Why Meg’s lonely walk leaves me feeling sad

AfTer a week with more incredible twists and turns than any plot on eastenders, Charles has stepped into the breach to escort Meghan up the aisle in the absence of her ailing father.

it is a magnanimous and affectionate gesture from our future king — a very public display of how he is welcoming her into the royal family. Yet it turns out Meghan will begin her walk on her own, in what respected american TV news channel Cnn calls a ‘bold feminist statement’.

only when she reaches the area known as the Quire halfway down the chapel will Charles accompany her. and even then she will not be given away by him in the traditional sense — Charles will stand back as Meghan takes the final few steps to join Harry alone, and gives herself away.

She herself came up with this plan which is unprecedented in royal weddings. even if her father was attending she was still going to make that initial solo walk, and present herself to her groom.

Cnn says it ‘indicates that she wishes to assert herself as a strong, independent woman who is prepared to challenge royal norms’.

Maybe. But no man or woman is an island. We all ideally need to draw from the strength that supportive, loving families can give. That’s why i find this lonely walk a little sad.

and is a royal wedding attended by the Queen and Prince Philip and watched around the world really the place for her to challenge norms and make a feminist statement?

Perhaps it’s her determination to appear strong and independent that is behind her refusal to invite any of the extended Markle clan, leaving her mother as the only family member.

To be fair, one can understand why Meghan has not invited her ghastly siblings, and she had no control over the sad way her father finally pulled out because of his heart condition.

But she has respectable cousins and uncles — why not invite them?

Part of the magic of any wedding is the joining of two families. from royal chapel to local church, tradition holds that those families are separated on the right and left side of the aisle, then unite for the celebrations and a combined future together.

of course, i wish the couple every happiness and Meghan is certainly a gloriously welcome breath of fresh air in the often stuffy royal family.

But my fear is that she could one day regret casting aside centuries of tradition to make her feminist statement in St George’s Chapel.

While the rest of us will remember the ceremony as the day #MeToo met the Windsors.