Prince Harry is secretly dating Emma Watson after sending her an email to invite her out when she split from her boyfriend.

At least that’s according to a completely unconfirmed Australian magazine report, which quotes a breathless unnamed insider as saying that the fourth-in-line to the throne is ‘smitten’.

The report from supermarket aisle magazine Woman’s Day has sent the internet rumour mill into overdrive and it has been picked up – rather skeptically – by websites around the world.

Scroll down for video

 

Prince Harry and actress Emma Watson are rumoured to be secretly dating, according to reports

The fourth in line to the throne, pictured arriving at a film premiere earlier this month, is said to have asked Miss Watson on a date

Miss Watson met Prince William last year during a dinner to celebrate the work of the Royal Marsden

According to Woman’s Day, Harry, 30, asked the Harry Potter star out after hearing she had broken up with previous boyfriend Matthew Janney in December last year.

Apparently, Miss Watson met with the prince with a group of 12 friends and they have been meeting up in secret since.

The ‘insider’ apparently told the magazine: ‘Harry didn’t want her to feel like she was put on the spot,” explains one insider. “A party also shows he’s fun and not stuffy.’

‘He’s smitten – and it’s more than Emma’s looks.’

The rumour was met with a predictable flood of Harry Potter jokes. One Twitter wag said: ‘Emma Watson is dating Prince Harry! Despite JK Rowling’s best efforts, Hermione is finally hooking up with Harry!’

Another said: ‘I hope Prince Harry and Emma Watson last because if they have a son, it will be the half-blood prince.’

While Miss Watson, 24, and the Prince have not been pictured together before, she has already met his brother the Duke of Cambridge, as well as Prince Charles.

Prince Harry broke up with Cressida Bonas in April last year after a two-year on-off relationship ended amicably.

The Prince was introduced to her by Princess Eugenie in 2012, with the couple’s last public outing together coming at an England rugby match a month before they split.

Before that, Harry dated Chelsy Davy, with the pair breaking up in 2010 after a turbulent six-year relationship.

After suggestions that the pair were set to get back together emerged in 2011, Prince Harry said her was ‘100 per cent single’.

Despite this, Miss Davy was invited to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in April that year.

Miss Watson – who played Hermione in the Harry Potter series – broke up with Oxford University rugby player Matthew Janney in December.

The couple, who dated for a year, went their separate ways due to Emma’s unrelenting work schedule but said they were determined to remain friends.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower star’s relationship with Mr Janney came not long after her split from long-term boyfriend Will Adamowicz.

Miss Watson, who is now a UN Goodwill Ambassador, met Mr Adamowicz in his first year at Oxford, where she studied for a year as a visiting student.

While the couple did their best to stay out of the public eye, they were seen embracing at Coachella music festival in 2012 and he joined her at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards.

A Clarence House spokeswoman said: ‘Prince Harry’s private life is private. We would not confirm or deny that.’

Source: dailymail.co.uk