Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding will be paid for by royal family

The royal family will pay for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, Kensington Palace has announced.

The newly engaged couple are to marry in May at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

Ms Markle, who will become a senior HRH on marrying into the royals, also intends to become a British citizen.

As the couple make preparations for their big day, the American actress, a protestant who went to a catholic high school, will be both baptised and confirmed, ready for the religious ceremony.

The royal family will pay for the church service, the music, the flowers and the reception, the palace said.

It was also announced the couple would carry out their first official engagement together at an Aids charity in Nottingham this coming Friday.

Markle, who rose to fame for playing Rachel Zane on popular US legal drama Suits, will become joint Patron of the Royal Foundation alongside Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The humanitarian and gender equality campaigner will be forced to relinquish her current charity commitments and embark on a new string of charitable endeavours as part of her new life in Britain.

St George's Chapel is a smaller venue for the wedding than Westminster Abbey where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge tied the knot or St Paul's Cathedral where Prince Harry's parents wed.

The chapel, which is the burial place of ten monarchs including Henry VIII and Charles I, dates back more than 500 years. It has been a traditional venue for royal weddings since the future King Edward VII married Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863.

The 33-year-old, who is fifth in line to the throne, and Markle have been dating for about a year and a half. The pair, who met through a mutual friend, announced their engagement on Monday.

A statement from Clarence House said: “His Royal Highness and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents".

During a TV appearance on Monday night, Prince Harry revealed he proposed to Markle in the kitchen over a roast kitchen while they enjoyed a "standard, typical night" in their cottage.

“It was so sweet and natural and very romantic,” Markle told BBC.

She added: “As a matter of fact, I could barely let you finish proposing. I said, ‘Can I say yes now’?”

After their relationship became public just over a year ago, Prince Harry lashed out at the paparazzi for subjecting Markle to a “wave of abuse and harassment”.

In an unusual public statement, the Palace attacked the “racial undertones” of media coverage of Markle and said the prince feared for her safety. The actor, whose father is white and mother is African American, has described herself as biracial and “half black and half white” on her website.

“My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African-American. To say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman," Markle has previously said.