A wedding to redef ine Royalty
IT WAS a Royal Wedding quite unlike any other. Take a bold American bride who has navigated her own way on to the world stage and a British Prince whose life has been ordained by history. Add in a gospel choir, a sizzler of a sermon by a highly animated preacher and a congregation that featured nearly as much Hollywood royalty as the real thing.
Then seal it with a passionate clincher of a kiss – no reticence, no having to be asked twice – at the top of the ancient West Steps of St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
These were the scenes yesterday as Meghan Markle defied pretty much all the conventions that bind a royal bride to marry Prince Harry. In a £100,000 white silk Givenchy dress of pure medieval simplicity and demure romanticism, she made a dramatic solo journey down the aisle to meet her groom. Supported in her final steps by Prince Charles, she also chose not to be formally given away at the altar.
Instead, she took her husbandto-be by the hand herself and flashed him a huge smile as he raised her veil from her face. When he bashfully whispered, ‘You look amazing,’ she smiled, and then she smiled some more.
In truth, the Queen’s grandson, with his best man and brother by his side, and his closest family all around, looked far more nervous, damp-eyed and overawed by the
occasion than Meghan, with just her mother Doria Ragland in support.
But if the Markle family was barely in evidence, its influence was huge. The service swiftly switched from the traditional tenets of a royal marriage – the opening hymn, Lord Of All Hopefulness, Lord Of All Joy, and a reading from the Song of Solomon – to something which will come to define multicultural Britain.
Within the ancient royal reaches of St George’s Chapel, in the castle the Queen most considers home, American Bishop Michael Curry borrowed from the words of Martin Luther King. He spoke about the power of love to make an old world new again before a gospel choir, The Kingdom Singers, gave a rendition of the 1961 Ben E King soul standard Stand By Me.
It made for a ceremony with a pulse-quickening sense of change, one which said the bride’s heritage was every bit the equal of the groom’s. The sight of Mrs Ragland, a Los Angeles yoga teacher, on the arm of the Prince of Wales, her tiny nose stud still in place and her hair in waves zinging out from beneath an austere pale green hat, made that clear too.
There was also much that was familiar, a glorious tumble of ten tiny attendants – four page boys
and six bridesmaids including four-year-old Prince George and three-year-old Princess Charlotte – dense crowds of jolly Royal Wedding watchers crammed into Windsor’s pretty streets and mile upon mile of bunting. There was a carriage procession in an Ascot Landau pulled by an immaculate team of Windsor Greys. There was a fanfare by the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry written just for Meghan.
Yet much of what the 36-year-old bride did yesterday was a declaration of her continuing independence, of becoming the kind of Windsor wife who will not take second place behind her husband or the institution he represents.
The weather could not have been kinder. From daybreak, speedwell
blue skies and golden spring sunshine lit up the grey bulwark of Windsor Castle. The hundreds of Harry and Meghan fans from around the world who had spent the night asleep on the pavement were joined at breakfast time by tens of thousands more. Globally an estimated two billion people tuned in on television.
By 9.30am the guests had started to arrive, an eclectic mix of dear old friends and the A-listers who populate Meghan and Harry’s powerful and internationally inter-connected world. George and Amal Clooney, the Beckhams, Idris Elba, Elton John, Serena Williams and Oprah Winfrey had all elbowed aside the British aristocracy and many minor royals to bag the most coveted invitation of the year.
The seating plan in the quire, right by the high altar, was evidence of the democratic nature of the day. On the bride’s side Meghan’s best friends Jessica Mulroney, Misha Nonoo and Markus Anderson faced the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and other senior royals including The Duke of York, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and the Princess Royal. Together in morning suits and fashion-forward couture, the ensemble of guests offered a snapshot of the couple’s public life and private interests.
Prince Harry, 33, with his wed-
-ding wingman Prince William, was first spotted walking down to the chapel in the doeskin frockcoat uniform of his regiment, the Blues and Royals. He’d kept his now customary ginger beard.
By then all the other senior Royals were already inside St George’s, having entered by the ornate iron door of the 13th Century Galilee porch. For the Duchess of Cambridge it was her first public appearance since the birth of Prince Louis last month.
If there was one piece of unshakeable protocol yesterday it was the arrival of the Queen. She was the last to appear at 11.55am.
Her Majesty had chosen a lime green and lilac Stewart Parvin dress and coat, with an Angela Kelly hat and the diamond Richmond Brooch. Her most important accessory? The 96-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, living up to his Iron Duke reputation was, thankfully, well enough to attend the service after hip surgery six weeks ago.
And then, at a minute to midday, Meghan alighted from the vintage maroon Rolls-Royce Phantom IV which had collected her and her mother from Cliveden, the country house hotel ten miles away where she had spent her last night as a commoner.
Her boat-necked long-sleeved dress by British designer Clare Waight Keller stunned in its unexpected simplicity. Her cathedral length veil, also made by the Givenchy designer, cascaded over a casual bun pinned at the nape of her neck. Its intricate design incorporated 53 flowers, one from each of the Commonwealth countries, doubtless a nod to a role the new Royal plans to embrace.
Meghan’s ‘something borrowed’ was Queen Mary’s rarely-seen 1932
diamond bandeau tiara from the Queen’s personal collection, a regal vote of confidence which completes Meghan’s welcome into the family.
Outside the chapel, the bride was absolutely composed, despite the absence of a father figure to walk her down the aisle. She paused only to let two of her page boys, the seven-year-old twin sons of her friend Jessica Mulroney pick up her veil. One of the boys, Brian, his gap-toothed mouth agape in a huge ‘Oh’ of excitement, effectively photobombed the bride. The resulting image instantly went viral, making him a small, dimplecheeked symbol of the big day.
This was the moment the former actress stepped into the biggest, brightest spotlight of her life. She climbed the West Steps, flanked by hedges of vivid, verdant green foliage with white roses and blowsy peonies to make a truly spine-tingling entrance to a Handel Introit sung by Welsh soprano Elin Manahan Thomas.
Inside, Meghan’s tiny white bridal posy – which included forget-menots, Diana’s favourite flower and blooms picked personally by Harry from their own garden – was mirrored and magnified by five exuberant floral arches across the vaulting pale stone pillars of the organ loft.
Touchingly, Meghan had chosen flowers which represent happiness, honour and romance in marriage. The overall effect was one of perfect British springtime and freshness, a new start to life.
The service was conducted by the Dean of Windsor, the Rt Reverend David Conner, and the couple were married by The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. The bride and groom looked lovingly at each other, laughed and linked fingers. At one point Harry could be seen stroking Meghan casually with his thumb.
He also took the opportunity to break with tradition by choosing to wear a wedding ring. Hers is from a lump of Welsh gold, a privilege accorded by the Queen to all royal brides. His is textured platinum, the precious silvery metal chosen by the couple for its durability.
And so, finally, rings on, vows made, prayers offered, all the cares, the controversy and the chaos caused by Meghan’s father Thomas Markle being unable to give her away faded. The clod-hopping of the Palace had turned nimble, just in time to fashion the last great Royal Wedding of this generation.
Together the newlyweds emerged beaming from the signing of the register and paused to lead the congregation in the singing of the National Anthem. And then they turned and began their first walk as husband and wife, back through the quire and down into the nave.
The Royal Family and Mrs Ragland waved them off. Windsor was waiting for them. The crowds could be heard cheering through the thick stone walls of St George’s as they’d made their wedding vows.
So when the couple appeared in their carriage to begin their 25minute procession around town and down The Long Walk back to Windsor Castle, the streets erupted.
Union Flags and Stars and Stripes were waved, children held up for a better view, plastic champagne glasses were raised to the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex. For almost half an hour, with an escort from the
She comported herself with a quiet dignity that some of her former relatives would do well to note ‘The last great Royal Wedding of this generation’
Life Guards and the Blues and Royals, the couple enjoyed the public’s congratulations and adulation. Then it was time for the festivities to start. The Queen hosted a reception in St George’s Hall for the 600 guests who been at the church service.
They ate canapes made from Scottish langoustines, English asparagus and Windsor lamb, and bowl food including pea and mint risotto and Windsor pork belly.
Claire Ptak’s much lauded spring wedding cake, made with a light sponge and elderflower syrup from the trees at Sandringham, was also cut and served there.
It was here, too, that wedding speeches were made by Prince Harry and Prince Charles. The Duke of Cambridge was compere and Sir Elton John serenaded the bride and groom.
By 3.30pm guests were departing and Harry and Meghan were taking a break, preparing for a party hosted by Prince Charles that was expected to last well into the night.
By then Meghan had traded her wedding dress for a knockout silk crepe, lily white, high neck gown by Stella McCartney. As Harry tucked her in to his open-topped silver-blue Jaguar to driver her away, he could not have looked any prouder or more in love.
This reception was a much more raucous affair of dinner and dancing for 200 in a huge glass marquee. Harry was said to have created a ‘When Harry Met Meghan’ bespoke cocktail. Doubtless his bride will have toasted him with one.
As they finally took their leave, ahead of a few days of quietude and privacy before getting back to work and eventually taking a honeymoon, there was a national sigh of relief that the bothersome question of the last decade – just who will marry Harry? – had finally been answered. And how.