Late Queen’s feelings on Charles stepping in to walk Meghan down the aisle are now known, indicating that the late monarch had reservations by this gesture.
More than six years have passed since Meghan Markle captivated the world by walking down the aisle to marry Prince Harry, yet it appears the late Queen had reservations about one aspect of the wedding.
The Royal Family gathered at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, for the opulent ceremony where Meghan and Harry exchanged their vows.
Despite some pre-wedding tensions, particularly involving Meghan’s estranged father, the day itself seemed to unfold smoothly.
However, just days before the wedding, Meghan’s father announced he would be unable to attend due to health issues, leaving the bride without someone to escort her down the aisle.
At the last minute, then-Prince Charles stepped in to perform this role, but this kind gesture reportedly made the late Queen “uncomfortable,” according to a book.
Charles, who was still the Prince of Wales at the time, offered to walk Meghan to the altar, expressing his honour at supporting her on her special day.
But writing in her book, My Mother and I, royal biographer Ingrid Seward says: “The Queen was not comfortable with the Prince of Wales standing in for Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, and was similarly concerned about a 96-year-old Prince Philip walking down the aisle without a stick, having had a hip replacement only five weeks before.”
After the big day, it later emerged it had been Harry’s decision to ask his father to stand in. He recalled in the documentary Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70: “I asked him to and I think he knew it was coming and he immediately said, ‘Yes, of course, I’ll do whatever Meghan needs and I’m here to support you.”
It comes after another book claimed Meghan left Charles surprised by her four-word reply when he did offer to walk her down the aisle.
Writing in Queen of Our Times, author Robert Hardman says: “The 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.”
However, it wasn’t the only part of the wedding day that ended up bucking royal tradition. Ingrid’s book claims the only remark the late monarch made about Harry and Meghan’s wedding was regarding the bride’s white, flowing Givenchy wedding gown.
The expert writes: “Lady Elizabeth 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’. In the monarch’s view, it was not appropriate for a divorcee getting remarried in church to look quite so flamboyantly virginal.”
