Everything That Went Wrong At Harry & Meghan's Wedding
On May 19, 2019, 1.9 billion people tuned in to watch Meghan Markle and Prince Harry get married at St. George's Chapel. The interest in the couple's wedding was nothing short of extraordinary, and thanks to all the fanfare, it became the third most-watched event in the world. The guest list boasted several familiar names — from Serena Williams and the Beckham family to Oprah Winfrey — who watched along with the rest of the world as the couple said their vows. From the outside looking in, every moment of the ceremony was as fairytale-like as one could hope for.
Arranging it all, however, was probably anything but a fairytale. An insane amount of planning goes into an event like this one, and in an audio clip Meghan recorded for the "A Royal Wedding: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex" exhibit, she provides people with a glimpse into what went on behind the scenes: "A great level of detail went into the planning of our wedding day," (via People). "We knew how large the scale of the event would be, so in making choices that were really personal and meaningful, it could make the whole experience feel intimate," she added.
Despite all the careful planning, there were a few unforeseen hiccups, which just proves once again that no wedding is perfect — not even that of a prince.
Meghan's half-sister Samantha Markle attempted to steal the spotlight
Ahead of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's highly anticipated wedding, Meghan Markle's half-sister, Samantha Markle, appeared to enjoy the spotlight the media was suddenly shining on her. Even though Meghan told Oprah Winfrey during an interview that she and Samantha barely knew each other and weren't close, per CBS Mornings, Samantha had a lot to say about Meghan and spoke to any news outlet that expressed interest. At the time, Daily Mail columnist Piers Morgan dubbed her a "little vulture" and asked her if she was making a killing selling out her half-sister. Samantha appeared unbothered by the question and replied, "Not very much."
She did, however, cash in when Meghan's wedding day arrived, allowing a camera crew inside her house so they could film her watching Meghan and Harry's wedding. Technically, Samantha was crashing the royal wedding from afar while getting paid to do so. Her partner, Mark Phillips, told the Daily Mail that she was "making big money with an exclusive TV interview." He wouldn't divulge how much she was getting paid for her time but appeared to insinuate to reporters that it was around $25,000.
Whether or not Meghan expected these shenanigans from her half-sister on her wedding day isn't clear. We suspect she was way too busy enjoying the ceremony to even give Samantha a thought. It doesn't appear as if Meghan ever publicly commented on her sister profiting off her wedding day.
Meghan Markle's dad ditched the wedding at the last minute
Probably the biggest fiasco at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding was the absence of Meghan's dad, Thomas Markle. He ditched the ceremony at the last minute, leaving Meghan to walk down the aisle with King Charles III escorting her instead. Of course, the absence of Meghan's father caused a media frenzy that continued to echo on her wedding day.
It all started when it came to light that Thomas staged photos for the paparazzi. Then, he reportedly had a heart attack, which prevented him from attending the ceremony. Some outlets speculated that Thomas was lying about his medical condition. In the meantime, Meghan had to release a statement two days before the wedding, announcing that her father won't be attending her nuptials. "I have always cared for my father and hope he can be given the space he needs to focus on his health," Meghan said. The Telegraph reported that both Harry and Meghan were very upset that Thomas would not be attending the ceremony. While many speculated that Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, would be walking her down the aisle on the big day, King Charles III ended up doing the honors. "I asked him to and I think he knew it was coming," Harry revealed in the BBC documentary, "Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70." "And he immediately said 'Yes, of course, I'll do whatever Meghan needs, and I'm here to support you.'"
Whoever was in charge of the wedding program forgot to take Thomas Markle off it
With Meghan Markle's father unable to make it to the wedding at the last minute, organizers didn't have time to take his name off the wedding program, making his absence even more apparent on Meghan and Prince Harry's special day.
The appearance of Thomas Markle's name on the final program was first noticed by many after Prince William and Princess Catherine posted the Official Order of Service on their joint Twitter account. Various media outlets reported on the apparent oversight. "The Bride, having been greeted by the Dean of Windsor, moves in procession through the Nave where she is joined by her Father, Mr Thomas Markle, to the High Altar. The Bridegroom and his Best Man await," the Order of Service read.
With the media frenzy that ensued after the Order of Service's release to the public, Kensington Palace was forced to make a statement to address what many thought was a very obvious oversight. "The Order of Service was produced before it became clear that Mr. Thomas Markle would be unable to attend the wedding on medical advice," the palace's statement read, adding, "As a result, some aspects will be different to what has been printed." The statement also announced that then-Prince Charles would be the one to walk Meghan down the aisle. Thomas Markle's name is only mentioned once in the program, so it makes sense that organizers didn't reprint it.
Meghan's plans for her wedding bouquet fell a little flat last minute
Looking back on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, it's unbelievable how many things went wrong at the last minute. Aside from her father's absence, Meghan's idea for her flower bouquet also fell a little flat at the eleventh hour. Meghan and Harry wanted her bouquet to include flowers from their garden, but all did not go as planned. Again.
When Harry and Meghan sat down to record the voiceovers for their wedding exhibit at Windsor Castle, they revealed all about what happened behind the scenes, and for the first time, the public found out that Meghan's bouquet was actually supposed to be a lot bigger than it was. "We have a very small garden here that we had been planting things in the fall for and what was really special, I think, was that the morning of the wedding Harry went in and he picked some flowers to go into my bouquet, which was really beautiful and something that makes it sentimental and really meaningful," Meghan revealed.
Harry, however, revealed that he didn't have nearly as many flowers to pick as he'd envisioned, thanks to the weather not playing along. "We didn't have as many flowers in our little garden as we had hoped for because I think it snowed at Easter!" he said, adding, "That kind of ruined the whole thing!" Luckily, the public was none the wiser, and Meghan's bouquet still looked stunning.
A bad camera shot made it look as if Meghan forgot to curtsy to the queen
As an actress, Meghan Markle must be well aware that one can't control how the cameras perceive you, but they really did her dirty on her wedding day. Moments after Meghan made her way down the aisle, social media was ablaze with speculation that she failed to curtsy to Queen Elizabeth II. Many wondered if, in the moment, Meghan was so overwhelmed that she completely forgot about the curtsy, while others speculated that it might be because she's not British.
Page Six reported that etiquette coach William Hanson also took to social media to weigh in on the perceived break of royal protocol. "Meghan — did you curtsy to Her Majesty? I will have to lie down for months if you did forget," he wrote. "Could someone please tell me why she did not curtsy to the Queen? Is this a new protocol? Because she is American? Because she forgot? What?" one royal watcher said in a now-deleted tweet.
While this was a much-talked-about moment, Page Six later revealed that Meghan did, in fact, curtsy to the queen. The reason everyone missed it was because the person in charge of cutting to different camera shots during the proceedings decided to opt for a wide shot at the exact moment Meghan dutifully curtsied to Her Majesty. Why on earth they decided to switch shots right at that second remains a mystery.
It appeared as if Meghan Markle's veil required some heavy lifting
Those in the know would remember that a still of Prince Harry lifting Meghan Markle's veil in front of the altar went viral because it appeared the prince was having a hard time with it. To be honest, it still makes us giggle to this day.
Prince Harry had a strained, nervous expression on his face as he slowly lifted Meghan's veil to reveal her face. As over a billion people watched from home, the camera was trained on Harry and the look of sheer concentration on his face. Body language expert Judi James told Express that Harry was incredibly nervous during the proceedings. "[Harry] showed signals that suggested the highest levels of happy anxiety," James said. That happy anxiety seemed to completely overcome the prince as he lifted his wife-to-be's veil. From his facial expression, it appears that he wanted to get it just right. When looking at the footage BBC posted of the moment, you can see Harry fidgeting with the veil for a few moments longer to make sure it looks good. Clearly, he wanted to make sure Meghan continued to look immaculate during the ceremony.
Looking back, there was plenty that could've gone wrong — he might've messed up her perfectly styled hair, or worse, caused her tiara to slip from her head. One thing's for sure — the prince likely heaved a huge sigh of relief once that part of the ceremony was over.
The bishop's sermon went on twice as long as it should have
American Bishop Michael Curry delivered Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding sermon, evoking equal amounts of shock and awe from the gathered guests. The bishop didn't alter his usual preaching style regardless of the fact that he found himself in Britain with the queen in attendance, no less. In an opinion piece Diana Evens wrote for The Guardian, she claims that the bishop's sermon on the power of love apparently left some royals red-faced while other guests looked downright scornful. "It was a sermon that will go down in history as a moment when the enduring seat of colonialism was brought before the Lord, and questioned in its own house," Hirsch wrote.
The passionate sermon wasn't the only thing that was out of the ordinary, however. Curry also later admitted that he went well over the allotted time, Express reported. "I was shooting for six to seven minutes, it took a little bit longer because I should have thought about it, what I really hadn't anticipated there are moments of pause and there is a number of non-verbal interactions that happened in the sermon that actually take up time and so it ended up being a little bit longer than I had planned," Curry revealed. In the end, the sermon lasted 14 minutes even though Curry had originally aimed for six to seven minutes.
And Prince Charles appeared to have dozed off at one point
Whether King Charles III dozed off during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding is still a point of contention among many royal fans. If you have no idea what we're talking about, fear not, we're about to fill you in.
It appeared that sometime during Bishop Michael Curry's speech, Charles nodded off. The then-prince's head was bowed, and his eyes appeared to be closed. Now, he might've just been resting his eyes. Being the Prince of Wales was a tough job on the best of days, and with all the drama that had surrounded Harry's wedding, it's no wonder Charles felt the urgent need to nap. While the cameras managed to miss Meghan's very important curtsy to the queen, they did somehow manage to capture a shot of Charles seemingly snatching forty winks. Of course, eagle-eyed royal watchers quickly noticed that Charles appeared to be nodding off and took to Twitter to joke about it.
"Prince Charles is falling asleep 😂😂," one user wrote. "Prince Charles texting his concerns about the length of the Preacher's speech," another joked. "Someone find the switch on button for prince Charles 🤣🤣," another user quipped. Body language expert Judi James told Express that even though Charles appeared to be dozing off, "he clearly didn't."
One of the horses went rogue during the wedding procession
Shortly after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot, they were escorted from the church to their lunch reception by the Queen's Guard cavalry. Thousands of royal fans were waiting outside to catch a glimpse of the couple as they passed by in their carriage, but some people's attention was diverted from the prince and his bride when one of the horses in the procession decided that he'd had just about enough of all the fanfare.
In aerial footage of the procession, one of the horses in the lead can be seen cantering off course, although its rider quickly got the horse back under control, and it dutifully continued its classy canter down the road. Of course, this little mishap got Twitter talking once again. "Sassy horse moment!" one fan posted. In the comments, some people pointed out that horses often get spooked — even if they're highly trained. "No matter how well trained they are really like two year old wonderful children. Fault not the rider... he did a great job in the saddle," one user commented. "[A] horse is going to be a horse no matter what — they aren't unfeeling robots — could have gotten bit by a bee or something," another said. Others seemed delighted by the excitement the horse's lapse in discipline caused. "Here for this horse," another user quipped.
Meghan Markle appeared to drop an f-bomb during her post-wedding carriage ride
As it turns out, it wasn't just one of the cavalry horses that had a temporary lapse in judgment on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding day. Twitter users had a meltdown when Meghan Markle appeared to cuss in surprise as she and Prince Harry's carriage made its way through the Windsor Castle gates. Hey, it can happen to the best of us — especially if you're not a gal used to riding around in carriages. Meghan appeared to say "Oh f***!" as the carriage pulled through the gates. Others argued that she said "Oh wow!" instead.
Naturally, tweets about the incident were plenty. "I swear I just saw Meghan say "f***" in the back of the carriage as she went through those gates lol," one person tweeted. "Turned the royal wedding on just in time to see Meghan definitely say "f***," another very excited fan tweeted. "Meghan says "Oh f***!" as carriage enters private section of Long Walk. What a farce!" another posted. Whether or not Meghan actually dropped an f-bomb is still up for debate. What we do know is that Harry said "I'm ready for a drink now," after the carriage ride was over. Yeah, Haz, you and everyone else. Being a royal is hard work, y'all.