Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Give First Joint Interview Following Engagement News
The two gave their first post-engagement interview with Mishal Husain of BBC News on Monday.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are beyond excited to tie the knot!
Just a few hours after news broke on Monday that the royal asked the Suits star to marry him, the two gave their first post-engagement interview with Mishal Husain of BBC News.
"It happened a few weeks ago," Prince Harry confirmed. "It was a really nice moment. It was just the two of us."
"Just an amazing surprise," Markle added. "It was so sweet, natural and very romantic."
After gushing about how the proposal went down, Markle explained what it's been like transitioning from Hollywood to Kensington Palace -- and how the two first met!
"It was definitely a setup," Markle explained. "It was a blind date."
"We were introduced by a mutual friend," Harry added. "We met once and then twice, back-to-back, two dates in London, last July. I think about three, maybe four weeks later, I managed to persuade her to come join me in Botswana and we camped out with each other under the stars. We spent five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic. Then we were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure we had a chance to get to know each other."
"I'd never watched Suits, I'd never heard of Meghan before, and I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her [for the first time]," he continued. "I was like, 'Wow, OK. I'm going to have to up my game here. I'm going to sit down and make sure I got a good chat.'"
Fast forward to present day, the two appear to be happier than ever, and Markle is completely content with her new lifestyle ahead of their spring 2018 wedding.
"It was just a choice, right? I think very early on when we realized we were going to commit to each other, we knew we had to invest the time and the energy in whatever it took to make it happen," Markle explained. "I think I can very safely say, as naive as it sounds now, having gone through this learning curve in the past year and a half, I did not have any understanding of just what it would be like."
"I tried to warn you as much as possible, but I think both of us were totally surprised by the reaction after the first five or six months we had to ourselves of what actually happened from then," Harry added. "You can have as many conversations as you want and try to prepare as much as possible, but we were totally unprepared for what happened after that."
Harry continued on, explaining that Markle "literally fell" into his life.
"The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was a confirmation to me that all the stars were aligned and everything was just perfect," he gushed. "I know the fact that she will be really unbelievably good at the job part of it as well is honestly a huge relief to me because she will be able to deal with everything that comes with it. We are a fantastic team, we know that we are, and we want to, over time, have as much impact for all of the things that we care about as much as possible."
In fact, the two have already discussed how Markle -- a UN women's advocate -- will have a much bigger platform and voice once she and Harry say "I do."
"That's been real exciting," she said of their conversations about her future duties. "The causes have been very important to me. I can focus even more energy on [them]. Very early out of the gate, I think you realize once you have access or a voice that people are willing to listen to, it comes with a lot of responsibility, which I take seriously, and I think, at the same time, at these beginning few months and now being boots on the ground in the U.K... I'm excited, really, to know more [about] the different communities here and the organizations we're working on, the same causes I have always been passionate about under this umbrella, and also being able to go around to the commonwealth, which is just the beginning."
Markle added that she doesn't see this transition as her "giving anything up." She said, "I just see it as a change."
"It's a new chapter, right?" she continued. "Keep in mind I have been working on my show for seven years, so we're very fortunate to have had that longevity in a series, and for me, once we hit the 100-episode marker, I thought, 'You know what? I have ticked this box and I feel very proud of the work I have done there.' It's time to, as [Harry] said, work as a team with you."
Judging from the interview, it sounds like Markle has had no problem fitting in with Harry's family. The Los Angeles native said her first meeting with her fiance's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, was "incredible."
"I think being able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honor and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother. All of those layers have been so important to me," Markle shared. "When I met her, I had such a deep understanding and, of course, incredible respect being able to have that time with her. She's an incredible woman."
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