Harry’s old regiment to play role in wedding
SOLDIERS involved in the marriage of Britain’s Prince Harry to Meghan Markle are no strangers to pomp and pageantry, but for Corporal Major Daniel Snoxell, it’s the wedding of an old colleague rather than a royal.
The Household Cavalry plays ceremonial role at most major royal events, from the opening of parliament to “trooping the color,” a large parade to mark the Queen’s official birthday.
But Harry’s wedding will have extra meaning for members of the regiment who served with him during his 10-year army career, where he rose to be “Captain Wales” after his father, Charles, Prince of Wales.
“We didn’t view him as Prince Harry. We viewed him as Mr Wales, our troop leader,” Snoxell, who will line the staircase for the departure of the wedding party, said at the Hyde Park Barracks. “It just adds that next level of pride, on that personal level, knowing him, knowing that he’s found someone to settle down with and to be part of that special day.”
Harry, 33, joined the army in 2005. After training at Britain’s top military academy in Sandhurst, he became an officer and undertook two tours of Afghanistan. He left the army in 2015, having become a captain.
While Harry was at the Household Cavalry’s operational wing in Windsor most of the soldiers he served with spent time in London’s Hyde Park, and many remember their time together.
John Brophy served in the same squadron as Harry in Afghanistan, and will also form part of the staircase party at St George’s Chapel in Windsor, where Harry will marry former TV star Markle on May 19.
“He was very forthcoming, he was very friendly, very helpful — he would do his best to ensure those under his command were looked after,” Brophy said.