May 23, 2018

On Saturday, May 19, much of the world’s attention was focused on Windsor Castle near London, England, for the celebrated royal wedding of British Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle. Markle is the first United States citizen to be officially married to a member of the British royal family. She is also the first known member of the royal family with black heritage (her mother is African American). Upon her marriage, Markle received the title, Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Sussex. Her new husband is now the Duke of Sussex, the Earl of Dumbarton, and Baron Kilkeel.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle emerge from their wedding at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018. Credit: © Ben Birchall, WPA Pool/Getty Images

A congregation of 600 invited guests attended the midday ceremony at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, officiated the wedding, and an address was given by the Most Reverend Michael Curry, the first African American bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church. Music at the wedding was performed by the Kingdom Choir, a Christian gospel group; 19-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason; and trumpeters from the Household Cavalry, the British Army unit that includes both Harry and his older brother, Prince William, in its roll. (William is third in line to the British throne; Harry is sixth.) Seasonal flowers and plants decorated the chapel, including branches of beech, birch, and hornbeam (also called ironwood), as well as foxgloves, peonies, and white garden roses.

Outside the chapel, 2,640 invited guests greeted the newlyweds as they climbed into an open-top horse-drawn carriage for a procession through Windsor town. The beaming couple returned to the castle for a reception at St. George’s Hall hosted by Queen Elizabeth II. The royal family, Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, and guests shared a lemon elderflower cake covered with buttercream and decorated with fresh flowers. Harry’s father, Prince Charles, who escorted Meghan during the wedding ceremony, then hosted an evening reception for close family and friends at Frogmore House, a property within the Windsor estate.

Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, served as Harry’s best man, returning the favor for when Harry was best man at William’s marriage to Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, at Westminster Abbey in 2011. William and Kate’s older children, 3-year-old Princess Charlotte and 4-year-old Prince George, were among the bridesmaids and page boys. The couple’s youngest child, Prince Louis, will have to wait to attend his first royal wedding. Just one month old, Louis (who ranks just above Harry in line to the throne) passed the ceremony with a nanny elsewhere on the Windsor estate.

August 31, 2017

Twenty years ago today, on Aug. 31, 1997, Diana, the Princess of Wales, was killed in an automobile accident in Paris, France. Diana—known popularly as “Princess Di”—captured the world’s attention with her “fairy tale” wedding to Prince Charles of the United Kingdom in 1981, and she went on to become one of the most beloved public figures in the world. In 1997, a flurry of memorials and tributes fell in the wake of her sudden death. And now, 20 years later, Diana’s legacy continues to inspire reflections on what she meant to the United Kingdom and to the British royal family.

Princess Diana attends the groundbreaking for a children’s care center in Harrow, Greater London, on July 21, 1997, roughly five weeks before her death. Credit: © Tim Graham, Getty Images

To mark the 20^th anniversary of her death, numerous Princess Di television documentaries and programs are competing for attention, as are several new books on Diana. Commemorative ceremonies are taking place in London, and temporary memorials have sprung up in parts of the city. At Kensington Palace, a special White Garden was planted in Diana’s honor, a garden “inspired by memories of the Princess’s life, image and style.” The garden, a special exhibit that opened at Easter and runs through September, reflects Diana’s love for white and cream hues. It is filled with Cosmo daisies, forget-me-nots, narcissuses, and white lilies, roses, and tulips. A fashion exhibit inside the palace shows the same colors in the clothes that Diana famously wore.

Flowers and tributes flood the gates of London’s Kensington Palace soon after the death of Princess Diana on Aug. 31, 1997. Credit: Maxwell Hamilton (licensed under CC BY 2.0)

Recent interviews with Diana’s sons, William and Harry—who were just 15 and 12 at the time of her death—gave the princes their first public forum on their mother’s death. Yesterday, on August 30, William and Harry visited Kensington Palace and its White Garden, but the rest of their family has kept a respectful and quiet distance from anniversary events. Prince Charles, his second wife, Camilla, Queen Elizabeth II, and Prince Philip are on a summer break far from the media frenzy at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

Lady Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961, in Norfolk, England. Her father was the eighth Earl Spencer. Her family traces its ancestry to King James I. Diana was educated in England and Switzerland. She taught at a kindergarten in London from 1979 until 1981, when she married Prince Charles. Princess Di’s activities were widely reported. She supported numerous charitable causes. They included AIDS research, a ban on land mines, and many causes benefiting children. Diana and Charles separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.