Will Meghan’s dad get a royal coat of arms?
HE has the royal fiance, the £50,000 engagement ring and a home at the palace. All Meghan Markle needs now is her own coat of arms.
SAnd I can reveal that plans are in hand to produce a heraldic crest for the American actress.
But courtiers face a dilemma over whether Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, should be granted a family coat of arms.
‘Miss Markle’s father has the right to a coat of arms because his daughter is marrying into the Royal Family,’ a source tells me. ‘Kate Middleton’s father was given one, just as Sophie Rhys-Jones’s father was when she married Prince Edward.
‘However, so far, there has been no indication as to whether Mr Markle wants one or not.’
The reason for the delay may be that Mr Markle, a retired Hollywood lighting director who lives in Mexico, is a U.S. citizen, so needs to prove that he has an ancestor who was a subject of the Crown.
This should not be too difficult, as his forebears include Mary Smith, a maid who was recorded in 1856 as working at Windsor Castle, where Meghan will be married in May.
A Kensington Palace spokesman confirms that Meghan will have her own coat of arms. It is expected to be ready in time to feature on the souvenir programme for the royal wedding. The Duchess of Cambridge’s father, former British Airways flight dispatcher Michael Middleton, used a gold chevron in his coat of arms, in a reference to his wife Carole’s maiden name, Goldsmith.
The crest also featured three acorns to represent the couple’s children, Kate, Pippa and James.
Oak trees are common around the family’s £5million Berkshire home in the village of Bucklebury.
John Petrie, Herald in Waiting at the College of Arms, which will be responsible for Meghan’s crest, tells me she ‘automatically’ qualified for the honour.