Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry sample Dublin's charms; Meghan shows off two new outfits

Irish eyes were smiling on Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Wednesday as the royal couple launched a day of colorful engagements in Dublin during their first foreign trip together since their May wedding.

And already Meghan has shown off two new outfits.

First, she wore a gray/taupe Roland Mouret midi dress with a dramatic ruffle detail to meet Irish President Michael Higgins and his wife Sabina Coyne, and their two furry Bernese Mountain dogs, who seemed ecstatic to meet the duchess.

Meghan wore black suede pumps and carried a large Fendi bag. Her hair was pulled back in a low offside bun.

Then she quickly changed into a black Givenchy cropped double-breasted blazer and ankle-length pants, for a visit to Croke Park, headquarters of Ireland's Gaelic sports organization.

Somehow, she managed to navigate the pitch in her towering black heels, and she carried a new bag, a Givenchy clutch.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in Dublin Tuesday evening, taking on their first international role as a royal couple representing his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and her government.

They are spending most of Wednesday in Dublin, getting to know Ireland's capital and its people and immersing themselves in what Kensington Palace calls organizations "central to Irish life."

They are also hoping to further reinforce the relationship between Britain and Ireland, the two next-door islands that have emerged from centuries of fraught history to a new era reconciliation, led in no small part by the queen herself.

The royal couple's first engagement was at Aras an Uachtarain, the presidential residence, to meet with Higgins and Coyne and their huge dogs.

Then they went to Croke Park, home of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Ireland's largest sporting organization.

They checked out Croke Park's museum, which displays artifacts from the 1920 Bloody Sunday clash there that killed 32, Irish and British, during the Irish War of Independence from Britain.

In a lighter moment, Harry was asked if "football was coming home" – a reference to England's chances of winning the soccer World Cup later Wednesday – and the prince triggered laughter when he answered with a grin: "Most definitely."

On the field, they got to meet athletes and watch traditional Gaelic sports, such as hurling, camogie and rounders. Both are interested in deploying sports for social good as one of their philanthropic goals.

The most anticipated engagement, as in any royal tour, was their walkabout in Trinity College's Parliament Square, where they were mobbed by hundreds of screaming and shouting well-wishers waving phones and presenting them with flowers.

They also got to see the Brian Boru Harp, the oldest in Ireland, and the famous Book of Kells in Trinity's historic Old Library.

Later, they paid respects at the moving memorial to the Irish Famine of the mid-19th century, and explored the Irish Emigration Museum.

An estimated one million people died from starvation or from typhus and other famine-related diseases during the famine and the estimated number of Irish who emigrated during four years of the famine may have reached two million.

The royal couple also will check out Dublin's "Digital Docklands" where start-up tech firms share working spaces, and meet female tech entrepreneurs at a birthday celebration for CoderDojo, a global network of free computer programming clubs for young people.

Meghan, 36, is becoming a royal pro at having fun while greeting fans at rope lines, having participated in multiple walkabouts since her engagement to Harry was announced in November 2017.

Harry, 33, is a natural at this and a popular member of the royal family in part because he has always seemed authentically pleased to shake hands, chat with well-wishers and smile for their cameras.

Harry and Meghan arrived in Dublin Tuesday evening, following a day of ceremonies in London celebrating the centenary of the Royal Air Force.

They headed first to a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, then to a summer garden party at Glencairn House, the residence of the British ambassador to Ireland.

By the time of the party, Meghan was on her third outfit of the day and it was a stunner: A sleek, sleeveless little black dress by Emilia Wickstead, with an A-line silhouette, square neckline, midi length and a belt.

WJAX