THERE'S no going back now for actress Meghan Markle as she carried out her first official visit today via a trip to Nottingham with fiancée Prince Harry.
Excited crowds cheered as the couple greeted well-wishers ahead of a visit to a World Aids Day charity fair hosted by the Terrence Higgins Trust.
They split up to talk to people lining both sides of their route and were given cards, flowers, and chocolate.
After the charity fair, they met head teachers at a nearby school.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle greeting the people of Nottingham earlier today. (Picture: Getty Images)Following the announcement of the royal engagement earlier this week, more and more information has come to light regarding Markle's roots.
One of the more prominent aspects of her ancestry is her Irish connection.
That's right, she's one of us!
Well, at least there's been a lot of suggestion that she is, so we've decided to take a look at all of the evidence and present it to you so you can make your own mind up on her Irishness.
Here are a few facts that support the claim that the future princess has some Irish in her.
Her father is Irish
Markle's dad, Tom Markle, is of Irish-Dutch descent. The former Emmy Award-winning lighting director has Irish ancestry tracing back to Meghan's great-great-great grandmother.
Tom Markle pictured with baby Meghan. (Picture: Instagram)The family moved to Canada after Thomas died, before moving on to the USA.
Markle's mates with a lot of high-profile Irish folk.
Markle is a regular at the parties of Manhattan hotelier John Fitzpatrick and is a close friend of Bill and Hilary Clinton as well as Liam Neeson.
Last year, Markle attended a fundraiser for the Irish community in New York hosted by Bill and Hilary Clinton just before last year’s election. The party was held at the Penthouse suite in the Fitzpatrick Manhattan Hotel.
Meghan Markle pictured with John Fitzpatrick and wife, and actor Liam Neeson. (Picture: Irish Central)The royal-to-be has previously spoken about growing up bi-racial, the racism her family encountered and a troubling experience she had at school.
She told Elle magazine:
“There was a mandatory census I had to complete in my English class – you had to check one of the boxes to indicate your ethnicity: white, black, Hispanic or Asian.
“There I was (my curly hair, my freckled face, my pale skin, my mixed race) looking down at these boxes, not wanting to mess up, but not knowing what to do.
“You could only choose one, but that would be to choose one parent over the other – and one half of myself over the other.
“My teacher told me to check the box for Caucasian. ‘Because that’s how you look, Meghan,’ she said. I put down my pen. Not as an act of defiance, but rather a symptom of my confusion.
“I couldn’t bring myself to do that, to picture the pit-in-her-belly sadness my mother would feel if she were to find out. So, I didn’t tick a box. I left my identity blank – a question mark, an absolute incomplete – much like how I felt.”
Is that enough to claim Markle as one of her own? We think so.
Finally, there's a little bit of Irish in the monarchy!
