Cape Town - On 19 May last year millions of people around the world watched a modern fairy tale unfold as former American actress Meghan, 37, married Prince Harry, 34 of England.
And Meghan didn’t disappoint in the style stakes. The former Suits actress wore a breathtaking Givenchy gown by British designer Clare Waight Keller.
While they’ve been together since 2017, Meghan and Harry show no signs of their passion for each other cooling. None of the other British royals – including Harry’s brother, Prince William, 36, and his wife, Kate, 37, nor, less surprisingly, Queen Elizabeth, 93, and Prince Philip, 97 – ever pack on the PDA for the cameras the way we’ve come to expect from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Meghan and Harry kiss in public, hold hands, hug and exchange loving gazes during official engagements. And the public can’t get enough of it.
The fairy tale continued with the recent birth of the couple’s son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. The Sussexes celebrated their first wedding anniversary just 13 days after welcoming little Archie into the world.
"I love a great love story," Meghan told Vanity Fair in 2017. And now she’s starring in her own.
READ MORE: Meghan Markle opens up about her love story with Prince Harry
We celebrate their anniversary with a look back at some of the couple’s highlights:
GOING PUBLIC
In 2017 rumours started of a romantic involvement between the red-haired prince and the then American actress. Suspicions were confirmed in September of that year when the two appeared together at the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada.
Harry started the annual sporting event for injured and disabled military personnel and veterans in 2014. The prince and Meghan were clearly smitten with each other by the time they made their first public appearance together and the paparazzi and public lapped it up.
SEE PICS: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle hold hands at first official event together
THE ENGAGEMENT
Just two short months and lots of speculation later, the couple’s engagement was formally announced on 27 November 2017. Unlike previous royal engagements (who can forget how awkward Charles and Diana’s announcement had been?), Meghan and Harry met the press at Kensington Palace, London, hand-in-hand, with Meghan even lovingly stroking the prince’s arm during the proceedings, Town and Country reported at the time.
They were both so clearly delighted that they couldn’t stop smiling. While Harry spoke to the media, Meghan stroked his hand, lovingly gazing up at her prince.
SEE PICS: Newly engaged Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make their first appearance
A TRUE GENTLEMAN
The couple were attending a book launch one windy September last year and Meghan was struggling to keep her hair in check in the stiff breeze. After several futile attempts on her part, Harry, who’d been standing behind her, intervened, tenderly bringing the fly-away locks to order with his hand. He was rewarded with a brilliant smile from his love.
The occasion had been the launch of the cookbook Together: Our Community Cookbook, to which Meghan had written the foreword. Proceeds from sales of the book would go to the victims and families of the fire in the Grenfell Tower block of flats on 14 June 2017, in which 72 people died.
READ MORE: Meghan gives impressive first public speech as a royal in support of community cookbook
THE BIG DAY
Will anyone who witnessed it be able to forget their wedding? Despite ongoing family drama Meghan and Harry were close as ever, sharing smiles and loving glances. The love was palpable.
The prince whispered in Meghan’s ear intermittently, while she couldn’t stop smiling from ear to ear.
But the moment to end all moments – at least where the public was concerned – was the couple’s first kiss as husband and wife on the steps of St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Later the newlyweds walked hand-in-hand to the car leaving their reception, Harry gallantly opening the car door for his wife. As he walked around to get into the driver’s seat, she in turn opened the door for him, CNN reports.
READ MORE: Absolutely everything that happened at the royal wedding
THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA
Forget mothballed formality – this young couple are the embodiment of a new era for the British royals. Both of them love breaking the rules and clearly neither are fond of stiff traditions. Even their son’s name, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, has no ties to the history of the British royal family.
In another break with tradition, Meghan and Harry chose not to pose on hospital steps to introduce their baby to the world. Instead, the couple invited a small amount of press to St George's Hall, Windsor two days after the birth of their child for a photocall and brief interview about the baby.
Harry’s mom, late Princess Diana, held both her sons as newborns on the steps of the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital, as did Harry’s sister-in-law, Kate, when she introduced each of her three children – Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 4, and Prince Louise, 1.
SEE PICS: The first snaps of Prince Harry, Meghan and baby Archie as a family of three
Sources: Vanity Fair, Town and Country, CNN
Photos: Getty Images