Prince Harry, Meghan Markle will wed at St. George's Chapel in May
Queen's grandson, American actress met in July 2016
The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, one of the most highly anticipated social events in Britain, will be held at Windsor Castle's St. George's Chapel in May.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, officials at Kensington Palace announced the venue and month of the nuptials. They did not release an exact date.
The Queen will attend the ceremony and the Royal Family will pay for it, a palace news release said.
Other royal weddings have been celebrated at the church. They include when Harry's father, Prince Charles, married Camilla, now the Duchess of Cornwall, in April 2005.
Three years later, the son of Princess Anne, Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly exchanged vows in May at the chapel.
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Windsor Castle, west of London, is one of the Queen's main residences. Its15th-century chapel is as historic but more intimate than Westminster Abbey, where Harry's older brother, William, married Catherine Middleton in 2011.
In announcing the latest royal engagement on Monday, Clarence House had said only that the couple will marry in spring 2018.
Observers believe April was rejected for a royal wedding because Prince William and his wife Catherine are expecting the arrival of their third child sometime that month.
Harry, 33, is the Queen's grandson and fifth in line to the throne. Markle, 36, was married for two years before getting a divorce in 2013 from American Trevor Engelson.
Will apply for U.K. citizenship
A spokesperson for the prince said Markle, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, has plans to become a British citizen, while maintaining her U.S. citizenship.
Harry's Kensington Palace office said she will be baptized and confirmed in the Church of England before she marries.
Her belongings are being moved from her home in Toronto to Harry's residence, Nottingham Cottage, on the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Markle will become the fourth patron of a charitable foundation currently run by Harry, William and Catherine.
Harry and his fiancée will carry out their first official engagement on Friday, visiting a youth charity and a World Aids Day event in Nottingham, central England.
Harry and Markle, appearing in a BBC television interview on Monday, said their relationship began in July 2016 and blossomed "incredibly quickly" after they met on a blind date.
Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, on Tuesday said she's "delighted" for the newly engaged couple, making the comment during an official visit to a museum in Stoke, England.
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The Duchess welcomed the engagement as "good news."
"Absolutely thrilled. It's brilliant. And as I said, America's loss is our gain and we're all absolutely delighted," she said. "As you can see, they're so happy. Sometimes, you know, in a climate where we're surrounded by a lot of bad news, it's a real joy to have a bit of good news for once."
Harry's sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, also shared her thoughts on the upcoming wedding.
"William and I are absolutely thrilled," Kate said Tuesday during a visit to the Foundling Museum in London. "It's such exciting news. It's a really happy time for any couple. We wish them all the best and hope they enjoy this happy moment."
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With files from Reuters and The Associated Press