“Well, I thought they were lovely together, didn’t you, Maureen?”

I don’t know a Maureen, but this was nevertheless the conclusion reached by the tiny, soft recess deep in my mind that has somehow resisted calcification by the cynicism that has spread so thickly through the rest that I am almost permanently ballasted by my own contempt.

Mishal Husain, who had landed the gig of conducting the post-engagement announcement interview with Prince Harry and his new fiancée, Meghan Markle, was perhaps struggling with a similar tension as she didn’t seem to quite know what to do with her face. She ranged from polite interest to Hard News Sceptic to – by the end – charmed guest. But ’twas no great matter. All eyes were, after all, on the happy couple.

Prince Harry 'thrilled' after announcing he is to marry Meghan Markle Read more

And they were happy. They sat close – her holding his hand, rather than the other way around – and added bits to each other’s accounts of how they met (a mutual friend set them up – Meghan “didn’t know much about him – I just asked, ‘Is he nice?’ Because if he wasn’t kind I didn’t really see there was any point”), how Harry proposed (“He got down on one knee!” she said. “Of COURSE!” said he, to make her laugh) and if she’d met the Queen. She has. What was it like, asked Husain. “It was amazing to meet her through his lens; the honour and respect he has for her as the monarch, but also the love he has for her as his grandmother.”

“And the corgis,” added Harry, “took to you straight away! I’ve spent the last 30 years being barked at and this one walks in and NOTHING. Just wagging their tails.” “And lying on my feet!” added Meghan gleefully. “I was just like, uh,” said Harry with disgust. This will be one they tell the grandkids. Don’t you think, Maureen?

Markle spoke briefly and elegantly about the inelegance, particularly about her mixed race heritage, that they dealt with from the tabloids when their relationship first became public (“Of course it was disheartening…”) and at the end Harry spoke about Diana. Two of the diamonds in the engagement ring are from her collection, “To make sure she’s with us on this crazy journey together!” he said, grinning at Meghan. He thinks his mother and Meghan would be “as thick as thieves” but added, unsmiling for the first time that it was days like today that “I really miss having her around.” Then he rallied. “But with the ring and everything else going on I’m sure she’s with us.” “She’s with us,” Meghan said, with confidence and without sentimentality.

The Guardian view on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: they’re engaged. That’s nice | Editorial Read more

Those of us old enough to remember his parents’ anxious, unnatural performance on their engagement day – including the infamous “Whatever love means” response from the 32-year-old Prince Charles standing next to his 20-year-old fiancee barely able to look at the cameras – couldn’t help but notice the contrast. The difference between them and the two articulate, assured equals before us made you faintly believe that progress is possible. That we can learn from past mistakes and not be trapped by or doomed to repeat history. I’m no monarchist, but this is what they’re there for.

And ‘Markle and Spencer’, as Twitter user @OverallRichard neatly has them, are lovely together. I know you think so too, Maureen.