Prince Harry And Megan Markle's Dramatic Marriage In History Today, May 19

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their wedding day (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - On May 19, 2018, the United Kingdom rejoiced at the wedding of Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle. The two celebrated their wedding in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle and was watched by 29.19 million people around the world.

The wedding took place not long after Google announced that Meghan Markle had topped the ranking for most searched actresses for two consecutive years. Citing Biography, since January 2018, Meghan Markle has followed royal rules by closing her Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Via Kensington Palace, Markle said he was "grateful to everyone who has followed his social media accounts over the years." On February 10, 2018, more details about the royal wedding emerged.

After the wedding ceremony, newlyweds will board a horse-drawn carriage that runs along the High Street through the Town of Windsor, before returning to Windsor Castle along the Long Walk. Then, after an afternoon break, they would attend a reception hosted by Prince Charles.

However, Meghan Markle also became the main topic for violating royal protocol. One of them was when she visited Birmingham on International Women's Day in March 2018.

At that time there was a student aged 10 years, who told Meghan Markle that he wanted to become an actress, Markle then hugged her. Although cute, it was against the rules as only handshakes were allowed for the royal family.

Drama ahead of marriage

Markle's half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr. wrote a handwritten letter, warning Prince Harry not to marry Meghan Markle. She described her step sister as "a languid, shallow, arrogant woman who would make jokes about you and your royal family heritage."

It is known that his letter was also written because he was offended that he was not invited to Meghan and Prince Harry's wedding. "To top it all off, he didn't invite his own family and instead invited strangers to the wedding. Who did that?" said Thomas in the letter.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

Shortly after, Meghan's father, Thomas Markle Sr., showed off a photo of himself showing him preparing to attend Meghan's big day. When the news broke, Markle's father was so embarrassed he told reporters that he canceled his invitation and would not attend.

Markle's other half-brother, Samantha, has publicly claimed that she was behind the featured photos hoping it would put her father in the spotlight. Soon after, Thomas Sr. told the media that she recently suffered a heart attack and regrettably will not attend Meghan Markle's wedding.

"I hate the idea of missing out on one of the greatest moments in history and taking my daughter to the aisle," he told TMZ.

Withdraw from Royal duties

The couple made a scene again on January 8, 2020. After spending a vacation in Canada, Markle and Harry made a stunning announcement that they are planning to "step back" from their roles in the royal family. They both said they would work to become financially independent.

"We feel ready to make these adjustments. We now plan to balance our time between Britain and North America, continuing to honor our duty to the Queen, Commonwealth and our patronage," said a joint statement on Instagram.

"This geographic balance will allow us to raise our son with respect for the royal traditions he was born into, while also giving our family room to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity."

A few days later, Buckingham Palace released a statement addressing some details of the new arrangement, including confirmation that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will no longer receive public funding for royal duties.

The Queen released an accompanying statement expressing her support for the young couple, noting that she is "very proud of how Meghan has quickly become one of the family."

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