Prince Harry, Meghan Markle set for first royal duty

LONDON: Prince Harry and his American actress fiance Meghan Markle will visit a World Aids Day charity fair in Nottingham on Friday, as the couple's first royal engagement.

The couple announced their engagement on Monday, reports the BBC.

The couple, who are due to marry at Windsor Castle in May 2018, will also meet head-teachers at the Nottingham Academy after attending the fair hosted by the Terrence Higgins Trust.

Prince Harry has spent time in Nottingham both publicly and privately since he first met young people there in 2013, when he was exploring issues around youth violence.

A year later, he established the Full Effect programme, which aims to stop youth violence in the city.

Harry's communication's secretary, Jason Knauf, said the Prince was looking forward to introducing Markle to a community that had "become very special to him".

On Tuesday, it emerged that Markle, an actress who until then had been a UN women's advocate and worked for World Vision, was to start royal life with a "clean state", the BBC reported.

Knauf said she planned to focus her attention on the UK and Commonwealth.

"This is the country that's going to be her home now and that means travelling around, getting to know the towns and cities and smaller communities," he said.

She will also become the fourth patron of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

The foundation is behind Prince Harry's Invictus Games - the Paralympic-style competition for injured servicemen and women and veterans - and also the mental health charity Heads Together.