Meghan Markle’s mother due to meet Queen Elizabeth on eve of royal wedding extravaganza
WINDSOR, England: Meghan Markle's American mother was due to take tea with Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Prince Harry's grandmother, on the eve of a sumptuous royal wedding that will be watched by millions across the world.
Outside the ancient stone walls of Windsor Castle, home to the English royal family for nearly 1,000 years, well-wishers mingled with tourists and swarms of television crews under swathes of British and American flags.
Harry will marry Markle, a star of the TV drama “Suits”, in Windsor Castle's 15th-century St George's Chapel at a ceremony that begins about 1100 GMT on Saturday.
The newly weds will then be driven around Windsor in a horse-drawn carriage.
Markle's African-American mother, Doria Ragland, was due to meet Queen Elizabeth, 92, for tea in Windsor on Friday. The yoga instructor charmed Harry's father, Prince Charles, when they met on Wednesday.
But it is still unclear who will walk Markle down the aisle after her father, Thomas, pulled out of the wedding in a family drama that was played out under the glare of global media attention. Markle said she was sad he could not make it.
After the schism of Brexit divided the United Kingdom and triggered a wave of doubt about its future place in the world, the glittering union of one of the most popular royals and an elegant US divorcee may offer some distraction.
The British remain broadly supportive of the monarchy albeit with a sense of mild irony about the pomp and pageantry that accompanies it, though many have deep respect for the current monarch, Elizabeth, after her decades of dutiful service.