While it is considered taboo for the Royal Family to show emotion, this was a wedding packed with feeling, beginning with the tearful restraint of the Duchess of Sussex’s mother, Doria Ragland. For weeks, the royal wedding has been tainted with reports of Meghan Markle‘s immediate family staging photos sold to paparazzi and writing open letters begging HRH Prince Harry to cut off his engagement, days ahead of the big day. But then, what fairytale would this be without said obstacles. Today, we have witnessed a happy ending that has captivated the world.
Ragland has emerged as something of a knight in shining armor. The yoga instructor and social worker, sporting a diamond stud nose ring, dread locks, and Oscar de la Renta mint green suit to the St George chapel service, was the embodiment of dignity and mother’s pride standing solo as her daughter, a future princess of the British monarchy, walked through the nave on the arm of HRH Prince Charles.
Should Prince Harry’s mother, Princess Diana still be alive today, perhaps she would have joined Ragland in the nave. And yet, her presence was palpable via Markle’s choice of dress, a Givenchy gown created by British designer Clare Waight Keller. Princess Diana perished in a tunnel car crash in Paris in August of ’97. Both her sons have since commemorated their late mother with rings given to their respective partners. The Duchess of Cambridge and future Queen, Catherine Middleton, wears Princess Diana’s sapphire engagement ring. The newly appointed Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, dons a ring set with diamonds once belonging to the woman, who today, would be her mother-in-law. This dress, designed in the city that stood for a prince’s heartache, today offers a vision in white to mend hearts, and set a fresh path, for a life anew.
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