Meg hugs schoolgirl who tells Harry her dream is to be actress just like Suits star

MEGHAN Markle hugged starstruck children and crouched down to talk to them face to face as flag-waving fans were out in force in Birmingham to greet the engaged couple.

Well-wishers began gathering hours before Prince Harry and his bride-to-be were due to appear at Millennium Point, home to a range of tech-related organisations from Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum to faculties of Birmingham City University.

The tour of Birmingham is the latest stop for the engaged couple ahead of the royal wedding in May.

Despite the cold and wet conditions, the couple greeted the waiting crowds with Meghan stopping to hug some flag-waving children.

According to reports, Meghan embraced ten-year-old Sophia Richards after she told the American she wanted to be an actress.

Prince Harry pulled the schoolgirl out of the crowd to meet Ms Markle after she told him about her ambition.

Sophia said: “He said, ‘You need to be confident and you can achieve whatever you want to achieve.’

“Meghan said that one day she will see me being an actress.”

Meghan's hugs are the second time the actress has broken royal protocol, after she embraced a charity worker during the couple's visit to Edinburgh last month.

The highly anticipated visit comes as a report claims Ms Markle has been baptised and confirmed in the Church of England at a private ceremony led by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Stephen McNally, 61, from Stourbridge, who was awaiting the couple in the crowd, said: "I think he's been allowed to do what he wants. I just hope they will be happy. We hope to be going to Windsor for the wedding, on the streets or in the castle precinct."

Harry and Meghan's trip to the Midlands falls on International Women's Day and at Millennium Point they will join female secondary school students taking part in a range of activities from speed networking opportunities with local businesses to a panel discussion.

Harry and Meghan will chat to young women this afternoon as they take part in building apps and touchpads, before hearing more about their motivations to pursue science, technology, engineering and maths subjects.

Retired teacher Josie Weeks, 62, from Leeds, got up at 5am to travel to Birmingham for the royal visit and carried a posy of white blooms for Ms Markle.

She said: "I met the couple in Nottingham and just wanted to see them again and take some photographs. I think Harry's really coming into himself now with his charity work - he's stepped it up in the last few years.

"The main thing is if he's happy with Meghan, that's all you want for him."

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