Meghan Markle's whirlwind romance is the opposite of Kate Middleton's 10-year courtship — and it shows how different their marriages will be

• Meghan Markle's relationship with Prince Harry looks a lot different than Kate Middleton's relationship with Prince William.
• For example, Middleton and Prince William knew each other for longer before getting engaged. And their wedding was much more traditional than Markle and Prince William's will be.
• We asked relationship experts to weigh in on what these differences might mean for the two marriages.

It's hard not to compare Meghan Markle— Prince Harry's fianceé — to Prince William's wife Kate Middleton.

At least on the surface, the two royal courtships couldn't appear more different. Most notably, Markle and Prince Harry met in 2016, when they were both in their 30s. Just about a year later, they announced their engagement.

Middleton and Prince William, on the other hand, met in college. They didn't get engaged until 2010, five years after they graduated.

What's more, while Middleton is British, Prince Harry broke with tradition in some ways by choosing to spend his life with an American.

Finally, Prince Harry and Markle's pending nuptials will hew less closely to tradition than Prince William and Middleton's did, according to Vanity Fair.

We asked two relationship experts to explain what these differences might mean for the two marriages, and for the two women's lives. Andrea Syrtash is a relationship expert and the author of "He's Just Not Your Type (And That's A Good Thing)." Rachel Sussman is a relationship therapist in New York City.

There's no saying what will transpire over the course of either relationship. But as Sussman said, "When you're aware of potential pitfalls, you can really work on the relationship and try to make sure that those don't happen."

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Prince William and Middleton have built a life together, having known each other since college. 'What's wonderful is that they have a history,' Syrtash said.

'They know so much about each other,' Sussman said of couples who met when they were young. 'They have a lot of the same friends. They have shared cultural references and memories.'

Prince Harry and Markle, on the other hand, met in their 30s, meaning they brought more wisdom and self-knowledge to their relationship. In fact, Markle has been married before.