Princess Adeline, Duchess of Clarence

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Engagement of Prince Harry

27 November 2017

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle.

The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.

His Royal Highness and Ms. Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms. Markle's parents.

The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

Clarence House

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York House

It had taken a lot of manoeuvring to happen before the announcement of Harry's engagement to Meghan had been released; everyone knowing that the conversation between Harry and the Queen had been nothing more than a threat.

Harry had gotten his own way and to please Harry, the Queen had agreed to ditch the centuries of tradition; Meghan would be fast-tracked into the Royal Family before the wedding.

No one had been in the room when the talk had happened, no one knew what had been discussed when it had occurred but Harry's formal engagement had been approved by the Queen on the 24th of October during a meeting at Buckingham Palace.

Over tea and sandwiches, the monarch had approved the engagement; the 91 year old had no choice and Meghan had already filmed her final scenes for her show before bidding farewell to her cast mates.

Earlier this month, Meghan had finished packing her belongs in Toronto and flew to London to start the new chapter of her life as she called it.

Successful entry into the royal family required effort and imagination, most newcomers had been defeated; Diana and Sarah Ferguson had been ousted while Mark Philips had been ignored.

Even the Middletons had been rudely snubbed by several women in the court until William had demanded better behaviour.

At 10am that morning, Meghan wearing a £56,000 Ralph & Russo dress Meghan had entered the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace on Harry's arm.

Everyone noted Meghan's eyes fixed on her fiancé and recorded her rubbing Harry's back as they walked back to the Palace.

To some it was maternal, others said it showed how supportive the future Princess would be to her husband; how they would play an important role in the future of the monarchy.

The announcement for Eugenie and Jack had been pushed back to January, their wedding also moved from the spring that Eugenie had desired at St George's Chapel; the date now set for an autumn wedding instead.

Of course there was the news that Catherine was pregnant again, the third Cambridge baby expected in late April and had been announced in early September when Harry had broken the news to the family that he was engaged to Meghan.

However, even Adeline could note the different feeling that Harry's engagement announcement gave compared to her own and William's; she wondered if it was her father's way of trying to hint that all was not well with the engagement.

It was formal, lacked any real feeling and felt rather disconnected than the others had done in the past; something about the wording making Adeline ponder such things.