Now that Meghan Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, live in California, she rarely spends any time with her father-in-law, King Charles—at least in person. (Only they know how much they speak on FaceTime or Zoom.) But in the leadup to her royal wedding to Harry six years ago this month, the then Prince Charles and Meghan had a warm relationship, and in her and Harry’s six-part Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, she reminisced on the moment she asked her soon-to-be father-in-law to walk her partway down the aisle as she married Harry in Windsor on May 19, 2018. (Meghan’s estranged father, Thomas Markle, was not in attendance at the wedding, but her mother, Doria Ragland, was there; the mother and daughter duo share a very tight bond.)
In episode four of the Liz Garbus-directed series, Meghan said of Charles that “Harry’s dad is very charming. And I said to him, ‘I’ve lost my dad in this,’ so him as my father-in-law was really important to me, so I asked him to walk me down the aisle, and he said yes.”
As footage of Charles and Meghan walking together played, Meghan said that “The whole thing was surreal. It was at that moment I could also see H,” her pet name for Harry.
Meghan made the decision to walk herself halfway down the aisle at St. George’s Chapel before she was met by Charles, who accompanied her the rest of the way to the altar. “It was the first time any royal bride had walked down the aisle of her wedding on her own,” The Mirror reports.
On the eve of Harry and Meghan’s wedding, Buckingham Palace announced that Meghan had asked Charles to accompany her, and a statement released at the time said that the then Prince of Wales was “pleased to be able to welcome Ms. Markle to The Royal Family in this way.” (It was no doubt an emotional moment for all, as Charles never had a daughter of his own.)
Harry himself spoke of his father’s role in his wedding in the documentary Prince, Son, and Heir: Charles at 70: “I asked him to and I think he knew it was coming, and he immediately said, ‘Yes, of course, I’ll do whatever Meghan needs, and I’m here to support you guys,’” Harry said. “For him that’s a fantastic opportunity to step up and be that support and, you know, he’s our father, so of course he’s going to be there for us.”
That wasn’t Charles’ only contribution to the 2018 royal wedding. “My father helped us choose an orchestra, which made all the difference,” Harry said. Charles also helped select the Kingdom Choir, the gospel choir that famously sang “Stand By Me,” which Harry said was “More help from my dad on that one.” That evening, Charles hosted the couple’s evening reception at Frogmore House, and reportedly gave a moving speech at the party “which left the audience in tears,” The Mirror writes. “Referring to him as ‘my darling old Harry,’ he was apparently emotional about the marriage of his youngest son, who he said he still remembered so clearly as a baby.”
