Harry and Cressida Wedding Summit

Now look, let it be said at the outset that the Royalist’s sources have told me that speculation about an imminent engagement is premature, with nothing expected to happen until later in the year (and certainly not before William and Kate finish their tour of Australasia, which basically rules out April) but I feel duty bound to pass on a report by the immaculately-well briefed Daily Mail diarist Sebastian Shakespeare. I used to work for him, many years ago, and even then he had a network of contacts to rival JJ Hunsecker. Don’t confuse his reports with the garbage churned out by some of the other gossip writers and tabloid magazines.

So, Shakespeare is making waves today with a sensational claim that Cressida Bonas’s family have held a ‘wedding summit’ to discuss her possible marriage to Prince Harry.

‘There is a family gathering to discuss an engagement,’ a member of Cressida’s large extended clan tells him. ‘The announcement will be sooner than many people think.’

One of the 25-year-old dancer’s close friends tells him: ‘Harry and Cressida will be married. It is all going ahead. It is just a matter of time.’

Shakespeare is nailing his colors to the mast on this one, having previously reported that a source at Balmoral told him recently that the Prince was planning to take Cressida to the Queen’s Scottish retreat this summer.

It would be her first visit and likely to involve a meeting with Her Majesty. ‘It is the talk of the estate,’ he was told.

Whilst the Royalist’s sources are less bullish on the likelihood of an imminent engagement, they have confirmed that the relationship is increasingly committed on both sides.

Harry and Cressida have recently ‘come out’ as a couple, appearing together at a number of public events, although the palace have declined to officially confirm they are a couple.

So, yes, they will get married. On that we are all agreed.

But when? Soon.

Well, to paraphrase Morrissey, how soon is soon?

There defintely will not be an engagement announcement before the end of his brother's Australian tour, as previously mentioned, and quite possibly not until after two official overseas visits announced today, taking place in May and June.

Harry will visit Estonia and Italy in May, followed by a visit to Brazil and Chile in June.

In Estonia, Prince Harry will thank the Estonian Defence Forces for their support of British troops in Afghanistan.

In Italy, Prince Harry will attend commemorative events for the Italian campaign in WWII, focussing on 70th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino. The four battles for Monte Cassino in Italy took place between January and May 1944 and saw the Allied Forces involved in some of the most hostile fighting of the Second World War. The battles involved allied troops from the UK, Poland, Canada, France, India, New Zealand and America.

Prince Harry wil then visit Brazil and Chile in June to 'enhance the partnership between the United Kingdom and Brazil and Chile, and build on the links he forged during his official visit to Brazil in March 2012" according to his reps.

The royal family like to get married in the early summer, so factoring in a 6 - 9 month engagement, the Royalist - a gambling man - puts his money on an announcement in September and a wedding May 2015.