Military service to play a part in Harry and Meghan’s wedding day

PRINCE HARRY and Meghan Markle’s wedding day will feature regiments and units that have a special relationship with the Royal who served in the military for a decade, the Ministry of Defence has announced.

The marriage ceremony will be enhanced by the spectacle of Household Cavalry troopers in their gleaming breastplates and plumed helmets lining the staircase at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where the couple will be married on May 19.

Streets within the precincts of the castle will be lined by members of the Windsor Castle Guard from 1st Battalion Irish Guards, and by Armed Forces personnel from the Royal Navy Small Ships and Diving, Royal Marines, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps, The Royal Gurkha Rifles and RAF Honington.

Musical support will be provided by the Band of the Irish Guards. Trumpeters and a Captain’s Escort from the Household Cavalry will also be involved, bringing the total number of members of the Armed Forces involved to more than 250.

Harry began his military life in 2005 as an officer cadet at Sandhurst, and later joined the Blues and Royals and served with the Household Cavalry Regiment. During his 10-year career he was deployed twice to Afghanistan before leaving in the summer of 2015 after rising to the rank of captain.

Meanwhile, Harry and Ms Markle will visit Bath next month to attend the UK team trials for the Invictus Games. The Royal couple will meet the sporting hopefuls at the University of Bath’s training village on April 6.

The Invictus Games is being staged in Sydney in Australia this year, and more than 400 military personnel and veterans are competing for one of the 72 places on the UK team. Harry is patron of the Invictus Games Foundation and set up the competition for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women in 2014.