From the passionate preaching of Bishop Michael Curry, the lemon and elderflower wedding cake and the gospel choir’s rendition of Stand By Me, Meghan and Harry’s wedding flexed royal tradition in many ways.
And perhaps the most surprising departure from custom was the absence of Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, who was due to walk his daughter down the aisle.
In May 2018, shortly before Harry and Meghan tied the knot, the Daily Mail reported that Meghan pleaded with her father to walk her down the aisle after he apparently pulled out because of the fake photographs row.
Friends said the bride-to-be was distraught after troubled Thomas said he wanted to save her further embarrassment following reports that he colluded with a paparazzi photographer to stage a series of pictures in the run-up to the wedding.
The widely circulated paparazzi photographs showed him being measured for a wedding suit and looking at newspaper stories about his daughter.
In a last-minute change of plan, it was decided that Prince Charles would meet his future daughter-in-law halfway down the aisle as Meghan had always planned to walk in by herself.
It was reported that Meghan asked the Prince of Wales to take the place of her father after discussions with Harry.
Charles released a statement saying he was ‘pleased to welcome her to the Royal Family in this way’.
Prince Harry looking at his bride, Meghan Markle, as she arrives, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle for their wedding
Charles released a statement saying he was ‘pleased to welcome her to the Royal Family in this way’. Pictured: The Prince of Wales walks Meghan Markle down the aisle for her wedding to Prince Harry on May 19, 2018
The Queen looks on at Meghan during the Sussexes’s wedding at St George’s Chapel
But not all members of the family were happy with this decision.
Royal biographer Ingrid Seward wrote in her book, My Mother and I: ‘The Queen was not comfortable with the Prince of Wales standing in for Meghan’s father and was similarly concerned about 96-year-old Prince Philip walking down the aisle without a stick, having had a hip replacement only five weeks beforehand.’
Seward also claimed that Prince Philip regarded the Duchess of Sussex as ‘the new Wallis Simpson’, the American divorcée whom Edward VIII abdicated the throne for.
Charles, on the other hand, was reportedly more than happy to step in.
In a documentary, Harry described the moment he asked Charles to walk Meghan down the aisle.
He said that Charles told him: ‘Yes, of course, I’ll do whatever Meghan needs and I’m here to support you.’
Writing in Queen of Our Times, author Robert Hardman said: ‘Meghan’s reply, according to one friend, was not quite what he was expecting.
‘”Can we meet halfway?” Here was an indicator that this was no blushing bride, but a confident, independent woman determined to make a grand entrance on her own.’
In a documentary, Harry described the moment he asked Charles to walk Meghan down the aisle. He said that Charles told him: ‘Yes, of course, I’ll do whatever Meghan needs and I’m here to support you’
Royal biographer Ingrid Seward wrote in her book, My Mother and I: ‘The Queen was not comfortable with the Prince of Wales standing in for Meghan’s father’
Royal biographer Ingrid Seward wrote in her book, My Mother and I:
According to royal expert and biographer, Duncan Larcombe, the possibility of Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, walking her daughter down the aisle was ‘discussed,’ but ultimately they decided that Charles would be a better option.
‘Doria and Meghan discussed it, but she just didn’t feel she could go through with it.
‘According to the guidance I’ve been given, Meghan felt that it would be too much to expect her mother to perform such an important role when more than one billion people are expected to be watching,’ Larcombe told Harper’s Bazaar UK.
Meghan wouldn’t have been the first royal to be walked down the aisle by her mother.
Queen Victoria walked her youngest child, Princess Beatrice, down the aisle in 1885 and gave her daughter away at St Mildred’s Church, Whippingham, on the Isle of Wight.
Doria was the only member of Meghan’s family to attend the nuptials, with Thomas withdrawing due to ‘health issues’. Meghan had a distant relationship with her half-siblings and they were not invited to the wedding.
Meghan was not the only young woman Charles walked down the aisle.
Two years before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding, he gave away Princess Diana’s goddaughter, Alexandra Knatchbull.
According to royal expert and biographer, Duncan Larcombe, the possibility of Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, walking her daughter down the aisle was ‘discussed,’ but ultimately they decided that Charles would be a better option
Charles and Camilla are pictured during the Sussexes’s wedding
Doria Ragland and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales leave St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle following the wedding of Harry and Meghan
Lady Alexandra is the daughter of the 3rd Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma and great-granddaughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten, whom Charles later referred to as the ‘grandfather I never had’.
At the time, there was much speculation as to why Alexandra’s father, Earl Norton Louis Knatchbull, who is a cousin and close friend of Charles, could not walk her down the aisle at Romsey Abbey.
The answer given by Reverend Canon Tim Sledge was a straightforward one: ‘he was simply not well enough’, the vicar declared.
He added, referring to Prince Charles’ offer to take on the role: ‘What better than to have a family member give her away’.
Alexandra’s family and the royal family have been intertwined for decades. So it was not, perhaps, such a surprise that Charles, who was best man at her father’s wedding, would take on the role.
And it seems this wasn’t the only thing the Queen was unhappy with on her grandson’s wedding day.
Seward wrote that the Queen never voiced her true opinion – except to her very closest confidantes, such as Lady Elizabeth Anson.
The royal biography wrote: ‘She told me that the Queen had made only one remark to her about Meghan and Harry’s wedding, which was that the bride’s Givenchy wedding gown was “too white”.
Doria was the only member of Meghan’s family to attend the nuptials, with Thomas withdrawing due to ‘health issues’
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh leave after attending the wedding ceremony
Meghan was apparently ‘full of charm’ and appeared ‘natural, intelligent, and thoughtful’ after she became engaged to Harry in 2017
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‘Those two words embraced everything she felt about the dramas in the run-up to the marriage and the Disneyesque spectacle of the day itself.
‘Meghan had been married before and there she was, complete with the old-fashioned symbol of purity: the veil.
‘Like everyone else, she was startled by the impassioned spoutings of the American Archbishop Michael Curry, who spoke for over fourteen minutes.
‘Both the Queen and Prince Philip hate long sermons and were desperate for him to finish.’
Further details of the conflict between the Sussexes and the Firm were recently shared by royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith in her Substack newsletter, Royals Extra.
Based on her conversations with Lady Elizabeth Anson, Bedell Smith claimed that the late Queen had her reservations about Meghan and was upset about how Harry spoke to her in the run-up to the royal wedding in 2018.
Meghan was apparently ‘full of charm’ and appeared ‘natural, intelligent, and thoughtful’ after she became engaged to Harry in 2017.
But as the wedding approached, Meghan allegedly became increasingly ‘bossy’ and Liza said the Queen was privately ‘very worried’.
According to Anson, Harry was rude to his grandmother during a meeting before the wedding, and the ‘jury was out’ as to whether Queen Elizabeth liked Harry’s fiancée.
As the wedding approached, Meghan allegedly became increasingly ‘bossy’ and Liza said the Queen was privately ‘very worried’
Most recently, Bedell Smith shared in a podcast that the monarch was ‘upset’ at not being fully involved in Harry and Meghan’s wedding plans in the months and weeks beforehand
Bedell Smith also shared that Harry ‘blew’ his relationship with his grandmother.
Most recently, Bedell Smith shared in a podcast that the monarch was ‘upset’ at not being fully involved in Harry and Meghan’s wedding plans in the months and weeks beforehand.
This comes as Meghan said she ‘couldn’t be as vocal’ while a working royal and wore clothes that were ‘not very myself’.
While speaking to Bloomberg’s Emily Chang over smashed burgers and pints of beer, Meghan is asked if there is an ‘inherent tension’ between ‘trying to be relatable’ while also being a Duchess.
Meghan and her father have reportedly not spoken since their relationship fractured around May 2018, shortly before her wedding to Harry.
Many observers hold onto a hope that the wounded relationship between the father and daughter will one day heal, despite the fact that he has never met his son-in-law or grandchildren.
It seems that the chain of events preceding the royal wedding put an irreparable dent in the relationship between Meghan and Thomas.
