Meghan Markle and Prince Harry travelled to Cardiff on Thursday for their third official royal visit as an engaged couple.

The visit to Cardiff Castle and a community and leisure centre in the city generated the same buzz that the previous two visits to Nottingham and Brixton, south London, demonstrating that the excitement, interest and fascination about the couple shows no sign of slowing down.

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In Cardiff today crowds lined the barriers, despite the wind and rain, while crowds that couldn't get in waited outside to catch a glimpse of the couple.

Pictures showed children waving Welsh flags, while castle organisers shared images of a wedding cake they made for the couple out of Welsh cheese.

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Markle and Harry arrived an hour late - thanks to train delays - and Meghan rocked the same low messy bun she did in Brixton while also wearing a black coat by Stella McCartney and jeans by the Welsh brand Hiut Denim.

After the tour of the castle, Markle and Prince Harry will visit Star Hub, a leisure centre in the Tremorfa area of the city where national sports charity StreetGames operates. StreetGames works to make sport accessible to all young people and delivers doorstep sport sessions in disadvantaged community.

The sister programme, UsGirls focuses on getting young women who have grown up in poverty into sport and is estimated to have reached 5,000 young girls and women across Wales.

A spokesperson for StreetGames told ELLE UK Markle and Harry were 'brilliant with the children'.

'At one stage, all the girls in the street dance session gave Meghan a big group hug! Meghan seemed very touched by the warmth of the girls and was very at home in the role,' they said.

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Meghan Markle hugs a group of girls at the Star Hub leisure centre

'When one of the young girls was a bit nervous and holding the hand of one of their team, she went over and bent down to introduce herself and brought the little girl back to the main group. The girl was much more at ease and happily chatted to both Prince Harry and Meghan after that.'

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The organisation was 'delighted' Markle and Harry had chosen to visit and that the couple were treated to a street dance class, table tennis, an UsGirls session in the gym and another sports club.

Ahead of the visit, a spokesperson tole ELLE UK: 'The children are very excited and some of them have made a card to give to Meghan.'

The charity said they haven't prepared anything new or changed anything significantly ahead of the royal visit as they would have been happening 'with or without the visit' but they were really looking forward to welcoming the royal couple to see the work they have been doing in their community.

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Olivia Blair
Olivia Blair is Talent Editor at Hearst UK, working predominantly across Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Esquire and Harper's Bazaar. Olivia covers all things entertainment and has interviewed the likes of Margot Robbie, Emma Stone, Timothée Chalamet and Cynthia Erivo over the years.