On May 19, Harry and Meghan celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary. The couple tied the knot at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, and at that time, they were seen as the monarchy’s future, together with Prince William and Kate Middleton.
As of today, we all know what happened. What began as a feud between the royal brothers swiftly became a feud between the Sussexes and the royals. Today, the relationship is at its lowest point, and the question is if there will ever be a reconciliation between them.
Now, six years later, Harry and Meghan have created a new life in the US. But has it become better? One royal expert now says the rivalry could become even worse – which could create two different royal families.
Harry and Meghan’s big royal wedding took place on May 19, 2018. The service was held at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. The wedding was the first royal one since Prince William and Kate Middleton tied the knot seven years earlier, and considering Diana’s two sons had created a union of their own with their wives, plenty of people wanted to compare the two weddings.
Harry & Meghan’s wedding – how it was different from Prince William and Kate’s
From the outside, the wedding of Harry and Meghan was the ideal union, a mirror-image of perfection to follow the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton seven years earlier. But was everything really as it seemed?
Both royal weddings saw millions of people celebrate their respective marriages. Of course, Kate and William’s wedding was more special because it involved a future king tying the knot to his future queen.
Even so, both weddings were splendid events, although they had their differences. One significant difference before the big day was that Kate Middleton rode to her wedding with her father. Meghan rode to the wedding with her mother instead, as the relationship with her father, Thomas, had been more complicated in the last few years.
Looking at pictures of the two brides, Meghan waved to the crowd more relaxed, her fingers spaced out. Kate, meanwhile, kept her fingers close together for her wave.
The two ceremonies were also quite different. William and Kate’s was more serious, with few laughs, while Harry and Meghan’s was far more relaxed and included gospel singing.
Harry & Meghan’s wedding raised questions over “strangers” on guest list
William and Kate’s guest list included world leaders, ambassadors, and Prime Ministers, among many other notable guests. Of course, many friends and family were there as well. On the other hand, Meghan and Harry didn’t have any of those obligations. Instead, their guest list was packed with a veritable who’s who of celebrities.
Harry and Meghan’s private life – and the media coverage they got beforehand – made their wedding unique. One royal expert even went as far as to claim that the guests were there just to, well, be there.
Movie star George Clooney and his wife, Amal, were two guests, but reports suggest they didn’t know Harry or Meghan.
“There’s a story doing the rounds that while Carolyn Bartholomew, Diana’s former flatmate, was waiting for the wedding service to start, she turned to the couple alongside her and asked how they knew Harry or Meghan,” Johnson wrote in the online publication AirMail. ‘”We don’t,” the Clooneys answered brightly.’
After the wedding, Harry and Meghan were said to have visited the Clooneys at their residence in Como, Italy. George Clooney himself explained that the four have had dinner together several times in recent years.
Oprah Winfrey also attended the wedding, though most people were perplexed as there hasn’t been any talk regarding the talk show host’s relationship with Harry and Meghan. As royal reporter Daniela Elser pointed out, one headline read, “Oprah Winfrey has arrived at the royal wedding — but people aren’t sure why.”
Danny Lawson – WPA Pool/Getty Images
Royal expert Andrew Morton – the author of Diana: Her True Story – also questioned the celebrity guest list.
“(She) populated the wedding with A-list Hollywood celebrities who … have proved their worth to her by speaking out in public about the criticisms of her,” Morton said.
Meghan & Harry knew “within days” after wedding that royal life wouldn’t work
“I don’t think she (had) even met Oprah Winfrey (before the wedding). I don’t know whether Harry had. But she invited these people along, and now she has her own court.”
“She’s a new player and she’s been quick out (of) the starting box. Unlike Prince Harry’s friends who keep quiet, Megan’s A-list celebrity friends, the court of Meghan, is a very voluble court and they’re very powerful.”
With all that said, it was evident to some that Harry and Meghan might question leaving the royal family early on during their marriage. Just days after the wedding, Jonny Dymond, royal correspondent for the BBC, felt that something was off.
“I mean, within days, really… There were stories coming out about how Megan behaved towards staff,” he said in the BBC documentary The Prince and the Press.
Camilla Tominey – who first broke the story of Harry and Meghan’s relationship, added, “We were getting briefings that all was not well, with the relationship between William and Harry, Meghan and Kate, and the relationship between Harry and Meghan and the royal household.”
Chris Jackson – Pool/Getty Images
Still, to this day, many things remain uncertain about what really happened. Harry and Meghan have made it clear that there were several reasons why they decided to leave the Firm permanently.
“We were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy”
In an interview with The Cut, Meghan Markle opened up about when she and Harry decided to leave the UK. British press coverage scrutinized the Duchess, affecting her health and relationship with the royal hierarchy.
Because Harry and Meghan’s lives — and the rest of the Firm — were taxpayer-funded, the tabloids claimed the intense scrutiny was of “public interest.” As a result, the couple suggested they could work and earn their own money instead of being taxpayer-funded.
Speaking with The Cut, Meghan explained that “maybe all the noise would stop.”
Moreover, they appealed to the Royal Family to be able to leave the UK behind and instead move to another country in the Commonwealth, perhaps South Africa or Canada. Sadly, the answer was no.
“Anything to just… because just by existing, we were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy. So we go, ‘Okay, fine, let’s get out of here. Happy to,’” Meghan recalled.
She added that their request wasn’t “reinventing the wheel” and that other royal family members had received the green light for the same arrangement.
“That, for whatever reason, is not something that we were allowed to do, even though several other members of the family do that exact thing,” Meghan said.
Ben Birchall – WPA Pool / Getty Images
Six years later, Harry and Meghan have created a new life in the US with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. However, according to one expert, their luxurious lifestyle and what seems to be a perfect marriage are “too good to be true.”
Royal expert says Harry & Meghan “let us down”
Speaking with The Sun, royal editor and editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine Ingrid Sweard explained that Harry and Meghan’s “Disneyesque” wedding in 2018 had the public initially love the couple.
But sadly, the public’s opinion of them didn’t stay for long.
“We loved them for a while, and then we didn’t much anymore. Too many complaints. But they were in love and that mattered. Until they left and then they didn’t matter anymore. They had let the Queen down, they had let the Prince of Wales down, they had let William, then the Duke of Cornwall down,” Ingrid Seward said.
“They had let us down. Harry was stoic. He loved his Californian lifestyle. He loved his wife and children. But he was bitter against everything he had left behind including his brother and his father and his sister-in-law, Kate.”
Harry and Meghan gave insight into the day they left royal life for good in their Netflix show. The couple, together with their son, Archie, and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, left the UK on a private jet, which Harry could the “freedom flight,” the fact that the two decided to live in royal exile was somewhat a shock for many.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Moreover, Seward added that Harry’s life is a “success” when judging his financial success. However, “he as a man,” the royal expert added,” is not a success.”
“As a husband and father, he has done brilliantly. And when he and Meghan celebrate their six-year anniversary on Sunday (today) they will pat themselves on the back,” Seward told The Sun.
Harry & Meghan’s Nigeria visit – a “pro royal trip”?
“People said it wouldn’t last and it has! Harry is no longer feted in his homeland as he once was. If anything, he is pitied. I don’t think Harry can see it. He is happy in his rarefied world with Meghan doing what they do. Long may it last – and I think it will.”
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliam also commented on Harry and Meghan’s marriage, saying they look “very well matched” from the outside.
Meanwhile, as he explained, they can “always do the unexpected,” which can be unpleasant for many.
“All I can say is that the optics [of their marriage] as far as I can see seem fine. The two seem very well matched now, whether or not that’s a favorable comment depends, of course, on your view of them. They have their fans. They’ve also now got quite a few activities, and Megan launching American Riviera Orchard,” he said.
“And of course, she has a program she’s doing for Netflix and Cochrane entertainments, and so forth. Harry, with his series on Polo. The trip to Nigeria, which as a private visit, certainly had the trappings of a sort of pro royal trip, but it went well. There’s no reason that it shouldn’t have – what they want to do in the future weeks and months – that is quite another question.”
Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu via Getty Images
In another interview, speaking on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive, historian Gareth Russell said that Harry and Meghan, in one way, are forming “an alternative royal family.
Historian claims Harry & Meghan is forming an “alternative royal family”
“To all intents and purposes that is a real possibility. The problem for the Sussexes is that once you start doing anything like that, people become a lot more critical of what you do outside that – like commercial endeavours or quasi-royal tours,” Russell said.
“People will put them under more of a microscope because they’re calling it ‘The Office of Harry and Meghan’. It’s interesting. I wonder is it part of a plan to pivot from some harsh headlines they’ve had in the last year or two? Is it maybe a slightly more social conservative direction and have themselves as royals in exile for want of a better word?”
The historian concluded, “I wonder is that them acting on advice that people don’t want to hear them criticising the royal family. Their popularity at the moment is pretty low in America but that could change. Public opinion is always a bit of a rollercoaster. But they absolutely could (go on a US tour) and there’s indications that they will.”
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