22 May 2024 , 10:01
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Just over six years ago Meghan Markle walked down the aisle to marry Prince Harry in a lavish ceremony at Windsor Castle.
The Royal Family and guests from the world of Showbiz, Politics and Sport packed into St George's Chapel to see the couple exchange vows. Meghan wore a stunning Givenchy wedding gown and he day seemed to go off without a hitch which proved to be a relief to many - as the lead-up to the beautiful day had seen some tension, especially when it came to Meghan's dad.
With less than a week to go before the main event, Meghan's father announced he would not be attending due to a health scare, leaving the bride with nobody to walk her down the aisle. The now-King Charles intervened at the final hour, but his heartwarming gesture left the late Queen "not comfortable", a book has claimed.
With nobody to walk her down the aisle, Meghan's future father-in-law Charles, who was still Prince of Wales at the time, offered to step in, telling his daughter-in-law he would be honoured to escort her to the altar of the chapel. 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."
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on their wedding day (Getty)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."
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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."