The Royal Wedding; Harry & Meghan’s Story So Far…

This weekend a new chapter is set to be made in British Royal history; American Actress Meghan Markle will marry Prince Henry, Prince of Wales… better known as Harry. The wedding is set to cost a staggering £1,969,873, over 100 times more than the national average cost of £17,000! No wonder over 3 billion royal fans are set to tune into this Saturday’s big occasion!   How Did It Happen? It’s hard to believe that it was less than 2 years ago that the enchanting couple met in a London club, having been introduced by a mutual friend. Their first date was so successful that within a few hours they agreed to book a holiday on safari in Botswana! An actress from LA and an English Prince, it’ll never work they said! Needless to say, the rest is history… Not all Plain Sailing! Not exactly fitting the stereotypical ‘English Princess’, Meghan hasn’t had it easy over the past 2 years with regards to The Press and their questioning of Harry’s choice of girlfriend. In the past, this has been an issue for all of Harry’s exes, and ultimately one of the main things they couldn’t handle as part of the package for ‘marrying a prince.’ After Harry came out and made a public speech about ‘crossing the line’, it was clear that he was determined NOT to let this happen again.

“The Times They Are A Changin” – The Big Proposal

Most men have one big question to ask the father of the bride before proposing, but in the case of the royal wedding, one must ask permission from the Queen! When Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952, there were far more restrictions on who was an acceptable choice of partner. The very same year, Elizabeth’s 22-year-old sister Margaret fell in love with George VI’s equerry Peter Townsend and the proposal was refused because he had been previously married. Even Elizabeth’s uncle Edward VIII had to abdicate before being able to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson!

But in 1992, Elizabeth witnessed the break ups of 3 of her 4 children, and now her son Charles is married to fellow divorcee Camilla Parker Bowles. Even still, Meghan being previously married may have felt uncertain of getting the Queen’s approval. But as we know, to everyone’s delight both she and the royal family have opened their minds to second marriages. The Venue: Choosing a venue is difficult for any couple, let alone The Royal Family who have so many personal and spiritual connections with London’s Churches. Harry and Meghan could have chosen somewhere big like St Pauls Cathedral, where Harry’s Mum and Dad (Charles & Diana) got married. Charles wanted to be able to invite as many guests as possible to his big day, making St Paul’s the perfect choice. Or perhaps Harry could follow in his brother’s footsteps and get married in Westminster Abbey. This place holds a special meaning to both boys; where Diana’s funeral was held 21 years ago.

Instead they went for a much more intimate venue with St George’s Chapel in Windsor. 600 guests are expected to attend the service, with as many as 4,000 guests to honour the occasion in the evening! The Guests: The task of who to invite to your wedding is always incredibly tough, as someone is always going to be left out. In the 2011 wedding between William and Kate, The Duke of Cambridge was given a huge list of people to invite; ambassadors, dignitaries, heads of state etc… and with so many people on the list, he was wondering how he could ever invite his own friends! The Queen told him to put the list in the bin, invite whom he wanted, and if there was space at the end go back to the list. I imagine Queen Elizabeth will have a very similar approach to Harry & Meghan’s wedding. For the first time in history, we are going to see an eclectic mix of guests from Harry’s royal, military and school friends to Meghan’s Hollywood connections.

The likes of tennis star Serena Williams, music icons Ellie Goulding, James Blunt and of course the self-proclaimed ‘Windsor’s Other Queen’ Sir Elton John will all be attending the big day. The British Prime Minister Theresa May did not make the cut, alongside former President of The US Barack Obama. Despite striking up a close friendship with Barack during the Invictus Games, it’s likely Harry believes that inviting him and not Donald Trump would be a bad political move. The Party:

In the last 10 years, Harry has been known to be somewhat of a ‘Party Prince’, so we expect him to live up to his reputation. Across the country, there are anticipated to be as many as 8,000 street parties to celebrate the occasion; smashing Will & Kate’s 5,500 street party record in 2011! In Windsor alone, the 4,040 evening guests are expected to have at least 4 glasses of champagne each… that’s 16,000 glasses of champagne! The wedding will be shown live on ITV from 9:30am and is expected to go on to the early hours of the morning with a fireworks display in the evening. What title will Meghan get? According to rules of British peerage, Meghan won’t become Princess Meghan because you can’t become royal through marriage, however she will take on the title of Her Royal Highness Princess Henry of Wales in her husband’s name. The privilege of having Princess before your first name is strictly reserved for women born into the royal family. Princess Diana became known as this by the media, not officially by the royal family.

Officially, Meghan will become Princess Henry of Wales unless the Queen decides to give them both a new title, as she did for Will and Kate, making them the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge. The most likely scenario is that they become the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but we will find out on Saturday! If you are planning to attend the big day, please be prepared for enormous crowds and don’t attempt to drive as there will be no parking available in Windsor. Both of Windsor’s train stations are serviced from London Paddington and Waterloo.