Royal wedding watchers need to be early birds
Meghan and Harry’s big day is Saturday. The festivities begin at 4 a.m. ET. Timeline of events, how to watch:
Harry and Meghan’s wedding day is almost here.
On Saturday, thousands of people will descend on Windsor Castle to catch a glimpse of the new royal couple, with a lucky 600 guests attending the nuptials.
For interested viewers from North America tuning into the royal wedding on TV or streaming services, Kensington Palace shared a schedule of the day’s events, perfect for viewing-party-planning purposes.
A timeline of how the royal wedding festivities will unfold:
4 a.m. ET (9 local time): Charity workers, local schoolchildren, employees of the queen and other special guests nominated by authorities will arrive inside the grounds of Windsor Castle, ready to cheer Harry and Meghan on from outside the chapel.
4:30 a.m. ET (9:30): The buses carrying the guests who received invitations to attend the ceremony at St. George’s Chapel will begin arriving.
6:20 a.m. ET (11:20): Members of the royal family will begin to arrive. Some will be on foot, others will arrive by car.
Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland, will depart Cliveden House Hotel, where Markle will stay overnight, around this time. Their journey to the castle will involve a car ride down Windsor Castle’s Long Walk entryway where the public will be gathered. The car will stop at the chapel to allow Ragland to enter, while Markle will continue on to join her bridesmaids and pageboys at St. George’s West Steps. She will wait there to walk down the aisle.
Prince Harry and Prince William will enter on foot to greet well-wishers gathered within the Windsor Castle grounds. Harry will greet 200 special
guests from his charities in the Horseshoe Cloister at the bottom of the chapel’s West Steps.
7 a.m. ET (noon): The service will begin, lasting about an hour. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will officiate the wedding, while the Dean of Windsor, bishop David Conner, will conduct the service. American Michael Bruce Curry, presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, will give the address.
8 a.m. ET (1 p.m.): The service will conclude and Harry and Meghan will exit the church together, greeting the representatives of Harry’s charities in the Cloister first, then their close family members on the West Steps, before entering their Ascot Landau carriage for a 25-minute procession, waving to the crowd before entering the reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth II at St. George’s Hall in the castle.
The rest of the day: Kensington Palace hasn’t made public details about Harry and Meghan’s schedule for the day, sharing only that the newlyweds will depart Windsor Castle after the afternoon luncheon for a private sit-down dinner for 200 hosted by Prince Charles. The evening’s reception will be held at Frogmore House, a 17th-century manor on the castle estate where the royal couple posed for some of their engagement photos.