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At 37, Duchess of Sussex celebrates royal birthday
Duchess Meghan of Sussex turned 37 on Saturday – her first birthday as a member of the royal family. And wouldn’t we all like to know what Prince Harry has did to mark planned for the occasion?
Don’t hold your breath waiting to hear; Kensington Palace is never going to talk about such “private” matters.
But we can already see how Meghan Markle – an unprecedented royal bride as a divorced, biracial American actress – has changed since her wedding on May 19, and how she is changing some royal conventions.
Christmas with the Windsors – before the wedding
Queen Elizabeth II and much of her extended family usually spend Christmas at Sandringham, her Norfolk estate, but the invitation doesn’t extend to mere fiancees: Until now, a wedding ring was required.
Experts believe Meghan is the first royal fiancee invited to Sandringham for Christmas, including Christmas service with the queen, just weeks after her engagement to Prince Harry was announced in 2017.
Embarking on the ‘Meet Meghan Markle’ tour
As a former actress (TV’s “Suits”), Meghan was accustomed to public appearances, but royal appearances are a different sort of stagecraft.
Months before the wedding, she hit the road with Harry, traveling to key areas of the kingdom, including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to see and be seen.
It was a chance for the British people and Meghan to get to know each other, and good training for Meghan to begin adapting to her new job.
First official appearance with the queen — also before the wedding
The Commonwealth, the organization of nations of the former British Empire, is very close to the queen’s heart, so it was significant that Meghan was in Westminster Abbey with Harry and the rest of the family for the Commonwealth Day service, the largest annual interfaith gathering in the U.K., two months before the wedding.
Her groom’s father – the future king – walked her down the aisle
Of all the unprecedented aspects of Harry and Meghan’s wedding in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle (the barnstorming sermon by American Bishop Michael Curry no doubt woke up the sedate Anglicans), the most poignant was when Meghan’s father-in-law to be, Prince Charles, walked her down the aisle, because her own father, Thomas Markle, said he was too sick to travel to the wedding.
“Thanks, Pa!” Harry was heard to whisper as his father handed off the bride to his youngest son.
She booked a ride on the Royal Train
Another first for Meghan: Just a month after the wedding, she got a master class in her new royal job from the queen with an unprecedented invitation to board the Royal Train for a day of engagements with Her Majesty in Cheshire.
It was months after their own weddings before other royal brides joined the queen for engagements.
Not even Harry has traveled on the Royal Train, which is reserved for use by the top four royals: the queen; her husband, Prince Philip; Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla of Cornwall. Neither Prince William nor Duchess Kate has been invited on the train, either.
Not every hair is in place, but that’s OK
One of the first things people noticed in her first public appearances is that Meghan liked pulling up her hair in a carefree bun, often off-center and with escaped tendrils framing her face.
The words “messy bun” and “Her Royal Highness” have rarely appeared in the same sentence, let alone the same public engagement.
But Meghan has managed to make messy buns seem ... well, endearing. And not messy.
She has been known to wear pants on occasion
Generally, royal women don’t wear pants at official engagements (the queen prefers them in skirts or dresses) but Meghan has gotten away with it at least twice: She wore a sleek tuxedostyle outfit for an awards show before the wedding, and then she wore more casual white palazzo pants at Wimbledon after the wedding.
Princess Diana, occasionally wore women’s tuxedo outfits, but British papers, such as the Mail on Sunday, re- ported that Harry nixed Meghan’s plan to order a Stella McCartney tuxedo suit for a formal affair on their upcoming Down Under tour in the fall.
It was considered not traditional enough for representing the queen on a Commonwealth tour.
The Wimbledon appearance wasn’t strictly an official engagement but the palace did announce it in advance, and Meghan stood out in comparison to Kate, who wore a dress.
On the other hand, Meghan did followed the Wimbledon dress-code rule: No hats in the royal box because it could block someone’s view.
Miniskirts look to be a thing of the past
For her engagement announcement photo call, she wore a short coat and dress, her legs were bare and she wore strappy high heels. After the wedding, she switched to mid-calf dresses and hosiery.
But Meghan has tweaked royal style rules by often opting for sleeveless dresses and off-the-shoulder looks that have rarely graced a royal torso.
She favors bigger bags, notfewer clutches
Meghan often carries substantial (and expensive) bags, even on official engagements. By contrast, Kate is rarely seen with anything but a clutch.
Why do royal women bother with that? Because it gives them something to do with their hands in public other than clasp them behind their backs the way royal men typically do. That’s one reason the queen always carries a Launer handbag with a short handle looped over her arm.
It wasn’t immediately clear why Meghan needed to carry a large Fendi bag to meet the Irish president on her first foreign trip as a duchess.
She doesn’t shy from mild public displays of affection
Royals are not touchy-feely types. They don’t hold hands or link arms or encircle their beloved’s waists in public. But Meghan does.
She has been photographed rubbing Harry’s back, holding hands or clutching his arm. She even grasped his arm for one of the official pictures taken after the christening of Prince Louis of Cambridge.
Judging from the historic pictures of royal christenings, this was almost certainly a first.
And the couple don’t shy from major PDA
Pecks on cheeks are the usual greeting among royals in public.
But Harry and Meghan look to be still in the throes of honeymoon passion, judging from their snogging after his team won the trophy in a charity polo match at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club last month.