On Monday, November 27, the engagement of his mulatto girlfriend Meghan Markle, known for her role as Rachel Zane in the TV series Suits, was officially announced. Their story is reminiscent of a classic English novel: there is platonic love even before they met, and public condemnation, and intrigue, and riddles. And, of course, a fatal lady with a vague past, who actually turned out to be a very virtuous person. figured out who this Meghan Markle was and what they, along with Harry, had to overcome on the way to their "happily ever after".

In the famous novel by John Fowles "The French Lieutenant's Woman" there are two equal and contradictory endings, and the novel of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has two of the same beginnings. Some sources claim that they first met in 2016 in Toronto, where Megan lived and worked, and Prince Harry was passing through there. He advertised in Canada his project "Games of the Invincible" - an international competition for former and current military who became disabled. Others say Harry asked their mutual friend Marcus Anderson to set them up when Meghan traveled to London in 2016 to watch a game at Wimbledon.

However, this is not so important, because, according to royal family expert Katie Nicholl, Prince Harry, as befits the hero of a classic novel, fell in love with Meghan long before they met. In the documentary When Harry Met Meghan: A Royal Affair, Katie reveals that the young man was crazy about the actress two years before meeting her. Allegedly, a friend asked Harry who was the ideal girl for him. And he, without hesitation, replied: “Meghan Markle from Force Majeure.”

English prince's woman

The chosen one of Prince Harry was born in Los Angeles on August 4, 1981 in a mixed family (her mother is African American). In recent years, she lived in Toronto, where she starred in one of the main roles - lawyer Rachel Zane - in the TV series Suits.

It is unlikely that the girl herself knew about this, but her future husband is a very distant relative on her paternal side. One of Markle's ancestors was the high sheriff of County Durham, Ralph Bowes, who lived in the 15th century. Bowes' granddaughter married and took the surname Hussey. Her grandson Christopher Hussey went to America and founded Nantucket. The Prince's girlfriend is his direct paternal descendant. Bowes' grandson remained in England and became a Member of Parliament. His daughter in 1767 married John Lyon, Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Five generations later, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon became the wife of King George VI. Her eldest daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, still rules Britain, and Prince Harry is her grandson.

In 2011, she married producer Trevor Engelson: before that, they had been dating for seven years. Divorced two years later. The media occasionally reported on her novels: sometimes with a golfer, sometimes with a chef. However, by the time of the fateful acquaintance with Harry, she lived only with her dogs: Bogart and Guy.

Unlike Prince Harry, she did not know her betrothed in advance, but she admitted that he definitely should not be a caustic gossip. According to her, she does not consider as men those who gossip about others behind their backs. Megan is quite old-fashioned, she admitted that she loves paper letters very much: “If at the end of the day a guy writes a letter to a girl, even if it looks like a doctor’s prescription, he finds time to take a pen and paper, and does not type something It's very romantic and beautiful." Well, she must be pleased with the manners that reign in London's palaces.

Moreover, for the sake of them, she will have to say goodbye to her relatively successful acting career. She starred not only in Suits, although this is her most famous role, but also on the big screen in the films Remember Me and Horrible Bosses. A couple of years ago, she could not have imagined such a turn of events: “I never wanted to be a “lady who goes to lunch.” I've always wanted to be a woman who works." And yet, although the royal house has abandoned many conventions, a working actress is too much for the prim Windsors.

Like Princess Diana, dearly loved by the British, Megan is actively involved in charity work: she collaborates with and. In 2015, she gave such a fiery speech on gender equality on International Women's Day that she received a standing ovation from the UN Secretary General himself. Meghan has been appointed Global Ambassador for World Vision Canada and has traveled to Rwanda and India on philanthropic missions.

Obstacles on the path to happiness

Prince Harry, like a true gentleman, took care of privacy: journalists found out that young people were dating only six months later. But for the sake of dates they had to cross the Atlantic. On November 9, 2016, Harry officially announced his relationship with Meghan. So he reacted to a flurry of critical publications against his girlfriend. Especially prim Britons were outraged that Megan starred in the bed scenes of the series. The Mirror edition even calculated that a frank fragment in which the heroine Megan is dressed only in black lace lingerie was viewed more than 40 thousand times on one of the adult resources. Prince Harry asked the media and social media users to stop insulting the girl for her skin color and profession. After that, everyone understood that this was a serious matter.

Negative publications in the media almost stopped, but Meghan began to receive anonymous threats. The brave girl, in an interview with British journalists, calmly stated that she was no stranger to threats: even while working on the series, she became the object of hatred of fans for a rather absurd reason: her heroine cheated on her lover in the story. “I didn’t even know that there were so many symbols depicting pistols and knives,” the artist was surprised.

I also had to endure attacks from my own sister Samantha. The mother-of-three, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008, has lashed out at the British media. According to her, you should not envy the royal family, because Meghan is “empty, narcissistic and turned on success.” According to Samantha, her sister always dreamed of becoming a princess and preferred Prince Harry because she likes redheads. However, “Meghan is not behaving like a royal at all, so the Prince Harry family will be dumbfounded,” she summed up.

All the secret becomes clear

In the fall of 2017, Meghan and Harry gave the British media a lot of engagement speculation. October was especially rich in this, when the actress unexpectedly left the series Force Majeure. It is symbolic that in the last episode, her character Rachel finally married her old love - the main character Mike Ross. Photos of her in a wedding dress have graced the covers of several British tabloids, looking forward to Meghan trying on a wedding dress in real life.

Frame: TV series "Force Majeure"

Stunt double and stylist for actress Nicky Bursic in one of her posts said a very warm goodbye to a colleague, putting the cryptic hashtag #youdeserveitall (“you deserve all this”). The yellow press immediately decided that we were talking about an imminent wedding with Prince Harry. The fact that Nicki removed the scandalous hashtag after the shaft of publications added fuel to the fire.

The final chord is Megan's move to the UK. Moreover, she arrived not alone, but together with her beloved dogs Bogart and Guy, whom she once took from a shelter. Everything looks too obvious, and on November 24, bookmakers stopped accepting bets on all matters related to the prince's wedding.

On November 27, 2017, Kensington Palace released a white paper. It says that "earlier in November" Prince Harry proposed to his girlfriend, informing the royal family and receiving the blessing of Meghan's parents. The wedding will take place in the spring of 2018. Bookmakers are betting that the couple will marry in May, as Prince William's third child is due in April and

On May 19, 2018, His Highness Prince Harry and his beloved Meghan Markle exchanged vows of love and fidelity at the altar of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. We followed the preparations for this "show of the year" from the very announcement of the engagement, and although the royal family's press office shared the details of the organization of the wedding more than selectively, journalists, experts and just fans put forward their own assumptions until the last day before the ceremony.

We tell you how, in the end, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle organized their celebration, and also compare which of our guesses coincided with reality and which did not.

The titles of Harry and Meghan are very symbolic

Following an established tradition, Her Majesty, before the wedding of her grandson, awarded him the honorary title of the Duke of Sussex. We will also call Meghan Markle from now on, who avoided the fate of being called Princess Henry of Wales and from this day officially becomes Her Royal Highness Megan, Duchess of Sussex. Strictly speaking, this news did not come as a surprise, because it was this duchy that was initially the favorite among royal experts. However, this version was confirmed only after the fact.

Recall that in addition to Sussex, other duchies were also free in Great Britain: for example, Clarence, Windsor, Albany and Connaught. However, experts believed that the Queen would not choose among them, since these titles were "discredited" due to the not entirely reasonable behavior of their previous owners. But with Sussex, it’s a completely different matter: his only duke was Prince Augustus Frederick (the sixth son of George III, uncle of Queen Victoria), who, by the way, also married not for the sake of protocol, but for love: first, to the Catholic Augusta Murray, and then on Lady Cecilia Baggins. Both marriages were illegal, so that neither of these women ever became the Duchess of Sussex (Lady Cecilia was later granted the title of Duchess of Inverness by Queen Victoria). Thus, Megan becomes the first. A very symbolic and in its own way beautiful turn in the history of the British monarchy.

Visitors from both sides of the Atlantic

Kensington Palace, of course, did not disclose the list of lucky people who received an invitation to the royal wedding, but still dropped a couple of hints. In total, 600 people were invited to the service at St. George's Chapel and to the subsequent lunch, a third of whom were able to attend the evening reception at Frogmore House in the evening. Also, Harry and Meghan invited almost two and a half thousand more people to the territory of Windsor Castle - commoners, so that "as many people as possible could share the festivities with them."

As expected, we did not see politicians or ruling monarchs from Europe and from all over the world: the wedding of Harry and Megan is too modest for such high-ranking persons. Meanwhile, in St. George's Chapel, we quite unexpectedly noticed the former British Prime Minister John Major with his wife Norma, as well as the Prince of Lesotho.

John and Norma Major

Contrary to the conjectures of recent days, not only direct descendants of Her Majesty were invited to Windsor, but also senior members of the Gloucester and Kent branches. But perhaps the most pleasant surprise for many was the appearance in St. George's Chapel of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, who, after her divorce from Prince Andrew, was persona non grata at royal weddings for more than twenty years.

Duchess of York

Most of all, however, show business stars and socialites from all over the world came to the event. Apparently, Megan's colleagues on the TV series Suits, the Beckham couple, Jessica Mulourney and her family, Serena Williams, George and Amal Clooney, Priyanka Chopra, James Blunt and even Oprah Winfrey received their invitations!

Abigail Spencer and Priyanka Chopra

Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley

George and Amal Clooney

The bride's dress is full of meaning

Perhaps there was no more exciting intrigue than the bride's wedding dress. Bookmakers accepted bets on everything from the name of the designer to the style of the dress. As for the fashion designer, Erdem, Roland Mouret, Inbal Dror, Jenny Packham, Alexander McQueen and Ralph & Russo were on the list of unconditional favorites, in whose “naked” dress the future Duchess posed in her engagement photo shoot.

As for the style, here the assumptions were limited only by the imagination of those who propose. For example, the author of Princess Diana's wedding dress, Elizabeth Emanuel, even ventured to offer the prince's bride a silhouette with a skirt slightly raised to mid-calf. Megan herself, when she was a film actress, said that she herself would not have worn the fabulous wedding dress of Rachel Zane from Force Majeure, but would have preferred laconic lines, an elegant cut with just one unusual detail.

What did we actually get? It turned out that Meghan Markle gave everyone a real surprise. The main wedding dress of the future Duchess was made by Givenchy. The bride of Prince Harry was very inspired by the fact that last year, for the first time, a woman became the art director of the brand - Briton Claire Waight Keller. Thus, Meghan not only made a nod to the British fashion heritage, but also once again emphasized her intention to protect and defend the rights of women.

The bride's tiara came from a (very) old storeroom.

Another intrigue that was resolved only on day X. As we remember, in the UK, the bride’s outfit must always read the old code: “something new, something old, something borrowed and something blue.” It is not difficult to assume that royal brides quite often “borrow” family tiaras for their images: for example, Lady Di married in the Spencer family tiara, and Kate Middleton in the famous Cartier Halo jewelry (from Her Majesty’s collection).

What jewelry did Prince Harry's fiancee "borrow"? Quite unexpectedly, Her Majesty granted Meghan a tiara from the collection of her beloved grandmother, the famous Mary of Teck. The diamond bandeau tiara was made in 1932. Its ten-stone flower centerpiece is a brooch that was designed back in 1893 and given to the then Princess Mary of Teck for her wedding to George, Duke of Kent (the future King George V).

The tiara is made of platinum and consists of 11 separate fragments, encrusted with oval-cut and pavé-cut diamonds of different sizes (due to this, a unique radiance and sparkle is created around the bride's head). In 1953, Mary of Teck bequeathed the bandeau to Queen Elizabeth II, but neither the monarch nor anyone else in the royal family ever wore it. A very elegant and in its own way cunning step: the decoration has not been seen on anyone for so long that many have forgotten about its existence. Thus, Megan received an almost new tiara, avoiding unnecessary comparisons with other women from the Windsor dynasty.

Megan's veil replaced her train

The wedding dress of the prince's bride is, first of all, laconic lines and minimalism, which has long been inscribed in the Givenchy code. The style of the outfit, apparently, has a very small train, which the bride could easily handle herself, without the help of bridesmaids or pages. However, the kids at the royal wedding did not remain idle, because, oddly enough, Mrs. Markle decided to shift the role of the train to her wedding veil.

The snow-white veil of the authorship of the same Claire White reached in length - just think about it! - 5 meters. As specified, while working on the veil, seamstresses had to thoroughly wash their hands every half hour. All embroidery on it is made by hand, and each flower in it symbolizes one of the 53 Commonwealth countries (yes, the designer personally studied the flora of each state!).

Only one relative from the side of the bride

With an item called "family", frankly, Meghan Markle was not too lucky. Uncomfortable relatives of royal brides are certainly not uncommon, and no one can blame Ms Markle for not keeping in touch with some of them. Certainly, past royal brides also had difficult relatives, and yet not one of them dared to refuse an invitation to her family in almost full strength.

Surprisingly, it’s a fact: out of the whole family, only the girl’s mother, Doria Ragland, was invited to support Megan on the most responsible and magical day in her life. Initially, the father of the bride, Tom Markle Sr., was supposed to come to Windsor, who, however, “turned off” the trip because of the scandal with staged photos and because of the need to urgently undergo heart surgery (which, by the way, many did not believe). But it was he who had to take the bride to the altar ...

To the altar, accompanied by the future King

The unexpected scandal surrounding the father of the bride logically fueled discussions about who will accompany Ms. Markle to the altar. Mother? That would be a beautiful (and very tolerant) gesture. Or maybe the bride will go alone? Also possible, given Meghan's feminist views. And yet, many hoped (and made bets) that the bride would be “handed over” to the groom by his father, Prince Charles, the future king of Great Britain. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened.

Kensington Palace announced that Meghan will walk down the aisle, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, just a day before the wedding day. For Charles, leading brides to their suitors is, oddly enough, nothing new. In 2016, Princess Diana's goddaughter Alexandra Knatchbull, who was said to have not been on good terms with her own father, received the honor.

It is not surprising that the heir coped with the task perfectly. And Megan received additional confirmation that the royal family is happy with her and ready to take her in, despite a whole army of relatives who want to upset her wedding.

Prince Harry still got the ring (and it is very original)

At first glance, this fact seems to be self-evident, but in English realities this is far from being the case. For example, the elder brother of the groom in 2011 refused a wedding ring, and during the wedding he simply put her jewelry on Catherine's ring finger, without receiving his own in return.

The thing is that the English tradition does not oblige men to wear wedding rings. This fashion only came to the UK after World War II, but is still optional. On the day of his wedding, Prince Harry received this attribute of a married person from the bride, but whether he will wear it in the future (and if so, on which finger) is another question. However, we do not exclude that Megan, as a girl from America, will ask him to still wear an engagement jewelry. Especially since Harry, unlike his brother, never disliked men's accessories.

An interesting fact: in the British royal family, it is customary to make wedding rings from special gold mined in the mines of North Wales. As we can see, Megan's jewelry is really gold. But Harry got a "ribbon" of platinum, and this is also a kind of departure from the old Windsor custom.

Anthem of Tolerance Sung at the Wedding

Perhaps one of the most memorable moments at the wedding ceremony was the performance of the well-known British choir ensemble The Kingdom Choir, which performed Ben King's cult composition "Stand by me". The stunning ballad, of course, can often be heard at modern weddings, but in the context of Harry and Meghan's wedding, it had a special meaning. The thing is that this song gained particular popularity during the civil rights movement in the United States, at some point becoming an anthem of solidarity and tolerance. A very symbolic gesture on the part of the organizers, given that the composition was performed by a choir, most of the singers in which are black.

Mothers of pages and flower girls have not decided who to entrust their children to

The representative of the bride and groom immediately made a reservation that Meghan Markle would not have an adult bridesmaid at the wedding, because the actress simply could not single out the favorite from the inner circle of her famous friends. And yet, given that there were two- and three-year-olds in the company of flower girls and page boys, we still expected the bride to single out one of her friends to look after the babies (as was the case on Pippa Middleton's wedding, for example). Many even thought that this role would be taken by the Duchess of Cambridge, who showed herself perfectly in this role at the wedding of her younger sister a year ago. But it seems that the mothers of pages and flower girls could not choose among themselves one responsible for all the children, and decided to bring the kids to the Chapel all together. As a result, Megan had four matrons of honor at once (as the main bridesmaids who are already married themselves are called in the West): Kate Middleton, Jessica Mulroney, Zoe Warren and Benita Litt.

Not without strange hats

Royal wedding guests

Otherwise, however, it could not be. As we have written more than once, hats are a must-have accessory for British wedding guests, and the more original they are, the better. As a rule, it is the indigenous inhabitants of Foggy Albion who are especially successful in this matter, so taking into account Megan's American friends, there seemed to be fewer hats worthy of becoming an Internet meme than, for example, at the wedding of William and Kate. However, some examples caught our attention.

Princess Beatrice did not repeat the success of her famous "frame" from the famous fashion designer Philip Tracy and appeared on May 19 in a rather unpretentious facinator in the form of many rims. Her younger sister Evgenia did not provoke social networks either.

Princess Eugenie

Princess Beatrice

However, thanks to such persons as the Duchess Camilla, Serena Williams (unexpectedly), Shelley Jenkins, Chelsea Davy and Hayley Henson, the “hat minimum” at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was nevertheless fulfilled. Judge for yourself:

1 /9

Image copyright AFP

Windsor Castle hosted the biggest social event of the year on SaturdayV Britain - the wedding of Prince Harry, the sixth in the list of heirs to the British throne, and American actress Meghan Markle.

On the one hand, this wedding was quite traditional - impeccable adherence to protocol, chic outfits, the main of which was Megan's dress, bridesmaid girls, page boys ...

But on the other hand, as expected, this ceremony was supposed to be different from the past and become special. This is how she became.

As the BBC correspondent at the royal court, Johnny Diamond, notes, it was an unusual wedding for an unusual couple, which marked a new era for the royal family.

• The best moments of the royal wedding: photo essay
• Guests at Harry and Meghan's wedding: photo essay
• What the Duke and Duchess of Sussex need to know about Sussex

The Russian service of the BBC invites you to remember the highlights of the ceremony.

Harry and Meghan: first kiss after marriage

What dress was Megan wearing?

Everyone was looking forward to what dress Meghan appeared at the altar in - and she preferred the outfit of the Parisian fashion house Givenchy.

The dress was designed by British designer Clare Waight Keller, Givenchy's creative director and the first woman to take on the role.

"Ms. Markle and Ms. Waight Keller worked together on the design. The dress exemplifies Givenchy's timeless, minimalist elegance and the craftsmanship of the world-famous Parisian fashion house founded in 1952," Kensington Palace said in a statement.

Image copyright PA

The bride minimized the amount of jewelry: the dress was complemented only by diamond stud earrings and a bracelet from Cartier and a tiara from the royal collection of 1932.

Lace flowers on the veil symbolized each of the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations.

The bridesmaids' dresses were also made by Givenchy.

What was the highlight of the ceremony?

There were many such moments, but if we talk about the most memorable episode - both for the guests and for the audience - then, without a doubt, it was the speech of the American bishop.

• "Lighted up" at the wedding or Who is Bishop Michael Curry?

The head of the American Episcopal Church Michael Curry from Chicago was invited by the bride and Prince Harry.

Some of those present called the priest's sermon "fiery", some could not help laughing, others sat with surprised faces.

His 13-minute speech will be remembered for a long time by the guests and spectators of the ceremony, and the parting words to the bride and groom about the power of love and fiery energy, which he (also fieryly) read from the iPad, definitely shocked the audience.

Curry emotionally waved his arms, turned in different directions, shouted and rolled his eyes. Queen Elizabeth II of Britain reacted to Curry with caution.

Image copyright AFP

In his parting words, Curry quoted Martin Luther King. "We must discover in ourselves the redeeming power of love, and when this happens, a new world will come," he literally shouted to the entire chapel.

The guests met the end of his speech with thunderous applause.

Smiling Megan

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Meghan and Harry's wedding: the essentials in two minutes

When the cameras followed Princes William and Harry and moved to St George's Church, the groom's face showed excitement. William, acting best man, in contrast, looked quite relaxed.

The mother of the bride, Doria Ragland, seemed to be the most touched: having taken her place in the chapel, she could not hold back the welling tears until the very end of the ceremony.

And Meghan was constantly smiling on her way to the altar, and when she and Harry met, the prince seemed to relax.

Image copyright Reuters

The Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine, smiled, as did many of the other guests, although she looked a little tired, which is understandable: less than a month ago she gave birth to her third child.

Many guests were enthusiastic about the gospel choir, which sang after the bishop's parting words, although his appearance at such a ceremony was certainly very unusual.

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle exchange rings

What was served for lunch?

Shortly after the newlyweds arrived at Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace published a menu of appetizers, hot dishes and desserts that await guests at the afternoon reception.

As snacks on the menu you can find a combination of traditional English cuisine with the innovations of molecular cuisine:

• Scottish prawns wrapped in smoked salmon in lemon-sour cream sauce
• English asparagus wrapped in Cumbrian ham and grilled
• Garden pea panna cottu with quail eggs and lemon verbena
• Tomato and basil tartare with balsamic caviar
• Chicken stew poached in yoghurt with stewed apricot
• Windsor lamb confit croquettes with vegetables and shallot marmalade
• Warm asparagus skewers with mozzarella and tomatoes

hotter included chicken fricassee with morels and baby leeks, pea mint risotto with truffle oil and parmesan lace chips, and 10 hours simmered Windsor brisket with crispy crust in applesauce.

On sweet guests were served champagne with pistachio pasta, orange creme brulee and rhubarb tartlets.

The main delicacy of the ceremony will be served at the very end of the reception.

After the announcement of the menu, its official photo appeared.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The cake is decorated with peonies - Meghan's favorite flowers.

The cake was baked by confectioner Claire Patack, head of Violet Bakery, located in London's East End. It consists of biscuit cakes soaked in lemon and elderberry syrup with Swiss meringue protein buttercream.

It is noted that elderberry for syrup grew in the royal garden of the residence in Sandringham, and the biscuit recipe was developed specifically for newlyweds. The cake is decorated with peonies and roses.

Pages and girlfriends

The retinue of bridesmaids and pages at the wedding included several children - all no older than seven years.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The entourage of bridesmaids and pages included the children of Prince William, as well as friends Meghan and Harry

Markle decided not to appoint anyone to the official role of bridesmaid, saying she didn't want to choose one of several close friends.

• Young bridesmaids and pages at the royal wedding: photo essay

Who was in the end in the retinue of bridesmaids and pages?

• Florence van Cutsem , three years. Goddaughter of Prince Harry, daughter of Nicholas and Alice van Cutsem, friends of the royal family.
• Jasper Dyer , six years. The son of Prince Harry's mentor and friend Mark Dyer, and the prince's godson.
• Twins Brian and John Mulroney , seven years, and Ivy Mulroney , four years. The boys carried Megan's train. These are the children of Jessica and Benedict Mulroney, friends of Markle, with whom she became close during the filming of Suits in Canada.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Brian and John Mulroney carried the bride's train to the altar

• Remy and Rylan Litt , six and seven years old. Daughters of Benita Litt, a close friend of Meghan Markle, and her goddaughters.
• Zali Warren , two years. Daughter of Jake Warren, Prince Harry's college friend. Harry's youngest bridesmaid and goddaughter.

Today, May 19, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle became husband and wife. The wedding of the grandson of Elizabeth II and the former actress was expected not only by British subjects, but, no doubt, by the whole world.

We waited! On May 19, 33-year-old Prince Harry finally married 36-year-old Meghan Markle. The ceremony was held in Windsor, in the church of St. George, which accommodated about six hundred guests. They began to gather a few hours before the wedding. Many celebrities attended, including Amal and George Clooney, Victoria and David Beckham, Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, Alexis Ohanian, Elton John and his husband, James Cordon and James Blunt. The ex-girlfriends of the prince, Chelsea Davey and Cressida Bonas, also came. In addition, colleagues of the ex-actress in the series "Force Majeure" were also seen at the wedding.

The celebration was attended by sister Kate Middleton Pippa, along with her husband James Matthews.

Until recently, Internet users were sure that the girl would not come to the ceremony. The fact is that a few days before the event, Megan had a fight with Kate, because she did not want to invite a relative of Prince William's wife. Apparently, Markle did not want to spoil relations with future relatives, which is why she sent Pippa an invitation to the wedding (and at the same time to other members of the Middleton family). In addition, Megan and Harry were invited to the wedding and commoners, however, they asked to bring to the holiday ... their own food! They explained it simply - you can’t buy snacks and drinks on the castle grounds.

The happy bride arrived at the ceremony separately from the groom. Prince Harry and Prince William came to the church, which is located on the grounds of Windsor Castle, on foot. Megan was wearing a minimalistic stylish dress without any decor with slightly open shoulders from Givenchy (the current creative director of the French fashion house - Claire Waight Keller is British, so the tradition is still respected) Queen Mary's diamond tiara (the so-called "Filigree tiara" lent the groom's grandmother to the bride: at one time her mother ordered this jewelry from the British jewelry house Garrard), which was covered by a veil before the ceremony.

A few days before the wedding, it was revealed that Megan's father Thomas would not be attending the wedding due to a recent heart attack.

That is why the bride was led to the altar by Prince Charles, whom the bride asked to be her planted father. It is curious that, unlike Kate Middleton, who did not wear an engagement ring to Prince William (but only received hers from her husband), Meghan Markle did this - she ringed Prince Harry.

Do you remember how it all started?

In October 2016, information appeared in the Western media that Prince Harry had finally recovered from a painful break with Cressida Bonas and had a new romance. According to the tabloids, this time the chosen one of the 32-year-old red-haired handsome man was the 35-year-old American actress Meghan Markle. Even then, caring Internet users began to wonder: “Is the Hollywood star suitable for the grandson of Elizabeth II?”. On the other hand, no one could have thought then that this was serious and Harry was ready to settle down.

Further more. There were rumors that the prince's family did not approve of his relationship with Markle, and there was no question of marriage at all. Elizabeth II allegedly did not want the divorced actress with African American roots to become a member of the royal family. According to insiders, a young man in love said that since such a thing, he would resign his royal duties in order to marry his beloved. The words of the grandson, apparently, seriously frightened the queen, because, reluctantly, she gave her blessing for the marriage and received Megan in the palace.

A month and a half after this meeting, Kensington Palace made an official statement: Harry and Megan will get married in the spring of 2018.

Not everyone appreciated this news. There were also haters who immediately began to dig into Markle's past and find one by one skeletons in her closet. A satanist niece who sympathizes with the Nazis, many novels (including an affair with a former porn star), an ugly divorce with film director Trevor Engelson ... All these facts do not color the biography of Harry's bride, but they do not bother the prince. And even his family tried to turn a blind eye to Megan's past, because they invited her to the celebration of Christmas. Yes, and the prince said that he refuses the marriage contract, as he completely trusts his other half.

Many refused to believe that Harry was marrying a divorced actress "of the people" (Markle, by the way, had to end her career for the sake of the family) and were sure that he was making a fatal mistake. So, the girl of one British politician said that "a stupid actress will spoil the purebred royal family." And recently, Megan's younger brother Thomas, who, like Samantha, was not invited to the wedding, published a message to the Queen's grandson. In it, he warned the future son-in-law that it would be better for him to cancel the celebration before it was too late. He claims that his sister is not at all who she claims to be, and will soon show her true face.

Meanwhile, the bride took the bull by the horns: she began to intensively prepare for the upcoming role of the prince's wife, attending the "princess school". Why, for the sake of her beloved and his family, the former actress even changed her faith! Megan enthusiastically began to plan the wedding, lose weight for the celebration and even made Harry do the same. Looking at the photo from the holiday, we cannot but note that it was not in vain that the couple tried so hard: the dress sits flawlessly on the bride, and the groom looks amazing.

Elizabeth II, by the way, could not resist and presented a truly royal gift to her “dearest grandson” two whole weeks before the wedding.

After the wedding, the newlyweds will receive ownership of the York Cottage mansion, located near London. Once the estate belonged to the grandparents of the royal person - King George V and his wife Mary. Megan and Harry in every possible way show their closeness to the people. The future spouses asked the guests not to think about presents for them, but instead make donations to a charitable foundation.

Judging by the pictures, the celebration, which was planned for six months, turned out exactly the way the bride and groom wanted to see it. the site congratulates Megan and Harry and wishes a great honeymoon, which, according to rumors, the couple will spend in one of the African countries!

Kensington Palace has revealed another intrigue by posting a video showing the newlyweds leaving Windsor Castle to go to a reception! All attention is on the dress of the Duchess of Sussex.