Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: the royal wedding we’ve all been waiting for
FROM the traditional venue, to the stunning dress and the opulent after-party, here’s your essential guide for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming royal wedding.
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IT has sparked a boom in American tourists visiting Britain, kickstarted a $1 billion spending spree, and spawned a new generation of royal fans.
The May 19 wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be the most-watched marriage ceremony in history, with more than 500 million global viewers expected to tune in on TV, newspaper websites and social media.
Pubs in the United Kingdom have been granted a licence to open late, street parties are being
organised and more than 100,000 royal fans will cram the streets of Windsor, hoping for a glimpse of the glamour couple and their guests.
Royal biographer Katie Nicholl told News Corp the British public had embraced Harry and Ms Markle as a couple.
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“It’s going to be a very popular wedding, the public have got behind Prince Harry in a way that he perhaps secretly always hoped, but never took for granted,’’ she said.
“They’re really modelling this on a people’s wedding, they clearly want the public to be a part of it.
“They’ve been quite surprised by the warmth the public has shown them as a couple and I think Harry and Meghan have been very touched by that and they wanted to give something back to the people.
“It’s going to be a real day of national celebration. Windsor’s going to be absolutely packed.”
Rachel Meghan Markle, 36, and Prince Henry of Wales, 33, will exchange their vows at midday on Saturday, May 19 — that’s 9pm Australian time.
So sit back, grab a Pimms and a cucumber sandwich, and get ready for the wedding of the year.
HERE’S WHAT TO EXPECT:
THE BRIDE:
An American actor whose breakthrough role was a sexy paralegal in the TV series Suits, Rachel Meghan Markle has dazzled the UK since her relationship with Prince Harry was confirmed last year.
A divorcee, she is bi-racial, and has spent years campaigning for female and racial equality. Raised by divorced parents, she has travelled the world, been a UN ambassador for women, has publicly criticised US President Donald Trump, has taken acting roles that required her to simulate drug-taking, oral sex, and stripping, and garnered more than one million followers on social media.
She is one of the most interesting and colourful additions to the royal family in generations. She is also incredibly beautiful.
THE GROOM:
Prince Harry has a special place in the hearts of the UK public, who sympathised with him when he lost his mother Princess Diana when he was just 12-years-old. They forgave him when he grew into an angry young man, lashing out at photographers as he staggered drunk out of nightclubs, was photographed naked in Las Vegas playing strip billiards, and dressed in a Nazi uniform at a costume party. In recent years, after 10 years in the Army including two tours of Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot, the good-hearted Harry has grown up, worked hard for charity and particularly focused on wounded and ill military personnel.
Cheerful, approachable and down-to- earth (as much as a royal can be), he’s admired and liked by the public, and further endeared himself with his obvious love for his fiancee. He’s sixth in line to the throne.
THE DRESS:
The best-kept secret in Britain is the identity of Meghan’s wedding gown designer. While some seriously big names have been mentioned, from the American label Oscar de la Renta to the so-hot-right-now Canadian-Turkish designer Erdem Morilioglu, the smart money is on Australian designers Ralph and Russo. Owned by couple Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo, the couture house designed the dress Meghan wore for her official engagement photos, and they are headquartered in London.
The design will have to please both Meghan’s fashion-forward ideas, and the tradition for royal brides to dress modestly. Expect figure-hugging, plenty of lace, and not much skin on display.
THE GUESTS:
The entire royal family will be in attendance — led by the Queen, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Harry’s brother Prince William and his wife Catherine, Harry’s aunt Princess Anne and his two uncles Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. The 96-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, is expected to attend, if he has recovered from the hip replacement he underwent several weeks ago.
Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland will be there and her father Thomas Markle is also likely to be there.
It’s unlikely her half-siblings from her father’s earlier marriage, Thomas Markle junior and Samantha Grant will be in attendance. Meghan has been estranged from both siblings for some years and both have hit out at her in the press. Samantha is writing a book called A Tale of Two Sisters (its previous working title was Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister) while Thomas jnr was arrested by police after an incident with his partner. Other more distant relatives of Meghan’s are not on the guest list including cousins, aunts and uncles. Celebrity guests could include Meghan’s friend, tennis superstar Serena Williams and David and Victoria Beckham.
THE BRIDAL PARTY:
Prince Harry returned the honour Prince William gave him at his wedding in 2011, making his brother the best man, Kensington Palace announced this week. Other possible contenders as groomsmen or ushers including Harry’s best mate Tom “Skippy’’ Inskip, a country toff who has been associated with most of Harry’s younger hijinks, and his old buddy from Eton College, Thomas van Straubenzee. Another contender is a long-term friend and nightclub baron, Guy Pelly.
Two of William and Catherine’s children Prince George 4, and Princess Charlotte, who will just have turned three, are expected to be in the bridal party as pageboy and flower girl.
Isla and Savannah Phillips, the young daughters of Harry’s cousin Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly, and Mia Tindall, daughter of another cousin, Zara Tindall and her husband Mike, may also be flower girls.
It is not known if Meghan will have bridesmaids, and high-society weddings in the UK often do not have adult bridesmaids. But if she does, her close friend from Toronto, stylist Jessica Mulroney, would be the favourite. Jessica’s daughter Ivy, 4, might also get a role as flower-girl. Other possible bridesmaids could include university friend Lindsay Roth and fashion designer Misha Nonoo, who is thought to have introduced Harry and Meghan.
THE VENUE:
The pair will exchange vows at St George’s Chapel, a medieval church inside the grounds of Windsor Castle, the private residence of the Queen and Prince Philip. The church can hold 800 guests (although they’ve invited just 600) and is the final resting place on 10 English kings, including King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth, known as the Queen Mum. The beheaded body of the executed Charles 1 is entombed there, along with the infamous Henry VIII.
Founded in 1475, the church took 53 years to build, and while it is now open to the public for tours, it has for centuries been the private church of the royal family.
In recent years, Harry was christened in the chapel, his father Prince Charles held a blessing there after his civil wedding to Camilla Parker-Bowles, and his uncle Prince Edward married his wife Sophie, the Countess of Wessex there.
THE ARRIVAL:
Prince Harry will arrive at the church well before midday. All other members of the royal family will arrive before the Queen, who will come in at the last minute, accompanied by Prince Philip, or her son Prince Charles if her husband is not well enough to attend.
Outside, 2640 wounded soldiers, community and youth leaders and local schoolchildren, will make up a crowd gathered outside the church. This will give them a front-row view of the arrivals, and create a bit of atmosphere around the church, which is behind the walls of Windsor Castle and not publicly accessible.
Meghan will arrive last, and it’s not yet known who will walk her down the aisle — her reclusive father, a Hollywood lighting director, her yoga-teaching mother, with whom she is very close, or whether both parents, who separated when Meghan was two, will share the honour and put a very modern take on giving their daughter away.
Members of the Household Cavalry will line the entrance of the chapel as guests arrive.
THE SERVICE:
Meghan will embark on the walk down the long aisle at midday, joining her fiance at the ancient altar, where the Dean of Windsor, David Conner, and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will be waiting.
Archbishop Welby, as the most senior cleric in the Church of England, which has Queen Elizabeth as its global head, will oversee their vows, while Dean Conner will conduct the service.
As is the tradition, the Archbishop will ask the congregation if anyone knows of a reason why the pair should not be married, before he reads their vows of commitment. The couple will respond “I will’’ to his questions of commitment. The congregation will also be asked if they will support the couple in their marriage, to which the response will be “we will.’’
The service will run for an hour and include readings and hymns. The Lord’s Prayer will be recited before the final blessing.
THE CARRIAGE RIDE:
A highlight for the public will be Prince Harry and Meghan taking a carriage ride through Windsor.
From 1pm, the pair will get into a horse-drawn carriage with an open top and embark on a trip down Castle Hill, along Windsor High Street, Sheet Street, Kings Road, Albert Road, Long Walk and finally back to Windsor Castle.
The streets surrounding Windsor will also be lined with members of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards and by Armed Forces personnel, including units Harry has worked with such as the Royal Navy Small Ships and Diving, Royal Marines, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps and The Royal Ghurkha Rifles.
The Band of Irish Guards, which is closely connected to the royal family, will play as the joyous carriage procession takes place.
THE CAKE:
There’ll be no traditional English fruit cake or Victoria sponge on offer to the 600 guests who attend the lunchtime reception following the wedding. Instead, the pair have chosen a dramatic “lemon and elderflower’’ cake, to be iced with butter-cream and decorated with fresh flowers, to celebrate their springtime wedding. American-born, London-based baker Claire Ptak will make the wedding cake, perfectly capturing the couple’s trans-Atlantic relationship.
THE FLOWERS:
High-society florist Philippa Craddock scored the gig of designing the floral displays, which will include wildflowers grown on the Windsor Great Park. Branches of beech and birch trees will feature alongside flowers such as peonies and foxgloves. In an apparent tribute to Prince Harry’s late mother Princess Diana, who was killed in a car accident in 1997, her favourite flowers — white roses — will feature heavily.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER:
Even the wedding photographer is a royal, with celebrity snapper Alexi Lubomirski chosen to capture in perpetuity the couple’s big day.
His Serene Highness Prince Alexi, who comes from an ancient Polish family, is a sought-after
celebrity photographer, and took the official engagement photographs of the pair late last year.
THE RECEPTION:
While the newlyweds are on their carriage ride, the 600 guests will make their way the short
distance to St George’s Hall, the largest room in neighbouring Windsor Castle, for the lunchtime reception.
Harry and Meghan will join them around 2pm, when the reception will start.
Queen Elizabeth will host the event, which will be a grand and formal affair in a room usually used for state dinners and audiences with world leaders. There will be speeches, and the wedding cake will be cut and shared.
The after-party:
This is where the real fun begins. Prince Charles, as father of the groom, is hosting an evening reception in a marquee at nearby Frogmore House for 200 VIP guests.
While the Queen and Prince Philip are unlikely to be in attendance, this is where the fun-loving prince and his Hollywood princess will drink and dance with close friends and family late into the evening.
Meghan is expected to change out of her wedding gown into a second, less formal dress. There will be irreverent speeches, party games, and American and English food.
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