Bishop Michael Curry has spoken out about how he first became convinced the union between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was destined to be happy.

The head of the US Episcopal Church preached a sermon at the Royal wedding on May 19 that was widely admired and at one point generated 40,000 tweets a minute.

Speaking to US Weekly, he said: 'I remember thinking after the sermon, once I preached the sermon, I said, "These two people love each other." They look at each other and their love brought the rest of us together.'

He said: 'Their love for each other brought two countries together, in Great Britain and the United States. They brought people of different religious perspectives and different religions together. They brought people of different political persuasions, people of different sexual orientations, people of different classes, people of different races, people of different nations. Their love, even if it was just for a few moments, showed us the power of what unselfish love that gives itself to another can actually do.'

Prince Harry and Ms Markle chose the Scripture passage for their wedding, from the Song of Solomon, but Curry had a free hand in how he treated it. While his 14-minute sermon was not long by the standards of most churches, he faced criticism for overrunning his allowed time, thought to be five minutes.

He had not realised the impact of the sermon immediately, he said. 'I didn't know the sermon connected. I really didn't. I'd say what surprised me, but in a hopeful way, for some reason the message of love resonated, which tells me we all are longing not only to be loved but to actually be people of love.'