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 Queen Elizabeth's grandson Harry, 33, currently
fifth-in-line to the throne, and U.S. actress Markle, 36, best
known for her leading role in U.S. legal drama "Suits",
announced their engagement on Monday, igniting a trans-Atlantic
media frenzy.
In the central English city of Nottingham, Harry and Markle,
both wearing long navy overcoats, greeted hundreds of smiling
well-wishers waving British and U.S. flags, chatting and shaking
hands with onlookers who braved freezing weather to welcome
them.
"We love Harry, and Meghan she looks beautiful doesn't she,"
Betty Parker, 78, told Reuters as she waited to meet the couple.
"We're so happy for them both," Mary Cooper, 60, said. "We
always come and see him whenever he comes here and it’s lovely
that he keeps coming to Nottingham and has sort of adopted this
city."
The couple were visiting a charity fair to mark World Aids Day,
something particularly symbolic for Harry whose late mother
Princess Diana is credited with playing a leading role in
breaking down the stigma that was attached to the disease.
The event, held by the Terrence Higgins Trust, remembers lives
lost to HIV and marks the progress made in fighting it.
Harry has become a prominent campaigner on the issue, following
in the footsteps of Diana who opened Britain’s first HIV/AIDS
unit in London in 1987 and famously shook hands with and kissed
an AIDS patient during a hospital visit.
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Afterwards, the couple were visiting Nottingham Academy to meet
headteachers from local schools and hear about the Full Effect
programme, an initiative supported by the charity of Harry, his
elder brother Prince William and wife Kate, which seeks to deter
children from becoming involved in violence.
Markle, who has been a campaigner for several causes including work
as a U.N women's advocate, is to give up her previous charity roles
as she begins life in Britain's royal family, Harry's spokesman said
on Tuesday.
She was also keen to travel around Britain to get to know the
country that will become her home as she intends to become a British
citizen, the spokesman added.
The couple, who got engaged earlier this month at the cottage they
share in the grounds of Kensington Palace in central London, are to
be married next May in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, the
family home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years.
"This is good. I'm excited to have some Americans in the royal
family," U.S. student Mark Arnold, who is currently studying at
Nottingham University, told Reuters. "It’s really nice, I’m
excited."
(Writing by Michael Holden; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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