Harry and Meghan – A Royal Wedding of Colour, Diversity and Love

Hey Sweeties,

I am currently sat here typing this, the day after what was honestly the best day spent in glorious Windsor, having witnessed the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Windsor also has a very special place in my heart because aside from the fact that I spend many weekends there, it was also the place of my own wedding day a couple of years ago.

Harry and Meghan – A Royal Wedding of Colour, Diversity and Love

The Long Walk

Although I am not a big fan of crowds, an occasion of this magnitude merely a few miles away couldn’t be spent at home. Early on my friend, Gemma and I decided we were going to be prepared for an early start in a bid to get a decent spot along the Long Walk – a 2.5 mile stretch of drive that leads up to Windsor Castle, particularly when it was announced their Royal Highness’s would, following the service, participate in a royal procession around Windsor.

Alarms were set for 5am and by the time we had pushed our way through the crowds gathering along the top of Windsor outside the castle, and made our way down to the Long Walk and found our spot, it was around 6:30am. I was actually already amazed by how many people had had the same idea, of course I knew it was going to be busy but I couldn’t predict how many fellow keen beans there would be.

Gemma and I found a space in front of one of the large screens positioned about midway along the Long Walk, and close to the railings so we were confident we had both aspects of the day covered – watching the service, and seeing the procession go past.

The Dress, the Ceremony and the Procession

Oh my goodness how beautiful was the service?! In fact the whole wedding overall, I just think of what perfection it was!

It wasn’t confirmed until a short while before that Meghan would be passing us in the car on the way to St George’s Chapel, and she sped past down the Long Walk so fast to be honest we all nearly missed her anyway, ha! Watching on the screen, we all cheered as we saw famous faces arriving for the service, which naturally became a roar as Prince Harry and Prince William arrived… then the Duchess of Cambridge with the bridesmaids and pageboys; Princess Charlotte has certainly got her wave down to a fine art.

I am really not au fait with fashion designers so those kind of predictions were completely lost on me, but I did have a vision that Meghan Markle’s wedding dress would have more detail, particularly on the top in the form of a ruffle or two, but when she stepped out of the car, revealing the dress and the beautiful long veil that caught in the wind, we all caught our breath. She looked beautiful.

Music and words are two things, even more so when combined, that have a deep effect on me, often causing goose bumps and a tear in my eye. I adored the singing of Elin Manahan Thomas, the Welsh soprano, as Meghan walked down the aisle; I thought the Reverend Michael Bruce Curry’s speech about the power of love was honestly one of the most passionate I have ever heard. He went on for a while, sure, but what he said had meaning and in front of a global audience was poignant; safe to say everyone I was amongst cheered. I thought involving the Kingdom Choir and the song, Stand by Me was another very personal touch to the wedding. For me though, my favourite part might have been the performance of Cellist, Sheku Kanneh-Mason who I thought did a stunning job while we waited for Harry and Meghan to sign the register.

Afterthoughts

Whatever your thoughts about the Royal family, and regardless if you watched yesterday’s wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, now formally regarded as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, I saw this comment on Instagram and I thought it summed up the experience perfectly –

“If the British can celebrate a Royal wedding with such diversity and inclusion, we as Americans can learn from this! Princess Diana would have loved Meghan.”

I don’t just think the comment applies to Americans, I think Prince Harry and Meghan taught the whole world something on this day as their lives became one. Overall, it was and has become a truly memorable experience that I will never forget and the day probably one of the best of my life so far.

Until next time x