The Wedding
19 May 2018, St George's Chapel, Windsor — what actually happened.
The facts
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle married on 19 May 2018 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. The Dean of Windsor conducted the service; the Archbishop of Canterbury officiated the vows. On the wedding morning, the Queen conferred the dukedom: Harry became Duke of Sussex, Earl of Dumbarton, and Baron Kilkeel — making Markle the Duchess of Sussex.
The ceremony
- The dress: a silk Givenchy gown by British designer Clare Waight Keller, with a five-meter veil embroidered with the flora of all 53 Commonwealth countries.
- The walk: Markle walked part of the aisle alone before being joined by the then-Prince Charles — a deliberate, widely noted choice.
- The sermon: Bishop Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, preached on the power of love, quoting Martin Luther King Jr. — an unusually spirited address for a royal wedding, and one of the day’s most discussed moments.
- The music: the Kingdom Choir sang Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me”; cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason performed.
- The procession: a carriage ride through Windsor after the service; an evening reception at Frogmore House hosted by the then-Prince of Wales.
Guests and family
Her mother, Doria Ragland, attended. Her father, Thomas Markle, did not — the documented sequence includes reported heart surgery and a controversy over staged paparazzi photographs, which he acknowledged. Celebrity guests included Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, George and Amal Clooney, and her Suits co-stars.
The audience question
Reports of the global audience vary enormously — some outlets suggested figures approaching two billion. Television-audience measurement for a global, multi-platform event cannot support that precision. This site treats all such figures as unverifiable; see Reception.
Source notes
- Date, venue, officiants, titles conferred: official announcements and the order of service.
- Dress, veil, sermon, music, procession: contemporary wedding-day reporting and the broadcast record.
- Thomas Markle’s absence: contemporary reporting of the documented sequence (health reports, acknowledged staged photos).
- Audience figures: excluded as unverifiable; see reception.md.