Holding each other's hands and gushing love, Prince Harry says that his falling in love "so incredibly quickly" with fiancee Meghan Markle on a blind date was a confirmation to him that "stars were aligned" and "everything was just perfect".
In his first interview after announcing his engagement yesterday, the 33-year-old, fifth in line to Britain's throne told the BBC that he proposed Markle, three years older to him, earlier this month over a "standard, typical" dinner of roast chicken at their Nottingham Cottage home in Kensington Palace in London.
"He went down on one knee," overwhelmed Markle said, adding "it was just an amazing surprise. It was so sweet and natural and very romantic."
Harry and Markle were seen laughing, joking and chatting with each other through out the interview.
The 36-year-old 'Suits' actress was wearing a stunning three stone diamond engagement ring, designed by Prince Harry himself, which has two stones from Princess Diana's personal collection.
The ring has at its heart a diamond from Botswana, a country where the couple have spent time together over the last year and a half, with a golden band.
Harry described how 'this beautiful woman just sort of literally tripped and fell into my life, I fell into her life' and said she would have been 'best friends' with his late mother.
"She didn't even let me finish. She said 'Can I say yes'.
Then there were hugs and I had the ring in my finger. I was like 'Can I give you the ring?'. It was a really nice moment.
Just the two of us," Harry recalled.
"The fact that I fell in love with Markle so incredibly quickly was confirmation to me that all the stars were aligned, everything was just perfect," he said.
The couple revealed that they had met on a blind date set up by a mutual friend in London last July and got to know each other camping in Botswana, South Africa.
"I think about three, maybe four weeks later I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana. And we camped out with each other under the stars... she came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic," said Harry.
The prince also revealed that he had not been aware of Markle before their first meeting as he had never watched her television show.
Markle, who is already involved in humanitarian work and is a women's advocate with the United Nations (UN), confirmed that she would be moving away from her acting career to focus on her new royal role.
The star of US legal drama said she was looking forward to focusing more energy on the causes that are important to her.
"I know that she will be unbelievably good at the job part of it (royalty) as well," Harry said.
The couple are due to get married in spring next year, with speculation that the wedding is likely to take place in May 2018 after Prince William and Kate Middleton's third child is born in April.
Earlier, Clarence House, the office of Harry's father Prince Charles, had announced that the pair had sought and received the blessings of Queen Elizabeth II. Harry revealed that during their meeting, his grandmother's corgi dogs had instantly taken to his bride-to-be.
PTI
