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Be sure to click on the links for a more enriching cultural experience.
Yes, the hot royal news now is the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle. Personally, I like this match and wish the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex all the best. While the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was large and lovely, there really wasn’t anything to talk about, except Pippa’s bum, and I’m not going there. I was really thinking the Royals were getting boring, but things are picking up. Let’s take a look.
Harry and Meghan met through mutual friends. Harry had no idea who the American Meghan Markle was, and he had never heard of her television show, Suits. (I don’t know if Meghan was offended or not. I would imagine she would be a little piqued. I mean, wouldn’t you?) But this gave me hope that love was involved. Meghan, who is biracial, divorced, and a commoner, stirred up the talk of whether the Royal Family would accept a biracial, divorced, commoner as strong and independent as Meghan. But the Queen granted Harry permission to marry (the first six in line for the throne have to get permission—everyone else can do what they want), and Harry and Meghan became engaged in November of 2017. He proposed over a roast chicken and gave Meghan a lovely diamond ring featuring side stones from Princess Diana's jewelry collection.
Then, because some people suck, Meghan, a biracial, divorced commoner, as aforementioned, became “subject to a wave of abuse and harassment,” according to Prince Harry, who worried about her safety. But Meghan triumphed over the ignorance and the wedding planning was on!
The wedding took place at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018. Prince Harry looked very distinguished in his Blues and Royals military uniform. Hey, he saved a couple of bucks on a tux. He still sported his beard, despite the fact that army rules dictate that facial hair is not allowed when wearing a uniform. According to historian Hugo Vickers, “He does that sometimes, but they don’t like it.” But I guess since he’s no longer serving in the army, he can have the beard. The Queen told him to shave it off once, but Harry is going to do what he wants anyway. Hey, if it makes him happy. But I digress…
There seemed to be some fear in the air that Meghan would show up in some kind of floozy wedding dress, but her dress, by Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy, was very simple and elegant. No ruffles, no flounces, no plunging neckline, and it didn’t wrinkle. The veil was embroidered with the flowers of all 53 Commonwealth countries, which was a nice touch. I wish I was thoughtful and creative like that. I come from a city that is made up of thirteen “villages.” All I had was lace on my veil to go with my off-the-rack wedding dress. Ah, well.
Everyone was holding their collective breath about the tiara. This is a big deal because only married women are allowed to wear tiaras (and they must be at a 45-degree angle). Brides can wear them at their wedding, but not before. Meghan wore Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau for her tiara. The tiara was made for Queen Mary in 1932. Fun fact: the centerpiece of the tiara is a detachable brooch given to Queen Mary as a wedding gift, and the tiara was made specifically to hold the brooch. More creativity. I can’t stand it. I’m not a big fan of the tiara. I thought it was a little busy with all those diamonds. But hey, I wasn’t the one wearing it, and nobody asked for my opinion. I would have chosen the Spencer Tiara, but the Spencers probably wouldn’t hand it over. I hope Meghan wasn’t upset that the Halo Scroll Tiara worn by Kate Middleton at her wedding wasn’t available. The Queen loaned it out to the National Gallery of Australia for a Cartier jewelry exhibition, and it wouldn’t have been available until mid-summer. But that would have been tacky to wear the same tiara as Kate. People would talk.
One of the best parts of watching royal weddings is seeing what the guests are wearing. I’m a big fan of the hats, or fascinators. Hats are practically mandatory for anybody who’s anybody, and people will definitely talk if you don’t wear one. For this occasion, the wedding invitation required hats, and the guests did not disappoint. Some of the guests, like Oprah Winfrey, violated protocol by wearing view-blocking hats.
They should have been asked to leave because it just wasn’t fair to those B-list honored guests sitting on the folding chairs before the quire, although I doubt those guests saw much of anything, except each other. Camilla and the Duchess of Cambridge get a pass because they were sitting in the A-list seats and didn’t block anyone. Priyanka Chopra was borderline.
Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice came to the wedding. I know everyone was waiting to see what these two would show up in after the get-ups they wore at Prince William’s wedding. This time, Princess Eugenie wore a pale blue short-sleeved dress with an ivory hat a la Jackie Kennedy. She looked okay but more like she was going to lunch than a wedding. Princess Beatrice wore a teal dress. I don’t know where she got it, and I’d like to know who told her it looked good on her. I thought she looked like a balloon. She also wore a fascinator that looked more like a headband than a hat, and there was some buzz about that. Those young ladies make some unfortunate fashion choices for a couple of princesses. I noticed their mother, the ostracized Sarah Ferguson showed up, but I didn’t see much of her. I think she may have been relegated to the last row of the folding chair section. She was not invited to the evening reception.
While the Queen and Prince Philip looked regal as always, the world was all abuzz about Amal Clooney and her outfit. The goldenrod Stella McCartney-designed dress was said to be “priceless,” but I don’t know why. Personally, I think she looked like a bottle of mustard. The matching hat was throwing a yellow tint on husband George’s face, making him look jaundiced. And prior to the wedding, Amal was standing having a conversation with another woman, but she wasn’t really paying attention. I caught the eyes going back and forth as she checked out the other outfits. Don’t worry, Amal. I’m sure your $500,000 earrings were the envy of many.
Did you notice the ever-smiling (that was sarcasm) Victoria Beckham’s outfit was the same dark blue color she wore at William’s wedding? And it did not go unnoticed. Fashion faux pas. I don’t know what was with the red shoes. Perhaps she was feeling whimsical. By the by, you know how everyone is supposed to have a doppelganger? I found Victoria’s.
Doria Ragland, Meghan’s mother, was the only guest from her family and looked lovely. I want to tread carefully here because family is a sensitive subject; however, it appears Meghan was not close to her family members, and if you’ve been following that scenario, you can understand why. I won’t get into it here except to say that if family members are estranged, there is usually a good reason why, and they shouldn’t be expected to be invited to the wedding simply because they’re related. I imagine the Palace was not pleased and were rolling their collective eyes at these common Americans causing trouble right out of the gate. Meghan handled herself well throughout the sorry, sordid rumblings, if you ask me. Fortunately, none of the unwanted relatives crashed the wedding, which must have been a relief.
The marriage was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, as one would expect. Bishop Michael Curry’s passionate “power of love” speech was a highlight, but I swear I saw some of the royals laughing (yes, I mean you, Prince William—for shame). The music featured a gospel choir and a cello player and the St. George’s Chapel choir.
After the wedding, the Queen hosted a wedding luncheon for the 600 guests, which was a nice thing to do, since most of them probably had sore hineys from sitting on the metal folding chairs throughout the ceremony. Twenty-five chefs prepared a menu that featured savory canapes (Scottish langoustines wrapped in smoked salmon with citrus creme fraiche; grilled English asparagus wrapped in Cambrian ham, and croquette of comfit Windsor lamb, roasted vegetables, and shallot jam, just to name a few). Instead of a sit-down dinner, the guests were served “bowl food” (pea and mint risotto, chicken fricassee, and a slow-roasted pork belly, served with apple compote and crackling). Allow me to pause here to ruminate. So it would seem “bowl food” is pretty much dinner food served in a bowl, and, what, the guests eat out of the bowls standing up or perching upon inanimate objects? How curious. The champagne was Pol Roger Brut Reserve non-vintage champagne, and a selection of wines and sodas was also available. An apple and elderflower “mocktail” was featured to complement the elderflower wedding cake, which was decorated with Swiss meringue buttercream and 150 fresh flowers. Now, see, I had flowers on my wedding cake, but they were made from frosting, and I thought that was a big deal. What was I thinking? Moving on. Sweet canapes were then served (I assume after all the bowls were collected) and featured champagne and pistachio macaroons, orange crème brulee tartlets, and miniature rhubarb crumble tartlets. I wish I could have been there. I would have been all over those orange crème brulee tartlets.
Prince Charles, father of the groom, hosted the private 200-guest evening reception at Frogmore House and the bride and groom looked stunning.
Harry donned a tux, and Meghan wore a Stella McCartney halter-style gown. (Hey, did you know you can get a very similar dress at Bloomingdale’s for $168?
What are you waiting for?) The reception fare included light-bite canapes and “dirty burgers,” which apparently are cheeseburgers. I don’t know if these were palace-made or whether they ordered take-out from one of the Dirty Burger restaurants in London. No word on the wine, but word has it beer pong was played, so there you go. These people know how to have fun.
The newly dubbed Duke and Duchess of Sussex will reside at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace, and I hope it’s not a dump. It only has two bedrooms, a reception room, and a ballroom. I don’t imagine they’ll stay in “Nott Cott” for long, but they have to start somewhere.
Well, I could go on and on, but I’m exhausted, so that’s it for now.
Stay tuned.
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