Prince Henry Charles Albert David married the Woman of his dreams American TV star Meghan Markle on Saturday May 19, 2018 at the Windsor Castle, a royal residence in the English county of Berkshire.
Many media pundits described the wedding as unique and different, hence the global public attention that it attracted.
The wedding is of little consequence to the British Monarchy, because Harry is only sixth in line to inherit the throne. But his decision to marry An Meghan made it the more unusual. She is American, divorced, three years older than Harry, had a high-profile career and is biracial. The New York Times, described it as “A new day for the monarchy.”
It was the first time in many years a British Royal has married someone from a different race – If Meghan’s African-American roots is anything to be defined as such.
That a 33-year old former party Prince and the 36-year-old American actress were tying the knot had sparked wild talk and even some racist remarks, was something that initially threatened to derail the wedding, until Harry put his foot on the ground in a statement in which he publicly defended her then girlfriend Meghan and criticised the media and the public’s hostile treatment of her.
Harry and the British’s Monarchy’s decision to embrace Meghan was a major statement about how they’ve come – to embrace diversity and tolerate divorce.
“Times have changed from the days when Edward VIII had to abdicate in order to keep the American divorcee [Wallis Simpson] he loved. It is no longer a problem to be either,” Penny Junor, the U.K.-based author of the 2014 biography Prince Harry: Brother, Soldier, Son, was quoted by the Canadian website cbc.ca.
And Sally Bedell Smith, an author of the just-released biography of Harry’s father, Prince Charles, observed before the wedding that: “If Harry were to marry Meghan, it would show how far the Royal Family has come in its willingness to embrace spouses who are not from the English upper class and to put a higher premium on love and compatibility than on suitability according to an archaic standard.”
And from the choice of the Bride to the choice of the preacher, the charismatic Bishop Michael Curry, who preached a ringing message of love — with references to Martin Luther King Jr. and to the legacy of American slavery, made the wedding worthy of reflection. The New York Times said Bishop Curry’s sermon was “such joy and such enthusiasm that it was impossible not to feel joyful and enthusiastic right alongside him.”
The speech began trending on Twitter, with people marvelling at the spectacle of seeing such a man saying such things in such a place.
And in the end, it seems that Harry’s decision to settle down with Meghan, after more than a dozen relationships with other women, some of whom were from aristocratic backgrounds, is something to cheer about.
