Harry and Meghan: Timeline of the royal fairytale

Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan announced Sunday the birth of a daughter, named Lilibet Diana.

Here are five major moments in their relationship, which has seen them go from being the royal family's hottest property to their shock announcement that they were stepping back from major royal duties and devastating interview with Oprah in only three years.

Prince Harry was 31 with a few failed relationships and his 10-year army career behind him when they first met, while US actress Meghan Markle was 34 and a divorcée of three years.

They were set up by a mutual friend when Meghan was passing through London in July 2016. The speed of their relationship surprised them both.

Both quickly sensed their blind date could blossom into something bigger.

Read | Meghan and Harry welcome second child, Lilibet 'Lili' Diana

Their romance was undercover for the first five or six months, and largely conducted through nights in behind closed doors -- and a camping trip to Botswana.

Eventually, Harry proposed in November 2017 during a night in roasting a chicken.

The relationship was welcomed by the British press, which saw Meghan as a breath of fresh air for the royal family -- a woman who had proved herself with a career of her own, who would project a more modern image.

There was also public relief that Harry, who had walked behind his mother Diana's coffin as a 12-year-old boy, had found settled happiness in his life.

The couple tied the knot at Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018 in a ceremony filled with personal touches, mixing British pomp and African-American culture in front of a celebrity-studded congregation and cheering crowds.

Meghan began her walk down the aisle alone after falling out with her father, while firebrand US pastor Michael Curry delivered a full-throttle address invoking slaves and the power of love.

The couple moved out of their two-bedroom home on the Kensington Palace estate in London and into the much bigger Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor Castle estate in April 2019 ahead of the birth of their son.

Born on May 6, they named him Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

"I have the two best guys in the world so I'm really happy," Meghan declared, showing off the baby at Windsor Castle.

The goodwill that surrounded their marriage gradually began to ebb away as the couple's shine came off.

Critics did not take kindly to what they saw as the couple's right-on causes, complaints at their treatment while living an expensive lifestyle, war on the media, and seeming hypocrisy, preaching on the environment while jetting around on private flights.

Rumours swirled that Meghan was difficult to work with, amid reports of staff members quitting one after another.

Announcing that Meghan had gone into labour after the baby was actually born infuriated the British press.

Their decision not to let the public know who Archie's godparents were was also seen as petty.

They were criticised for the £2.4 million ($3.4 million, 2.8 million euros) cost of refurbishing Frogmore Cottage.

A well-received tour of southern Africa in 2019 saw their stock rise, but the couple overshadowed their own good work by launching a written tirade on the press and legal action against certain newspaper groups.

In an ITV television documentary that followed, Harry said he and William were "on different paths" and have "good days" and "bad days" in their relationship -- confirming rumours that the couple were diverging from the fold.

In a shock announcement in January 2020, the couple said they intended to step back from frontline royalty.

They signed a contract with Netflix and set up a foundation, Archewell.

In March 2021, they gave an interview to queen of US television Oprah Winfrey in which Meghan, now pregnant again, claimed that a member of the royal family made comments about the possible colour of Archie's skin before his birth.

She also said she had been suicidal while pregnant with Archie and accused the palace of refusing to help her.

In June 2021, their daughter is born. She is named Lilibet, the Queen's childhood nickname. Her second name is Diana, after her grandmother who, had she lived, would have turned 60 on July 1.