When Harry Met Meghan | The Royal Wedding

Photo by NEIL HALL/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (9684230fi)

How did you spend this special day? Watching the royal wedding? Complaining about the royal wedding? Complaining that it isn’t a state-occasion?

Me?
I had to go to work.

 

No, I actually did watch until about 12:45, before I had to head off, meaning I did watch the majority of the ceremony.

There were so many people, from all sorts of backgrounds, with A-List celebrities and well known figures (Oprah, the Clooney’s, Elton John, the Beckham’s, James Corden, Serena Williams, etc) and some of the cast from the beloved Suits, members of the royal family (obviously), and ambassadors of charities and there was even Amelia Thompson, who survived the Manchester Arena Bombing. There were so many people. And the chapel was beautiful, as well as the ceremony.

 

But today, I don’t want to talk too much about the actual wedding and the details about how things will work out now and all that shenanigans. Today, I want to spotlight on Mrs Markle, who is now the Duchess of Sussex.

 

Aspects that make Meghan Unconventional

This royal wedding is historic for the reason being that it is a rare occurrence. Meghan Markle is a beautiful woman, rich in personality, but is also an unconventional bride to a member of the royal family. Firstly, she’s considered a ‘commoner’, even though she’s a famous actress. She is a ‘normal’ woman. She went from being a Hollywood actress to British royalty. It’s pretty much a real life fairy tale!

 

Markle has gone through a previous divorce, which to me, isn’t a big deal, but in terms of royalty, being divorced is judged and regarded as a deal breaker. In 1955, Princess Margaret had to make the decision of choosing the divorced man, she loved, and her royal title and the privileges she had, concluding in her siding with her royal title and privileges.

 

Meghan Markle is also not a citizen of the UK. She’ll obviously apply for one and move to the UK but that’s just another reason it’s unconventional. It’s also uncertain whether she’ll maintain her American citizenship.

 

She’s part black. Although race shouldn’t matter, especially since mixed race people are the fasted growing ethnic group in the Britain, it still plays a role in why this wedding has been described as a “cultural revolution”. The fact that she is half black isn’t the full reason, however, for this “cultural revolution”. I don’t think colour matters, it’s about what that person brings in terms of their personality, background and beliefs. However, because of her being biracial, she’s helped to empower other coloured women and help others to realise that colour should not define and divide people. That’s why her being part black is important.

She said on Elle, “To say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman. That when asked to choose my ethnicity in a questionnaire as in my seventh grade class, or these days to check ‘Other’, I simply say: ‘Sorry, world, this is not Lost and I am not one of The Others. I am enough exactly as I am.'” The whole article is absolutely empowering and moving so if you want, click here to read more.

 

She’s involved in female empowerment. She’s been a strong advocator for women (since even before she was a teenager, where she became an ‘accidental activist’) and I expect she’ll continue to be so. At the Royal Foundation Forum, Meghan said “I hear a lot of people speaking about girls’ empowerment and women’s’ empowerment,” Markle started. “You’ll often hear people say well, you’re helping women find their voices. And I fundamentally disagree with that because women don’t need to find their voices, they have a voice. They need to be empowered to use it, and people need to be encouraged to listen. And I think right now in the climate that we’re seeing so many campaigns—I mean, #MeToo and TimesUp—there’s no better time than [now] to really continue to shine a light on women feeling empowered and people really helping to support them…It [the spotlight] makes such a tremendous difference.” She’s a proud woman and feminist and has explained that “we need a global understanding that we cannot implement change effectively without women’s political participation…a wife is equal to her husband, a sister to her brother. Not better, not worse — they are equal.”

In short, Meghan Markle is an inspirational, empowering and beautiful role model for not just young women but older women and men.

The Queen approved of Harry proposing to Meghan, which shows that she sees something good in the marriage between her grandson and his now wife. I mean, the Queen denied her own sister’s marriage request in 1952.

 

Aspects that made the Wedding Untraditional 

Meghan made a bold move of walking down half of the aisle by herself, before being accompanied by her father in law, Prince Charles. This was a break, through the tradition of being walked down by the bride’s father, which Meghan couldn’t do anyway, due to unfortunate circumstances. She will also break the tradition by making a speech at the reception, alongside Prince Harry.

 

Moreover, from Chicago, Bishop Michael Curry, who’s a black Episcopal priest, presided over the royal wedding, which wasn’t following tradition, where typically, British priests are invited to chair over royal occasions. After Bishop Michael Curry gave a passionate and powerful sermon on the power of love, there was a gospel choir singing Stand By Me.

 

The service was truly a modern and diverse wedding, which is reflective of the modern and diverse couple.

 

I know this may seem like a stretch and over-analytical (well what else am I supposed to use my English GCSE for) but this rare, unexpected and unconventional event of Meghan and Harry tying the knot, is almost like a metaphor for social change and society developing, progressing and moving forward in the right path.

A̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶u̶n̶n̶y̶ ̶t̶o̶d̶a̶y̶.̶.̶.p̶r̶o̶o̶f̶ t̶h̶e̶ ̶G̶o̶v̶e̶r̶n̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶r̶o̶l̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r.

 

What do you think? Were you interested in the wedding?

 

-Shay