Windsor Star

Nice day for a ‘woke’ wedding

Meghan and Harry are planning on nuptials done in a non-traditiona­l way

- GUY KELLY London Daily Telegraph

The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle is fast approachin­g, but exact details of the day remain largely mum. Based on what we do know, however, for all the inevitable pageantry associated with the fifth in line to the throne tying the knot, we could well be set for the first “woke” — millennial-speak for anything that is politicall­y correct or has a social conscience, for the uninitiate­d — royal wedding in history. Traditiona­lly, of course, an event like this could be seen as possibly the least modern, progressiv­e event imaginable. But Meghan and Harry are not traditiona­l royals and all the signs point to them doing it their way as much as possible.

The first sign that this will be the case is who they want to invite. The couple have made clear they wanted to share their big day with the public as much as possible, and they made good on that platitude recently, announcing that 2,640 “normal” people will be invited into the grounds of Windsor Castle to get a close-up look at the couple. Of that carefully screened batch, more than 100 will be pupils from two local schools; 200 from the charities and organizati­ons the couple support; 610 from the Windsor Castle community; 530 staff members from the Royal Household and Crown Estate and 1,200 members of the public from all over the U.K., nominated by nine regional Lord Lieutenant offices.

But, of course, we can also expect the guest list on May 19 to make it the most star-studded royal wedding ever.

Through his charity work and other patronages, Harry is good friends with everyone from former U.S. president Barack Obama to Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl to current British superstar Ed Sheeran.

And given her acting background, half of Markle’s phone book will also likely be famous faces. Will the happy couple take the bold, and thoroughly modern, move of filling the place with their actual friends? Probably.

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