Their romance is developing at an astonishing pace, and now Prince Harry's love is in London... is this the weekend Meghan is welcomed into the heart of the Royal family? (So, let's hope they haven't been watching her steamy scenes in Suits 

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The romance between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is developing at an astonishing pace, with speculation mounting she could be welcomed into the heart of the Royal family this weekend.

Most of its members are in the capital for a weekend of national commemorations to mark Remembrance Sunday, with courtiers suggesting Meghan could meet Prince Charles at Clarence House.

It comes as steamy footage of Meghan Markle has re-emerged of her lying naked in bed.   

The risque scene shows the actress in bed with co-star Patrick J Adams in series three of the hit American show Suits.

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Steamy footage of Meghan Markle has emerged of her lying naked in bed with co-star Patrick J Adams in series three of the hit American show Suits

Having Meghan with him at home in his bijou Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace these past few days has enabled Prince Harry to feel he has, for the moment at least, caught up with brother William, whose cosy marriage he envies, and would very much like to copy.

No wonder people are now urging him to marry this beautiful, sassy young American actress who, almost certainly, was watching him on television yesterday as he soberly led the two-minute silence to remember the nation’s war dead at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. 

A generation or two ago, her background as a divorcee would have been microscopically examined — not by the media but by Palace aides wondering if she was ‘suitable’.

How dated that sounds today, when you think of his devotion to her — a devotion that triggered this week’s passionate and angry message to the world that had echoes of Edward VIII telling the nation he was giving up the crown for ‘the woman I love’.

Meghan Markle has been spotted out-and-about in Kensington. She is staying with Harry at his bijou Kensington Palace home, Nottingham Cottage

Harry’s statement — dripping in the kind of independent spirit we came to recognise in his late mother, Princess Diana — made it crystal clear that the relationship was real and sincere. Significantly, it smacked of a maturing love rather than naked passion.

For as the Mail exclusively revealed yesterday, 35-year-old Meghan is already completely at home in one of Britain’s historic royal palaces, buying groceries in the local High Street and even cooking for her prince.

No surprise there, as she is an accomplished cook and foodie, regularly posting mouth-watering recipes online.

How very quickly things have moved on in this most intriguing of royal relationships. Barely a fortnight ago, she was unknown, except to fans of the U.S. legal drama Suits, shown on Netflix and the Dave channel — and to her one million social media followers on Instagram and of her blog The Tig.

Barely a fortnight ago, Ms Markle was unknown, except to fans of the U.S. legal drama Suits — and to her one million social media followers on Instagram

Even the disclosure that the two were dating seemed somehow implausible. Here was Harry, 32, fifth in line to the throne with responsibilities to the armed services, military veterans and unbending royal tradition, romancing a petite, glossy actress and red-carpet glamour girl based on the other side of the Atlantic.

Could two such different worlds ever be reconciled? An impetuous fling maybe, but anything more serious? How insurmountable the obstacles seemed. Cryptic tweets from Ms Markle, including a pair of ‘spooning’ bananas apparently cuddling up to one another, stretched credibility further.

Harry was reported to have stayed at her apartment in Toronto, the Canadian city where Suits is filmed and where Meghan is something of a local celebrity. She is friends with Canada’s telegenic first couple, prime minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie.

But the two were not seen together and Harry slipped in and out of the country, apparently unobserved.

Then came Tuesday’s extraordinary statement, part cri de coeur, part determination to protect the burgeoning romance. A big step, for sure, but it was the presence of a carefree Meghan, shopping on Kensington High Street on Thursday that emphatically established her as part of Harry’s London world.

The fact that she had taken time off from filming her lucrative TV series, set in a fictional New York law firm, telling her bosses that she had ‘something important to do’, underlined the significance.

The ‘something important’, we now know, was to fly to Britain. But it was the shopping trip together with her remarkable demeanour that tells us so much of how advanced Meghan and Harry’s romance has become.

In the past, previous girlfriends have secretly ‘stayed over’ with Harry in his private quarters at Kensington Palace

She seemed comfortably at home in the neighbourhood near Kensington Palace — walking around freely just as Diana used to do with William and Harry when they were small. And with her dark hair scraped under a brown baseball cap borrowed from her royal beau, she looked like any other young woman heading for the shops.

The three-storey Wholefoods Market store which she popped into may have been chosen because she is familiar with the American-owned shop back home in Los Angeles.

In the past, previous girlfriends have secretly ‘stayed over’ with Harry in his private quarters. Chelsy Davy was reported to have spent the night at his former apartment in St James’s Palace on several occasions, but we’re told that Meghan Markle has been treated differently. What is most notable is that there has been no attempt at deception to try to evade the media.

When Diana had visitors, they often arrived under false names or were hidden from view under a blanket in the back of a car.

At least one of the princesses’s lovers was frequently smuggled in and out of the palace curled up in the boot of a car driven by her former butler Paul Burrell.

Meghan, on the other hand, was able simply to walk past the palace’s tight security. It is understood that Harry’s staff advised the police sentries that she would be passing in and out of the palace.

According to a former royal bodyguard, the police post would have been informed that she should be allowed to proceed without any checks.

‘There would be no need for her to show any kind of ID,’ says the officer, a former Met Police inspector. ‘They would have been told that Harry had a friend staying, what she looked like and to show her every courtesy and nod her through.’

Prince Harry, pictured at the commemoration of Armistice Day at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, made a public statement this week about their relationship

This spirited confidence that allowed Meghan to venture out on a casual shopping expedition is surely evidence of part of her appeal to the prince, who is three years her junior.

Even her decision to pack her purchases in a bag-for-life emblazoned with the logo of a right-on charity committed to ending poverty, demonstrated a young woman at ease with herself and with none of the insecurities of other royal girlfriends.

For his part, Harry’s failure to convert either of his previous long-term romances — with Chelsy and Cressida Bonas — into anything permanent have also weighed on his mind.

Friends have said that at introspective moments he tended to blame himself for them going wrong, particularly with Cressida who found the attention overwhelming. They are lessons he is said to have learned.

This certainly explains the visceral sentiments behind his public statement this week about their relationship.

Like him, Meghan is the product of a broken home, but she also possesses a quality he has long hankered after. For in her enterprising and outgoing manner, she symbolises the freedom and independence he has sought.

This is the freedom to marry as he chooses — and, if he wishes, that he can marry a divorcee.

In the modern age, Meghan’s background should represent no such obstacle. After all, Kate Middleton, whose mother was descended from a family of coalminers, broke the mould.

Ms Markle seemed comfortably at home in the neighbourhood near Kensington Palace — walking around freely just as Diana used to do with William and Harry

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So it looks like the Duchess of Cambridge has competition in the style stakes.

Prince Harry's girlfriend Meghan Markle has already proved to be a bit of a fashion maven wearing labels like Misha Nonoo, Veronica Beard, Alexander McQueen, Max Mara, Ralph Lauren, Jill Stuart and Yigal Azrouel so can you blame us for being obsessed already?

And it looks like she's in London which means we can take an even closer interest in her outfits. Woohoo. This ensemble is a casual look for a dressed down day and she clearly knew what to expect with the British weather as she stepped out in some practical wellington boots.

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For now, Harry is simply content to have the girl he clearly loves at his side.

His home at Kensington Palace is ideal for a young couple. Cosy, with the decoration scheme of a country cottage — there is even an open fire in the drawing room — Nottingham Cottage is the perfect love nest.

The three-up, three-down property is directly opposite Apartments 8 and 9 where Harry grew up with his mother.

As well as a sitting room, it has a dining room and separate kitchen. Upstairs are three bedrooms and bathrooms.

Unlike his childhood home, there is no room for live-in staff so the privacy will suit the couple down to the ground.

Of course, one question that will be troubling Harry’s staff as the relationship goes forward, is how Meghan should be protected when she is in London.

This was an issue William had to deal with when Kate was his girlfriend and not yet eligible for taxpayer-funded police protection. Even Charles provided unofficial protection for Camilla before they were married by employing an ex-policeman as her driver-cum-minder.

These may be early days for Harry and Meghan, but staff will be working on a plan to ensure she is given the appropriate guidance.

Seasoned courtiers, who earlier this week had been alarmed by the heartfelt language Harry employed in his statement, now wonder if the announcement was timed to coincide with her arrival in Britain.

Most of the Royal Family are in the capital for a weekend of national commemorations to mark Remembrance Sunday

It is telling that Ms Markle should be in London at a time when most of the Royal Family are in the capital for a weekend of national commemorations to mark Remembrance Sunday.

This, surely, allows a proud Harry the opportunity — should he wish — to take his girlfriend to see both his brother and his father. The Prince of Wales, who was due to return from a tour of the Gulf states last night, is expected to join the Queen and other royals at the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall tonight and again at the Cenotaph tomorrow.

There are no plans for Ms Markle to attend either high-profile event — not least because the Queen considers them among the most important dates in the national calendar and would not permit anything to overshadow them.

However, courtiers believe there is enough room in the royal schedule should Harry wish to take Meghan to meet Charles at Clarence House.

Harry himself has another public engagement — at Twickenham this afternoon in his role as vice patron of the Rugby Football Union to watch England play South Africa.

Before the match, the prince will be given details about two major RFU projects commemorating World War I — the newly-installed Rose and Poppy Gates and the RFU’s Rose and Poppy short film series, which features Harry.

He took his last girlfriend, Cressida, to an England-Wales match in March 2014, sitting with her in the stands, and was photographed a number of times with previous long-term love, Chelsy, at Twickenham watching the national side.

So might he take Meghan? Well, she was prepared enough to go shopping on Thursday with a poppy in her lapel and could add to that with an England scarf. An advantage of her accompanying him to Twickenham is that it would allow them to been seen together in public in an entirely natural situation.

Inevitably, bookmakers William Hill have slashed odds on the pair appearing together at Twickenham from 3-1 to evens, and, for an engagement next year the odds have shortened from 5-1 to 3-1.

So far, Meghan has handled the intense interest in the relationship spectacularly. It will almost certainly have been noted within the Royal Family that with so many failed marriages and relationships, it is in no position to lecture Harry on his choices.

Certainly, no one will be wishing for it to be successful more than William. A loved-up Harry with a girl on his arm — and possibly a wife — will at a stroke halve the fascination for his and Kate’s life. And that is something that would ease William’s mind.

All this is for the future, of course. For now, Miss Meghan Markle’s presence in London has changed everything.