INVERCLYDE will be celebrating its very own royal wedding tomorrow as a local couple tie the know on the same day as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Beautiful bride-to-be Karen Thompson will wed her own Prince Charming Michael Burfield at the Tontine Hotel - and the couple are ready to outshine the affair in Windsor.

Karen, 54, a passenger service manager at London Gatwick, said: "We've been planning the wedding for a year, then it was announced on the news that the royal wedding was on the same day!

"I think Meghan and Harry are a lovely couple and I'm chuffed that Harry has found happiness.

"He and Wills have had quite a hard time losing their mum. It nice to see him happy."

The happy couple will celebrate with 125 family and friends, with some guests travelling from America and Canada.

Karen said: "I'm looking forward to to be walking down the aisle and seeing Michael there waiting for me and becoming Mrs Burfield. I'll be very proud. It's going to be very emotional, seeing all my friends and family there to help us celebrate.

"Michael is a lovely caring person, he looks after me."

Karen was brought up in Braeside but moved to London in 1985 - but her roots remain in Inverclyde.

Her mum Eileen still lives in Gourock and she has sisters living locally, including sibling Jennifer Canning, who owns Remix Hairdressers in the town.

Jennifer will be on hand tomorrow morning to do the wedding party's hair for 19 people.

She said: "I am so excited to see them get married and have a family celebration."

The wedding will be very much a family affair, Karen's brother Tony Gallacher will walk Karen down the aisle after she sadly lost her dad Arthur three years ago.

Her nephew and niece Tyler, 11, and Emily, six, will be her page boy and flower girl, with best friend Linda Ross matron of honour.

The pair met in a pub in Crawley, West Sussex just over 18 years ago and were instantly smitten.

Karen said: "I thought he was really handsome. I liked his grey hair. I thought he looked very distinguished.

"Then a few days later a friend of min said he wanted my number."

They went on a date and romance quickly blossomed.

Michael, 62, said: "We chatted away. Karen was so easy to talk to."

Her besotted groom hails from Crawley and works as a ramp allocator at Heathrow Airport, but visits Gourock often to see his Scottish in-laws.

Michael said: "Karen has a wonderful family. She is very loyal to Inverclyde."

The pair got engaged in 2006 but then brought a house in Horley that turned out to be a major restoration project and wedding plans were put on hold.

But Michael, whose brother Paul will be his best man, didn't want to wait any longer to tie the knot and they named the day.

He said: "It's the right time, we'll have a our own royal wedding."

Karen joked: "There will be a buzz in Windsor but a bigger buzz in Greenock."

The newlyweds plan to jet off to Mexico on honeymoon.