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Meghan Markle tried to keep things low-key Friday when she and Prince Harry arrived for the wedding of Princess Eugenie, held at the same location as her own spectacular ceremony just five months earlier.
Perhaps not wanting to distract attention from the bride, the royal family’s new global superstar and Harry, the bride’s cousin, mostly tried to sneak into St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, Vanity Fair reported. They arrived in an SUV that pulled right up to the door. Meghan emerged from the vehicle wearing a muted navy dress and coat with matching fascinator. The outfit was designed by Givenchy, the designer of her wedding dress.
The crowd nonetheless managed to catch a glimpse of the new Duchess of Sussex, and erupt into cheers, before she and Harry slipped inside.
But however much Meghan wasn’t looking for fanfare, it was hard not to notice that the Los Angeles-born former TV actress has joined the top echelon of the royal family with her May 19 marriage to Harry, the sixth in line to the throne.
In the choir section, closest to the altar and right in front of the coat of arms, Meghan sat in the same second row as Queen Elizabeth II and her most prominent descendants: Prince Charles and Prince William, first and second in line to the throne.
Next to the queen sat Prince Philip, 97, who has retired from royal duties but decided at the last minute to attend his granddaughter’s wedding. And next to Philip was Prince Charles, followed by William, his wife Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and then Meghan. Unlike her new royal relatives, Meghan grew up in a middle-class neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley, not a palace.
But now she has joined William, Kate and Harry as the most popular representatives of a dynasty that is more than 1,000 years old.
Kate, by the way, dressed for Eugenie’s wedding in a bold pink gown by Alexander McQueen — her “go-to designer” for high-profile occasions, Vanity Fair reported. Her two oldest children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, were in Eugenie’s wedding party, serving as a page boy and bridesmaid, the same roles they played in Meghan and Harry’s wedding.
Noticeably absent from the queen’s second row was Charles’ wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwell. She skipped the wedding, claiming she had a longstanding prior commitment to visit a primary school near Balmoral, the queen’s Scottish home. But her absence sparked speculation that a royal rift caused her to stay away.
According to the Express, the rift stems from her anger that Prince Andrew, the father of the bride and Queen Elizabeth’s second son, failed to speak up on her behalf as she struggled for the family to accept her relationship with Charles following the 1997 death of Princess Diana.
Princess Eugenie’s mother, Sarah Ferguson, was close friends with Diana. For that reason, Sarah and Camilla have never gotten along, according to the Express. A royal aide also told the Daily Mail: “Camilla has always felt Andrew could have done more.”
But if that rift was in play Friday morning, another longstanding feud between Sarah and Prince Philip didn’t stop him from attending the wedding, or from sitting right behind her in the chapel. Philip reportedly has never forgiven Sarah for the access-to-power scandals she created in the years before and after she divorced Andrew in 1996.
But as the mother of the bride, Sarah Ferguson returned to a prominent position in the “Firm” — at least for Eugenie’s wedding. Andrew’s ex-wife enjoyed a seat in the front row, directly in front of the queen and Prince Philip.
The Duchess of York, who is said to enjoy an amicable relationship with Andrew, was joined in the front row by her oldest daughter, Princess Beatrice; followed by Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne; his wife Autumn Phillips; Mike Tindall and Zara TIndall, Princess Anne’s son-in-law and daughter; Lady Louise Windsor, Queen Elizabeth’s granddaughter; and Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece.
