Meghan: A Hollywood Princess(71)
Once that logistical headache was resolved, the couple went to Monaco, flying coach to see in the New Year with friends. Then Harry flew alone to Botswana as part of his work for the Rhino Conservation charity, leaving Meghan at Nottingham Cottage with her friend Jessica Mulroney, a bridal consultant who flew in from Toronto to help with arrangements. They had loads of ideas to discuss. As the wedding represents the symbolic union of two nations, there was debate how about best to integrate the red, white, and blue of the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes. Naturally Meghan wanted it to be classy—her favorite word—not cheesy. The flowers in the chapel, her dress, and even the tiara she will borrow from the queen’s collection were all ways of symbolizing the theme of two nations united.
When she visited the Chapel and looked around the magnificent fourteenth-century building, after pinching herself, she’d have been forgiven for perhaps wondering what it would be like to have her Emmy-winning father in charge of the lighting for the TV broadcast. With an expected audience of 2 billion, it would have been the biggest gig of his career—and no doubt he would have preferred to have a behind-the-scenes role. And what would he have thought about his Valley Girl daughter getting her own coat of arms? Fancy that.
One concern was aircraft noise. With so many aircraft taking off and landing from nearby Heathrow Airport, the world’s busiest, Meghan worried that the billions at home wouldn’t be able to hear the service. As many an American tourist has wondered, why on earth did they build Windsor Castle so near Heathrow? During the big day would air traffic control at least divert aircraft onto a different flight path so that everyone could hear her say, “I do”? The Civil Aviation Authority answered in the affirmative, agreeing to move all flights away from Windsor for “security and safety” reasons.
Meghan certainly wouldn’t be saying the traditional “love, honor, and obey,” as did the Duchess of York when she became Prince Andrew’s wife and Sophie Rhys Jones when she married Prince Edward. She will follow the lead of Diana and Kate, who promised to “love, comfort, honor, and keep” her royal spouse.
Decisions, decisions, decisions. The couple wanted to surprise their family and friends with “quirky and imaginative” elements. The Middleton sisters had led the way; in 2011 Catherine installed a posh ice cream van and burger stalls at Buckingham Palace for her evening reception, while her sister, Pippa, brought in table tennis tables for her nuptials. She played a match with tennis star Roger Federer, who then took on Catherine, William, and Harry.
As fun as all this was, the centerpiece for the last great royal wedding for a generation was Meghan’s wedding dress. Like every bride, royal or not, she wanted to keep the wedding dress secret, only unveiling the unique creation on the big day. With a royal bride, the chosen couturier goes to extraordinary lengths to keep the design and fabric under wraps. Sarah Burton, who designed Kate’s wedding dress, put up net curtains in her studio, changed the door code, and banned cleaners from the building. Other royal couturiers have burned samples and shredded pencil drawings to leave no clue for the beady eyed. For Meghan’s wedding dress the bookies’ favorite was the queen’s designer, Stewart Parvin, who made the wedding dress for Zara Phillips, daughter of the Princess Royal. Other runners and riders included Erdem, Roland Mouret, Victoria Beckham, and of course Stella McCartney.
In anticipation of Meghan’s final appearance on Suits and the royal wedding hoopla, Suits producers released a trailer for the climax of season 7, which featured Meghan in a wedding dress. After all the twists and turns of their relationship, Meghan’s character, Rachel Zane, was about to marry her on-screen lover, Mike Ross. This was indeed art imitating life, and the show’s producers knew that the ratings would be as happy and glorious as Meghan’s real-life affair.
While the world eagerly sought scraps of wedding information, this time Meghan wasn’t giving out any clues on her social media platforms as she had during the very early days of her royal romance. She had already closed The Tig the previous March, but in January 2018 she went further, closing all her social media platforms—Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook—and removing all her pictures and comments.
During their lifetime she had accumulated a substantial fan club, with 1.9 million followers on Instagram, 350,000 on Twitter, and 800,000 likes on her Facebook page. This decision outraged her fans, who began a petition to have the sites reinstated. The petition, which was started by Sabrina A., who also runs the website Meghan Maven, argued that by shutting down these accounts the royal family was cutting off the chance to reach an entirely new audience.
She has a point. The royal family’s website enjoyed one million more hits in the months after Meghan formally joined the royal family. After all Princess Beatrice, the Duchess of York’s eldest daughter, has a Twitter account, and other European royals, notably Princess Charlene of Monaco and Princess Madeleine of Sweden, have personal sites on social media. Then there is that other American princess, the former Sarah Butler, now Princess Zeid of Jordan, who has her own Twitter account, which focuses on worthy topics such as global learning, refugee relief, and disaster philanthropy. Her slogan is “Determined that mothers and newborns survive and thrive everywhere.”
In recent months, information regarding Meghan and Prince Harry has been shared through Kensington Palace and official royal family accounts. Eventually Meghan may want her own vehicle to promote her work and chosen causes. Her fans argue that it should be launched via her existing base.