Kimberly Birch didn’t really think she would “Marry ‘Harry’” so she’s not complaining that he turned out to be more pauper than prince.
“I’m very happy with the outcome,” says Birch, the winner of Fox’s dating show “I Wanna Marry ‘Harry.’”
The series sent a dozen American women to an estate outside of London to vie for the affections of a dead-ringer for His Royal Highness. In reality, the faux Harry who picked Birch in the finale is a 24-year-old environmental consultant named Matthew Hicks.
Birch, an actress and Long Island resident, tells The Post she never entirely bought the idea that Hicks grew up in Buckingham Palace.
“The lengths that they went to to get us girls into the mindset that we could be dating the prince was brilliant,” says Birch, who’s also 24. “But when we would spend time together, I noticed how normal and down-to-earth he was. For me it became harder and harder to believe that he actually was [Prince Harry].”
Only half of the program’s eight episodes aired, but the entire series — including the finale with Hicks’ big reveal — is now available on Hulu and at Fox.com.
Birch recently opened up about being on the show and answered the biggest question of all: Are she and Matt still together?
Q: In the finale, you seemed absolutely shocked that he wasn’t Prince Harry.
A: “Oh, yeah — that was genuine shock. [But] I was shocked that he picked me. It was actually kind of refreshing to hear him say that he’s just the normal guy I really was hoping he was.”
Q: The show was filmed last August and September. Nine months later, are you and Matt still dating?’
A: “The thing is, I’m in New York and he’s in England — so, physically, it’s hard to see one another. We got to spend a nice weekend together in Palm Springs several months ago. And he’s planning to come here [to New York] in about a month or two. We genuinely like each other and have spoken regularly from the moment we stopped filming. We Skype, talk on FaceTime all the time, and we’re trying to keep some sort of relationship. Hopefully we’ll go from there.”
Q: How seriously did the contestants wonder whether Matt was actually Prince Harry
A: “At first it was just speculation, sort of just flirting with the idea that maybe this was Prince Harry. Like, no way — could he really be on a reality TV show right now with 12 American girls?”
Q: Did anyone really believe Matt was Prince Harry toward the end?
A: “(Laughs) I think so — absolutely. Kelley [Andrews, the second runner-up] one hundred percent believed he was the actual Prince Harry throughout the duration of the entire show from beginning to end. We were all actually a little worried about her when she was gonna find out that it wasn’t Prince Harry. And I think Karina [Kennedy, the first runner-up] was pretty convinced that it was him, or at least someone of a similar stature.”
Q: What’s been your family and friends’ reactions to the show?
A: “They absolutely love it. My parents still watch it on-demand almost every single night. My friends watch it in groups all the time, and they’re constantly sending me pictures of myself on TV.”
Q: Do you watch either “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette”?
A: “I’ve heard about them, but I haven’t seen much of those kinds of shows. I’ve seen some other ones on VH1, like ‘Flavor of Love,’ so I was hoping that’s not what this was.”