The message hidden in Meghan Markle's white shirt

At first glance, the outfit Meghan Markle wore during her first public appearance with boyfriend Prince Harry seemed simple.

White shirt, slightly ripped jeans, flat shoes, a classic leather handbag - it was a perfectly chic yet inoffensive ensemble, exactly what you’d expect from a possible future royal.

Simple, right? Not so fast. (Image: AAP)

However, it seems the Suits star may have been using her sartorial choices to send those of us playing along at home an important message. 

Get out your magnifying glasses, because we’re about to crack this case wide open.

You see, the shirt Markle opted isn’t any old crisp cotton button-down blouse.

In case you haven’t been keeping up, speculation over an imminent engagement between the 36-year-old and her royal beau has reached boiling point in the past month.

Markle in the crowd at the Invictus Games opening ceremony. (Image: AAP)

The couple have been dating for little over a year, but Markle reportedly met Prince Harry’s grandmother the Queen a couple of weeks ago.

This is more significant than you might realise - it took Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge, five years to meet Her Majesty.

"Please be nice to my girlfriend, Granny." (Image: AAP)

Markle herself added fuel to the fire in a jaw-droppingly candid interview with Vanity Fair magazine.

The Royal Family tends to keep their emotions to themselves, yet the American actress boldly declared she and 33-year-old Prince Harry were “really happy and in love”.

They certainly look it. (Image: AAP)

“We're a couple. We're in love. I'm sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time,” she told the publication.

The couple’s first public outing together at the Invictus Games this week, where they were photographed holding hands and giggling together, has only intensified talk of an engagement.

Watch: The royal couple get cost at the Invictus Games in Toronto. 

With all this in mind, Markle’s decision to wear a shirt called ‘The Husband’ seems a little on-the-nose.

Perhaps the shirt is Markle's way of telling us she and the prince decided to elope during their recent trip to Africa and all this speculation is therefore pointless. 

Engagement speculation has reached boiling point. (Images: Getty)

Or perhaps, just perhaps, she just really liked the shirt and didn’t pay much notice to the name. But that’s not very fun, is it?

Indeed, a little browse through Markle’s Instagram reveals she’s worn the Husband short before, back in October - just before her royal relationship became public knowledge.

The fashion designer once dated one of Harry's school friends and is close with his cousin Princess Eugenie, so she's definitely got royal connections.

So, what have we learned here today? Well, for one thing, we’ve learned you can read a LOT of meaning into a simple white shirt.