Britain's royal 'Fab Four' attend first official event together

LONDON - US actress Meghan Markle made an official appearance alongside fiance Prince Harry and his elder brother William and wife Kate on Wednesday, the first time Britain's royal "Fab Four" have carried out an engagement together.

Queen Elizabeth's grandson Harry, 33 and Markle, 36, have attracted huge attention since they announced last November they were getting married while William, 35 and Kate, 36, have been a major media draw since their wedding in 2011.

The quartet appeared on stage together to take part in the Royal Foundation forum, a new annual event to showcase the projects run or launched by the royals' main charitable and philanthropic vehicle which William and Harry set up in 2011.

"Catherine, Harry and I are delighted to be here this morning," William told an audience at the London offices of insurer Aviva. "And we are particularly happy to be at our first Royal Foundation event with Meghan."

Markle, 36, will become the Foundation's fourth patron after she marries Harry at the queen's Windsor Castle residence on May 19. She has previously announced she is quitting her acting career and stepping down from her existing charitable work.

"We wait a couple of months and then we can hit the ground running but up until then I'm pretty excited," she said.

"Harry and I see the world so similarly in our approach of being very hands-on with things. I have been fortunate enough to meet with some incredible women and organisations in the UK that are doing work here, but also knowing that some of the work I've done in the past has been in Commonwealth countries."