Is that the sound of abbey bells you hear ringing? The clip-clop of trotting horses pulling a gilt carriage? The roar of
a million voices on The Mall in London shouting, "Kiss her, Harry!" Well, probably, but best not to get too far ahead of things when it comes to royal engagements and royal weddings. Yes, Prince Harry, 33, the world's most eligible royal bachelor, and his
girlfriend of one year, American actress Meghan Markle, 36, are officially "out," so to speak: They were seen and photographed together for the first time at an officially sanctioned public event — at Harry's Invictus Games in Toronto this week — and looked
for all the watching world like the loving couple she has said they are. More See Harry and Meghan together: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle photographed together for the first time But will they soon announce their engagement? As Markle said in her remarkably
candid Vanity Fair interview this month, theirs is a "great love story." "I'm pretty certain that cover story was done with the knowledge if not the blessing of Kensington Palace, maybe in coordination with Buckingham Palace and Clarence House, too," says
Sally Bedell Smith, the acclaimed American biographer of Harry's nearest and dearest, including the late Princess Diana, Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II. "I can't imagine (Markle) would go off on her own and do something like this — at the very least
she had Harry's blessing," Smith says. "That's a pretty strong likelihood it could be a prelude to something serious, based on the tenor of what she said. "Basically, she said, 'Watch this space.' " The British tabloids, whose natural state is frenzied watchfulness
about royal affairs, are on high alert now. Even before the duo's appearance Monday at a wheelchair tennis match, publications such as the Daily Mailand Metro were predicting that an engagement would be announced by the end of the year, with a wedding in 2018.
"We know she and Harry are in love and likely to get engaged, perhaps with a wedding in the summer," says British PR consultant and royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliam. The signs the Harry/Meghan relationship was serious were already obvious even before
this week: Markle was called Harry's "girlfriend" in an official palace press release in November. She abruptly curtailed all her hitherto active social media posting and blogging shortly after, in keeping with royal protocol against blabbing on Twitter and
Instagram and the like. And in May, Markle accompanied Harry to the wedding reception of Duchess Kate's sister Pippa Middleton. Still, after more than a year of largely under-the-radar dating, with the two managing a courtship while eluding all but the most
persistent paparazzi, Harry and Meghan have made their relationship plain in a photographic sense. What happens next? History in the making: If Harry and Markle get engaged, Markle would become the first American to be welcomed into the British royal family
— ever. She would become a royal duchess, and be titled Her Royal Highness. And she would be the first actress and the first biracial person to marry a ranking member of the royal family. Can Harry marry a divorced woman? Yes, according to the Church of England,
which is less dogmatic about divorced people remarrying than it was in, say, the 1930s or the 1950s. In fact, Markle would not be the first American divorceé to marry a royal, but she's no Wallis Simpson, the infamous American Duchess of Windsor. The Baltimore-bred
two-time divorceé married the former King Edward VIII in 1937, six months after he quit his throne for her in 1936. Never forgiven, let alone welcomed, she was denied an HRH title by the royal family. "There’s just no comparison to Wallis Simpson, who was
widely detested and the fact that she had two former husbands living went totally against the rules (then) of the Church of England," Smith says. "Also, people now would be less likely to take exception to the fact that Meghan is an American." Granny must
say OK: Harry needs the permission of his grandmother the queen to marry and if she says yes, then Markle will be welcomed. The queen, the symbolic head of the Church of England who once had to deny her sister Princess Margaret permission to marry a divorced
man, has come a long way since the 1950s: Margaret eventually divorced the man she did marry, and three of the queen's four children are divorced. The stakes are lower: Harry is not going to be king so there is less pressure on him in general. He will soon
become sixth-in-line to the throne, after brother Prince William and Duchess Kate's third child is born in the spring. "The likelihood that he will ever wear a crown is pretty remote at this stage, but he's an exceedingly valuable and popular member of the
royal family," says Smith. The right moment: Last month, Harry took Markle to Africa on a romantic safari for her birthday. It's possible, Smith says, he asked her to marry him then, and they're only waiting for the right moment to make the announcement. This
is what happened with Will and Kate, who got privately engaged in Kenya in October 2010 and waited until the following month to announce it. Granny's wedding anniversary: The right moment probably won't be late November, Smith says, because it's the 70th anniversary
of the wedding of the queen, 91, and husband Prince Philip, 96, on Nov. 20. "(Harry and Meghan) would not want to step on that," Smith says. "If they are going to announce anything this year, it would probably be next month, but that's my totally speculative
guess." Why rush? Looking to Will and Kate again, those two courted for nearly a decade before they married, and lived together for years as well. "But they were younger," says Smith, having met in college in their 20s. Also, they are a future king and queen,
whose first job is producing heirs. This is not the case for Harry. But if Harry and Meghan want to have children (and Harry is famous for his rapport with kids), they are under different time pressures than Will and Kate, who were 28 when they married. Kate
will be 36 when her third child is born. Meghan will be 37 in 2018. Where would they marry? They could marry in Westminster Abbey, where Will and Kate married and where the queen and Prince Philip married. Or they could opt for the even bigger St. Paul's Cathedral
where Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer married. But they probably won't choose either, not if they want to avoid the thousands of guests and the billions watching on TV that those royal weddings entailed. St. George's Chapel: If they want a more low-key,
smaller and quieter wedding, they could follow the lead of Harry's father, Prince Charles: He married his second wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, a divorced woman whose ex-husband is still living, first in a tiny civil ceremony in the Windsor town hall, followed
by an intimate prayer service in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in 2005. "They have a little more freedom (to choose) — they could get married in a country church in Gloucestershire, or at one of the churches near Sandringham," the queen's estate in
Norfolk, says Smith. More Prince Harry turns 33: 33 reasons to hail Prince Harry on his 33rd birthday Where would they live? Most likely Kensington Palace, but in bigger and better digs than the small Nottingham Cottage on the palace grounds where Harry currently
lives and where Markle stays while visiting him. Smith believes Harry is likely to get a newly renovated apartment at the palace, which is undergoing extensive new construction, including a two-story facility for staff offices under the Orangery Restaurant
on the palace grounds. That would free up more room for a new home for Harry and his bride. What would be their roles? Full-time royals, meaning full-time philanthropy, says Smith. On this, the two have a lot in common: Harry has taken seriously his charity
work and his desire to carry on his mother Princess Diana's legacy. And Markle was involved in humanitarian work, including in Harry's favorite continent of Africa, even before she met Harry. The price to pay: For him, it would mean increased media scrutiny,
which Harry has already complained about, says Fitzwilliam. "If they marry, and most think it is a matter of when, it will be an extremely popular match which will attract vast media attention," Fitzwilliam says. "Harry is deeply resentful of media attention
he considers intrusive and there will be a fascination with Meghan's family in the tabloids." For Markle, living in the royal goldfish bowl could be a difficult adjustment even for an actress used to media coverage, says Fitzwilliam. "Any echo of 'the prince
and the showgirl' or Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly or the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, makes for a media frenzy." And Markle would have to give up acting, Smith predicts. Also, she'll likely have to adjust her fashion profile to be more like Duchess Kate's,
who's not ever been seen wearing ripped jeans at a public event. "(Markle) would have to be more restrained in how she dresses," Smith says. "She would not have to be as demure as Kate is, but probably ripped jeans wouldn’t cut it." |