American, mixed-race and "fiercely independent": Meghan Markle, Prince Harry's actor girlfriend, will breathe fresh air into the British royal family when she marries Queen Elizabeth II's grandson next spring.

Playing a lawyer in the hit television show "Suits", the 36-year-old actress with long flowing black hair was barely known in Britain when her name appeared on newspaper front pages last October.

 

The tabloids based their report of a relationship between Harry and Meghan, who lived in Toronto, Canada, on pictures showing them wearing the same tricoloured wristband.

The relationship was acknowledged last November by Kensington Palace, which handles communication for Prince Harry, in a most unexpected way.

Exasperated by the media frenzy, the palace released a statement attacking the "sexism" and "racism" Meghan Markle faced on social media.

It also blasted the press for "harassing" the actress.

Four days earlier, The Sun, Britain's top-selling newspaper, ran a piece on its front page titled "Harry's girl on Pornhub," the adult video website.

But the actress's only crime had been to take off her shirt while filming what the newspaper described as a "steamy scene" for her show "Suits," which then made it onto the pornographic website.

The couple made their first official public appearance together in September, attending the opening ceremony of the third Invictus Games -- created by Harry for disabled or wounded soldiers and veterans.

"We're two people who are really happy and in love," Markle told Vanity Fair shortly before the event.

source: AFP