Meghan Markle: Prince Harry is a feminist too

With his famous sense of humour, a love of rugby, and 10 years in the Army under his belt, he has often been hailed as "one of the lads".

In 2018, and with a helping hand from his fiancée, Prince Harry has officially embraced a new label: feminist.

Meghan Markle has proclaimed her thoroughly modern man a proud feminist, as the pair embarked on their first official visit to Wales.

Undertaking a long walkabout to greet admirers who had waited hours in the cold for them, Ms Markle was complimented by Jessica Phillips, 23, for her outspoken views on equality.

Ms Phillips said: "She was so lovely. I said it was really lovely to have a feminist in the Royal Family."

Gesturing to her fiancée, the former actress told her: "He's a feminist too."

Last week, as the pair visited a community radio station in Brixton, Prince Harry told young DJs discussing gender equality: "As males we have to do our part or it's not going to work."

On Thursday, in their third official engagement together, Prince Harry and Ms Markle stepped out hand-in-hand to meet the public in Cardiff, for their first joint trip to Wales.

Arriving nearly an hour late, after a points failure on the railway line they traveled on, they apologised profusely to hundreds of members of the public who had waited in the freezing cold and endured brief hail to catch a glimpse of them.

Accepting daffodils and admiring the costumes of schoolchildren dressed as evacuees for a Second World War project, they shook hands and posed for photographs all along the path to Cardiff Castle, with Ms Markle even drawing a heart for a small girl on request.

Caught up in the enthusiasm, at one point she appeared to politely accept an invitation to host her hen do in the Welsh city, telling the eager admirers who suggested it: "I bet that would be a lot of fun."

Sisters Anne and Judy Daley, from Llandaff, Cardiff, had offered Ms Markle a tiara, sash and L-plates hopefully, before an amused Prince Harry intervened to shake his head.

The couple were given a traditional carved wooden love spoon by two children, also named Harry and Megan, before attending a celebrating of Welsh culture inside the castle.

There, ahead of their own nuptials on May 19, they tasted a wedding cake made out of local cheese, topped with a sign topped with a sign saying "Congratulations" in Welsh.

By late afternoon, the couple had moved to Tremorfa, where they joined a host of excited children at Star Hub, a community leisure centre.

After Ms Markle tried her hand at games, she and Prince Harry watched a dance performance, stopping to comfort one little girl who had been overwhelmed by the day.

The proud Prince, with his customary distaste for formality, encouraged a group of dancing youngsters to mob his laughing bride-to-be, saying: "Let’s all give Meghan a group hug!"

Prince Harry eventually set his fiancé free, telling them: "And...release. She's mine."

The couple were particularly keen to see the work of StreetGames, which works to make sport accessible to all young people, regardless of their social circumstances, and the UsGirls project, set up to encourage women to take part in sport.

Some of the young women from the project had been asked to peddle for several minutes on exercise bikes while waiting for their arrival.

"And yet you are all still smiling," Ms Markle noticed, introducing herself to each one of them by name.

"How much better is it to come here each evening instead of sitting at home playing on the Play Station," she added.

Playing a spot of Jenga with Kevin Chiduau, 12, Ms Markle said: "I love this game. You need so much patience for it, it teaches you patience too."

After watching a group dance, the Prince and Ms Markle were left helpless with laughter as they were bombarded with questions.

"Are you married yet?" one boy shouted, before a little girl informed them: "I'm going be dancing at your wedding."

"You’re going to be dancing at my wedding?" asked Prince Harry. "Promise?"

"Oh my gosh, you guys are so sweet," Meghan said, taking the chaos in her stride.

As the couple departed, locals suggested they had won over the crowds despite their long wait.

Linda Thompson, 66, from the town of Dinas Powys, just outside Cardiff disclosed: "I said to Harry 'good choice of bride'and he said 'would you prefer a Welsh lady?" and I said 'no she's beautiful'."

Ian Leyshon, 41 of Cardiff, said: "I think Harry and Meghan are great and Cardiff will love them - she can be our Princess of Wales."