Description
The Royal Wedding
Exclusive Collectors’ Edition Part 2
The British Guide to the Royal Event of 2018
It was always thought that the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was not going to be a traditional one. For a start the couple’s decision to wed on a Saturday was a change, because Royal Weddings usually take place on a weekday. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wed on a Friday and the Queen on a Thursday.
As for the wedding itself, well it was like no other in living memory. Health problems meant that Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, could not attend, and therefore the father of the groom, Prince Charles, unusually, gave away his future daughter-in-law to his own son.
Meghan did not promise to obey, and the Groom wore a wedding ring, again a break from Royal tradition because his father, his brother Prince William and grandfather Prince Philip do not.
Though the ceremony started out in a traditional enough fashion, the couple sought to fuse the traditional and the contemporary in their choices, which saw the soul classic ‘Stand by Me’, and the African-American church favourite ‘This Little Light of Mine’, performed by a gospel choir, as well as the rousing Welsh rugby anthem ‘Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer’, also known as ‘Bread of Heaven.’
In a nice touch, Lady Jane Fellowes, the sister of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, delivered a reading from the Song of Solomon, stressing the strength and power of love.
The standout was a volcanic wedding sermon by Bishop Michael Curry, the first African-American leader of the US Episcopal church. Reading from his iPad, gesticulating, swinging his robes, smiling, rocking back and forth on his feet, he was in complete contrast to the solemn and stationary ecclesiastical address that is usually delivered at such events. “Two people fell in love,” he said, “and we all showed up.”
At the end of a barnstorming preaching session in which he said he couldn’t walk on water (though many in the audience thought he could by then) he smilingly promised the happy couple, “and with this I’ll sit down, we got to get y’all married”.
Another star on the day was Prince Charles, who later shared some heartfelt words with the newlyweds at their lunchtime gathering, which was hosted by Queen Elizabeth at St. George’s Hall at Windsor Castle.
“Prince Charles gave a brilliant speech,” one of the guests who attended the reception later revealed. “It was very sweet actually, very heartfelt.” He said that Prince Charles commented on “how proud” he was of the man his son had grown into. “He ended it calling him, ‘My darling old Harry, I’m so happy for you,’ which was very sweet.”
Credit must also be given to Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, a model of dignity who sat opposite the Queen in St George’s Chapel with her dreadlocks tied back beneath a stylish beret. She even gave Prince Charles’s hand an affectionate squeeze after he accompanied her daughter to the altar.
Yes, it was a Royal Wedding to remember, and one that confirmed the British reputation for matchless pageantry, as you will see from some of the amazing pictures we have gathered together in this Royal Wedding Special, which we know that every fan of the British Royals will treasure as a very special souvenir of a truly wonderful day in British history.
The Royal Wedding Exclusive Collectors’ Edition Part 2 Includes:
– The Arrival
– The Guests
– The Ceremony
– The Duke and Duchess of Sussex
– Your Carriage Awaits
– The Reception
– The Nation Celebrates
– The Official Wedding Photographs
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