Meghan Markle is set to be a "great ambassador" for the Royal family.

Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle

The 36-year-old American actress has been dating Prince Harry for 16 months, and with an engagement believed to be on the cards, sources have claimed the star will "bring millions" to the UK economy for clothing and homeware brands as people strive to be just like the brunette beauty.

David Haigh, CEO from Brand Finance, told news.com.au: "Although it is difficult to speculate about numbers, it can be expected that Ms Markle will join the Duchess of Cambridge as a great ambassador of the monarchy, especially in her native United States and in Canada where she has recently lived."

The expected market growth is being dubbed the "Meghan effect", and it comes after the similarly titled "Kate effect" saw the UK rake in £152 million in 2015 alone, as fans rushed out to bag the latest Reiss or Alexander McQueen outfit as worn by Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

It doesn't take a royal wedding to spark an increase in sales either, as Meghan has already been responsible for earning a London-based sunglasses firm £20,000 in 24 hours by wearing a pair of their shades to the Invictus Games in Toronto last month.

The brunette beauty donned a pair of Percy Sunglasses by Finlay & Co. for the Invictus Games - which was screened around the world - and that led to a huge spike in demand for the brand, with women everywhere apparently desperate to get their hands on a pair.

In fact, the intense demand for the shades caused the firm's website to crash a number of times, according to sources.

And Meghan could be set to do a lot more of her shopping in UK stores, as she's reportedly planning on moving to London permanently, after having already moved her dogs to the country.

A source revealed: "She is very close to those two dogs. She lets them sleep on her bed and they eat only the highest quality organic food.

"She misses them when she is away and will even get someone to FaceTime her with them.

"The fact she's started the process of moving them to England is the clearest hint yet that she sees her future living in London with Harry."

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