Britain could be preparing for another royal wedding as rumours flared this week that Prince Harry is set to ask his longtime girlfriend for her hand in marriage.
Friends have been telling British media that an engagement between Harry, who is fourth in line to the British throne, and girlfriend Cressida Bonas is imminent. The Telegraph reported Monday that Bonas has overcome her longstanding fears about marrying into the Royal Family.
According to reports, a wedding is likely to take place in 2014, as friends of the couple say Harry is eager to settle down with Bonas.
“Harry never stops talking about marriage and children, and she has now got used to the idea,” an unnamed friend of Bonas’ told The Telegraph.
The prince, 29, has been dating Bonas, 24, since Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie introduced them in May 2012. According to reports, the Prince and Bonas were in regular phone contact for the duration of his four-month posting in Afghanistan that began late last year.
According to the British tabloids, the relationship heated up upon Harry’s return to the U.K. However, Bonas was said to be reluctant to talk about marriage, feeling she was too young.
Harry is coming on very strong, but she is all over the place,” a friend was quoted as saying. “She thinks she is far too young to get married and is scared by all his talk of marriage and settling down.”
But it appears things may be changing.
Last week, the couple reportedly attended a James Blunt concert together, and the next night they went to see a The Book of Mormon musical.
The fun-loving pair are said to be a good match, and the prince is reportedly also impressed with Bonas’ bohemian family, which has links to Edward VII.
Bonas’ mother Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon was an “It Girl” in the 1960s and her father is businessman Jeffrey Bonas.
Cressida Bonas studied dance at Leeds University and graduated from the U.K.’s Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance earlier this year.
Harry, once dubbed the “Party Prince” has long been considered one of the world’s most eligible bachelors, even before his older brother Prince William went off the market with his 2011 marriage to Kate Middleton.
