The Queen has given her grandson permission to marry the star just a week after she celebrated her own 70th wedding anniversary.
Harry also asked Meghan's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland for her hand in marriage, it emerged today.
The couple, who revealed they were an item a year ago after a six-month secret relationship, got engaged earlier this month in London and will marry in spring 2018, Kensington Palace said.
They will appear on national TV in the UK this evening to discuss their engagement just 16 months after they got together.
Harry, 33, and his American fiancee, 36, have not said where they will hold the ceremony but if they choose the UK most senior royals marry at Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral or the chapel at Windsor Castle.
His brother William and sister-in-law Kate said in a joint statement: 'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said of the engagement: 'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together'.
They have chosen to state they are getting married just before they spend their first proper Christmas together.
Meghan, who is divorced, could become a princess or alternatively be given the title Duchess of Sussex when she marries the fifth in line to the throne and joins the royal family.
But they are likely to wait until Prince William and Kate have their third child, which is due in April.
A Kensington Palace spokesman tweeted today: 'The Prince of Wales has announced the engagement of Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle.
'Prince Harry and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. Prince Harry has informed The Queen and other close members of The Royal Family.
'Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.
'The wedding will take place in spring 2018. Further details will be announced in due course.'
Bookmakers refused to take any more bets on the couple getting engaged last week as Meghan landed in London and started moving her belongings and two dogs to the UK.
Social media went into meltdown but they have had to wait until today to hear that the fifth-in-line to the throne has proposed to his actress girlfriend.
The actress and model did not attend the Queen and Prince Philip's 70th wedding anniversary celebrations together - but she has met Her Majesty for tea.
And royal protocol dictates that Harry will have had to ask his grandmother to let him marry.
The Suits star is set to move to London having quit the show and has already left her apartment in Toronto.
She is shipping her belongings to the UK including her beloved dogs - a beagle named Guy and a labrador-shepherd named Bogart.
Initially at least, the newly-engaged couple are likely to move in together at Kensington Palace, where Prince William, Kate, Prince George and Princess Charlotte will be their neighbours.
The prince and Meghan a the Invictus Games - pictured with her mother, Doria Ragland |
The announcement marks an extraordinary 12 months since the couple said they were in love after a whirlwind romance where the prince quickly became 'besotted', royal sources said.
The 36-year-old actress, who is best known for her role as Rachel Zane in US legal drama Suits, is believed to have charmed the Royal when he visited Toronto in the summer of 2016.
They managed to keep their relationship secret from the world - but it later emerged she had met William and Kate and he had met her family in California.
Their cover was blown when keen observers spotted pictures of them wearing matching bracelets. The Prince followed the actress on Instagram using a pseudonym.
She also went to Wimbledon and Buckingham Palace this year coinciding with a period when Harry was in London but were never seen together.
As news of their love affair broke on Halloween last year, Harry was forced to abandon a secret trip to visit his actress girlfriend in Canada.
Meghan then flew to London two weeks later during a gap in her filming schedule and was photographed by MailOnline buying food on Kensington High Street, Princess Diana's favourite shopping street.
Days later, in an extraordinary statement on his love life, Harry said he is 'worried about Miss Markle's safety' since rumours of their relationship first surfaced nine days ago.
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