Taranaki woman covering wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

BBC journalist and presenter Lucky Hockings. Photo / BBC World News

She covered the 9/11 attacks and the Boxing Day tsunami but Kiwi journalist Lucy Hockings might be facing her biggest gig yet.

The 43-year-old will spend three days reporting for the BBC from Windsor on the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

And success depends on shaking off that Kiwi twang.

"I've been told off, actually," Hockings told the Weekend Herald. "The very first time she came on to our radar, I said 'Mee-gan', because that's how we say it in New Zealand.

"I kind of looked around the newsroom, and I said: 'It's Mee-gan and she's from LA, so we should probably check whether she calls herself Mee-gan or Meh-gan'.

"Then there was this whole discussion in the newsroom. But it is very definitely Meh-gan over here."

Hockings has been a BBC broadcast journalist and news presenter since 1999 when she started as a producer, following stints at TVNZ, Reuters and CNN.

Hockings will be based at Windsor Castle, outside St George's Chapel, for three days - analysing everything from the wedding dress to what the marriage might mean for Britain and the US.

"We're doing extensive, incredible coverage of this wedding. I'll be live at Windsor Castle, inside the castle on Thursday and Friday and with the crowd and things watching on the big screens, broadcasting on the actual wedding day.

"We're covering every base - we're talking about everything from the flowers to the cake, to the dress and the bridesmaids, all of that,'' she said.

"But also what it means constitutionally for the monarchy and what it means for the future of the royal family and what it means to different people all over the world."

Hockings said from everything she had seen of the couple, they were very much in love - and also genuinely loved by the British people.

She said Markle brought something fresh to the royal family, which the public liked.

Markle was also championing a number of causes that people might not traditionally talk about publicly - such as mental health - but were starting to, thanks to the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and now with Prince Harry and Meghan's support.

"Meghan offers something a little bit extra. She's glamorous, she's gorgeous, she's American, she's been married before and she's an actress. So it really offers a whole other level of interest to this whole story.

"She's a very articulate, confident, professional woman who has been championing causes like gender issues and I think she's going to be a strong advocate for some of the things that she, William and Catherine and Harry care about."

Despite a successful career and life with her family overseas, home is and will always be Aotearoa, Hockings said.

"My home, where my heart is, is in Taranaki. I miss the mountain.''