen her TV drama, Suits.

"I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her," he said. "I was like, 'I'm really going to have to up my game here'."

Three or four weeks later, Prince Harry persuaded Ms Markle to join him in Botswana, he said, and the couple camped out under the stars for five days.

"We were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure we had a chance to get to know each other," he said.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Prince Harry and his fiance Meghan Markle have described the night that he proposed to her, at the couple's shared cottage at Kensington Palace.

In an interview with the BBC's Mishal Hussein, they revealed they were having an ordinary night in and "trying to roast a chicken" when Harry got down on one knee.

"It was just an amazing surprise," said Ms Markle. "It was so sweet and natural and very romantic, he got on one knee."

It was an instant yes, she said.

"She didn't even let me finish," Harry said.

Meghan Markle's first official royal engagement could turn out to be the premiere of the Star Wars movie The Last Jedi.

The European screening of the latest installment in the hit saga is set for 12 December at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The premiere will benefit the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, raising speculation that William, Kate and Harry could attend.

William and Harry are reported to have appeared in The Last Jedi in cameo roles as Stormtroopers.

The royals - both Star Wars fans - visited the set of movie in April 2016 and were rumoured to have filmed a scene in disguise.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The head of one of the UK's tourism bodies thinks that the next royal wedding is a "potent mix" which could boost visitor numbers.

Bernard Donoghue, director of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, said Ms Markle's American citizenship could generate even more interest than the marriage of William and Kate.

"The combination of Prince Harry's global fame, Meghan Markle's global fame as an actress, her being American, Britain being much more affordable than it was two years ago, really makes for a potent mix," he said.

"This is the first time an American actress has married a prince since Grace Kelly," he added.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Since the announcement of the happy couple's engagement this morning, everyone from royal correspondents to Twitter users have been passing comment on Ms Markle's mixed-race heritage.

In 2015, she wrote a first-person piece for Elle magazine laying out how she feels about it.

In part, she spoke of having to fill out a "census" for her English class, with the only options of black, white, Hispanic, or Asian.

Quote Message: You could only choose one, but that would be to choose one parent over the other – and one half of myself over the other.

You could only choose one, but that would be to choose one parent over the other – and one half of myself over the other.

Her teacher told her to pick Caucasian, because - in the teacher's view - that's what she looked like. But a young Meghan refused.

Quote Message: So, I didn't tick a box. I left my identity blank – a question mark, an absolute incomplete – much like how I felt. When I went home that night, I told my dad what had happened. He said the words that have always stayed with me: 'If that happens again, you draw your own box.'

So, I didn't tick a box. I left my identity blank – a question mark, an absolute incomplete – much like how I felt. When I went home that night, I told my dad what had happened. He said the words that have always stayed with me: 'If that happens again, you draw your own box.'

Read the full feature at Elle magazine's website.

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, noted there is no royal yacht and suggested the newly-engaged couple could make use of one.

During a debate on new aircraft carrier provision Mr Tugendhat pleaded "....with the royal wedding coming as early as next year, and with the absence of the yacht Britannia, is there not a possibility the new prince and princess will require something to sail around the sea with?"

Backbench Tory MPs have been leading the campaign for a new Royal Yacht.

It's yours for around £138 the paper says.

Daily MailCopyright: Daily Mail

Meghan Markle's mixed-race heritage has attracted plenty of comment - her father is Caucasian and her mother is is African-American.

But among African Americans, the reaction seems firmly positive that "one of their own" is marrying a prince.