Game of Thrones lovers Harington and Leslie to marry in real life

Actor Kit Harington (R) and actress Rose Leslie (L) pose for photographers as they arrive at the Olivier Awards at the Royal Opera House in London, Britain April 3, 2016. (REUTERS)

LONDON: British actor Kit Harington and fellow “Game of Thrones” star Rose Leslie announced their engagement on Wednesday, defying their ill-fated fictional love on the hit series in which she dies in his arms.
Harington, who plays Jon Snow, and Leslie, Ygritte in the series, announced their engagement with an unassuming traditional ad in The Times newspaper.
The actors, who are both 30 years old, met on set in Iceland and have been together since 2012.
Leslie’s character is captured by Snow in season two and later becomes his on-screen lover. Her line “You know nothing, Jon Snow” has become a popular quote from the series as a whole. Ygritte is killed in a confrontation in season four.
“If you’re already attracted to someone and then they play your love interest in the show, it becomes very easy to fall in love,” Harington told Vogue magazine in an interview last year.
The couple were reported earlier this year to have bought a 15th-century home in eastern England with a moat, a swimming pool and a banqueting hall.
Harington has risen to prominence playing the role of Jon Snow in the HBO television series “Game of Thrones,” which garnered him a nomination for the 2016 Primetime Emmy Award. In 2017, Harington became one of the highest paid actors on television and earned £2 million per episode of Game of Thrones.
Rose Leslie, is a Scottish actress. After winning a Scottish BAFTA for Best Acting Performance for her role in “New Town,” she rose to fame as Gwen Dawson in the ITV drama series “Downton Abbey” and as Ygritte in the HBO fantasy series “Game of Thrones.” She currently stars as Maia Rindell in the CBS All Access legal drama “The Good Fight.”
Harington, as well as Cate Blanchett, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Capaldi, Douglas Booth, Neil Gaiman, Keira Knightley, Juliet Stevenson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Stanley Tucci, featured in a video from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to help raise awareness of the global refugee crisis
The video, titled “What They Took With Them,” has the actors reading a poem, written by Jenifer Toksvig and inspired by primary accounts of refugees, and is part of UNHCR’s #WithRefugees campaign, which also includes a petition to governments to expand asylum to provide further shelter, integrating job opportunities, and education.