Prince Harry has been married to Meghan Markle for almost seven years, with the couple having spent five of those living together in America.

Since quitting life as a senior royal in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have called Montecito home, living in a sprawling mansion with their two children, Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three.

This is very different from how life was in their first few years together in the UK when they lived in royal cottages and worked full-time as senior royals.

Although Harry, 40, has often focused publicly on the couple's negative experiences in the UK spotlight, the duke fondly recalled how dating Meghan in private was “great” in 2016.

It is believed the couple dated in private to avoid news of their courtship being made public, with the duchess reportedly spending much time at Harry’s old home, Nottingham Cottage, on the Kensington Palace estate.

Appearing on The Late Late Show with James Corden in 2021, the prince recalled the moment he knew Meghan was the one for him.

He told James: “The second date I was starting to think wow this is pretty special. We were so comfortable in each other's company.

“Dating with me or with any member of the royal family I guess is kind of flipped upside down.

“All the dates become dinners or watching the tv or chatting at home and then eventually when you become a couple you venture out to the cinema, dinners and everything else.”

The duke continued: “Everything was done back to front with us so actually we got to spend an enormous amount of time just the two of us.

“There were no distractions and that was great, it was an amazing thing. We went from zero to 60 in the first few months.”

After dating for over a year, Harry proposed to Meghan in 2017 in the garden of their Nottingham Cottage home.

The couple then married in a star-studded Windsor wedding in 2018.