UK's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to marry in Windsor in May

Britain's Prince Harry poses with Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace, London, Britain, November 27, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - The wedding of Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle will take place next May at St George's Chapel in Windsor, a spokesman for the prince said on Tuesday.

The fifth-in-line to the British throne and the American actress announced their engagement on Monday, sparking a trans-Atlantic media frenzy.

Their first official engagement together will be in the central English city of Nottingham on Friday.

Queen Elizabeth, Harry's 91-year-old grandmother, will attend next year's wedding ceremony, the prince's spokesman told reporters at Buckingham Palace.

Markle will be baptised and confirmed before the wedding, and intends to become a British citizen, though she will retain her US citizenship while she goes through the process.

The spokesman said Harry and Markle had chosen to marry in Windsor because it is "a special place for them".

"The wedding will be a moment of fun and joy and reflect the characters of the bride and groom," he said.

The Gothic St George's Chapel, located in the grounds of Windsor Castle, west of London, has close associations with royal history going back centuries.

Within the chapel are the tombs of ten sovereigns, including Henry VIII and his third wife Jane Seymour, and Charles I.

In more recent memory, it was the venue of the wedding of Harry's uncle Prince Edward to Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, and of a service of prayer and dedication to mark the wedding of Harry's father, Prince Charles, to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005.

 Reuters