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A royal love story: How Meghan and Harry Met

Hours before the Royal Wedding, we look back at the whirlwind romance between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Everyone loves a good fairytale, and the romance between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is no exception. Here's a look back at their romantic timeline before Meghan becomes the world's American princess.

Harry and Markle first met each other on a blind date in early July 2016. A mutual friend introduced them and both admitted in a BBC interview following their engagement announcement, "they didn't know much about each other." Harry had never seen "Suits," the show Markle starred in, and Meghan had never met the royal family. The two apparently hit it off immediately and said they were hoping to meet for drinks literally the next day if possible. Harry has since said that he knew Meghan was "the one" the first time he saw her.

After their successful early dates, Prince Harry then invited Markle to accompany him on a trip to Africa only a few weeks later. Harry said, "I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana and we camped out with each other under the stars..which was crucial to me to make sure that we had a chance to get to know each other."

After months of quietly dating, Markle in between shooting episodes of "Suits" and Harry off at his global engagements, the couple was found out on October 31, 2016. People reported that by November, Meghan had already met Harry's father Prince Charles. By December many tabloids in the U.K. had seen them picking out Christmas trees, exploring London and then jetted off to Norway for a romantic New Year's vacation.

Meghan finally met Kate Middleton and her children in early 2017 at Kensington Palace where she described them as "wonderful" and "amazing" to the press. By the spring of 2017, the couple was jetting off to see each other, spending vacations together, and then made their first public appearance as a couple at the annual Audi Polo Challenge in Ascot, England. They continued to speak openly about their relationship and Meghan attended several royal family events.

After months of speculation, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle finally announced their engagement on November 27, 2017 and are set to be married this Saturday, May 19th.

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