Markle’s parents to have wedding roles
The divorced parents of Meghan Markle, above, will meet with Queen Elizabeth II and other royals before her May 19 wedding to Prince Harry and will have special roles in their daughter’s wedding, a palace spokesman said Friday.
At the wedding, the royal couple also plan to honor the memory of the late Princess Diana, Harry’s mother, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997.
Officials didn’t predict the weather — springtime in England can be glorious or horrid, sometimes on the same day — but they outlined plans for a celebration designed to spread from the privileged environs of Windsor Castle throughout Britain and the world, via television and the internet.
Here are some of the plans disclosed by Harry’s press secretary, Jason Knauf, during a briefing at Buckingham Palace:
Markle’s parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, will arrive during the week before the May 19 wedding so they have time to meet Harry’s family.
Knauf says they will visit with the queen, her husband, Prince Philip, Harry’s father, Prince Charles, Prince Charles’ wife, Camilla, and with Harry’s brother, Prince William, and sister-in-law Kate.
Ragland will travel with her daughter by car to Windsor Castle on May 19, and Thomas Markle will walk his daughter down the aisle of St. George’s Chapel for the ceremony.
Knauf says Markle is “delighted” that her parents will be by her side. He did not say whether Markle’s half brother and half sister will attend the wedding.