Remember Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s engagement portraits? The portraits were very hot. The portraits made me believe that Harry and Meghan are love-drunk and sex-drunk on each other. But other people just HAD to nitpick the portraits, because Meghan wore an insanely expensive Ralph and Russo gown in the photos. The Ralph and Russo gown retailed for $75,000 and all Kensington Palace would say was that the gown was “privately purchased,” a vague confirmation that was open to different interpretations. Many anti-royal people (or anti-Meg people) yelled about Meghan acting like Marie Antoinette or something. My point? The names “Ralph and Russo” + “Meghan Markle” became synonymous in many quarters with “spending way too much money on dumb fashion.” You would think that maybe she would avoid making that connection again. But maybe not, because now sources claim that Ralph and Russo likely did her wedding gown:
Meghan Markle’s hugely anticipated wedding dress will set the Royal Family back £100,000. Multiple royal and fashion industry sources have revealed the actress has opted for British couturiers Ralph & Russo to make the first of two gowns she plans to wear on May 19. She will wear the hand-stitched, heavily beaded design to walk down the aisle at St George’s Chapel in front of 600 guests – and an estimated billion TV viewers worldwide – as well as for the reception being held afterwards by the Queen in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle. Another source revealed that the dress would cost around £100,000, which will be met by Prince Harry and his family privately.
‘It sounds a lot but this is the wedding of the year and hundreds of hours of manpower have gone into making it, almost all by hand,’ they said. Harry, sources say, has been kept in the dark about his fiancee’s dress – he doesn’t even know who is designing it – because he wants it to be a ‘complete surprise’ on the day. ‘He is so excited about the wedding and is being remarkably traditional about everything,’ the source said.
Ralph & Russo have been odds-on favourite for the commission since Meghan wore a £56,000 semi-sheer black evening dress from the label for her official engagement portrait. Intriguingly, earlier this week their haute couture atelier team visited the Royal School of Needlework, which was responsible for the bespoke lace on the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress and boasts a long association with the Royal Family.
Meghan will change into another dress for a second, black-tie evening reception thrown by Prince Charles at Frogmore House in the grounds of Windsor Great Park. British company Burberry and its outgoing chief designer Christopher Bailey or beloved royal label Erdem are tipped to create this dress.
I had my doubts about the theory that Prince Charles paid for the R&R engagement-portrait gown, just as I have some doubts about the royals picking up the tab for Meghan’s wedding gown too. When William and Kate got married, her parents picked up the tab for her wedding gown, Pippa’s gown and the flowers, which was spun as a very modern thing, that the (commoner) bride’s family could financially contribute to a royal wedding. Meghan doesn’t come from a rich family, but she’s made her own money and it wouldn’t surprise me if she was paying for some of this stuff too. But even if the Windsors are paying for everything… so be it. Whatever.
Meanwhile, Meghan and Harry won’t be going on their honeymoon right away. They’ve added an event to their schedule for one week after the wedding. Reportedly, they are planning to go on their honeymoon at some point this summer, but they want to go “somewhere they can bring minimal security too and not worry about people seeing them has been of the utmost importance.” Hm…
Photos courtesy of WENN, PCN and Kensington Palace.
That cup is so cheesy but I want it.
Like you, I have found that there is absolutely *no limit* to the amount of cheesiness I can take, when it comes to this couple. :/
He has such a derp face on the cup! Was that really the best photo the maker could find?!
Derp face lol. Meghan looks different in the pic too…her tiny nose looks bigger and her right cheek looks strange.
At least this one has the correct couple. One of the knockoff royal mugs for 2011 had photos of Harry and Kate.
I really want this cup. I have a small collection of cheesy royal cups. My favourite one is a Charles & Diana wedding cup but unfortunately its handle broke a few years ago. 🙁
Have you looked online for a replacement?
Oh my god – do you want mine? I got one at Goodwill years ago and I don’t want it!
Betsy – that is so sweet! I hope she takes you up on your offer. I had a Corrie cup for decades until it broke. Miss it every morning!
I have ordered a lovely Harry and Meghan mug from Emma Bridgewater with the inscription ‘Game Changers Free Spirits Big Hearts & Well Suited’. I thought that the inscription really summed them up and is quite inspirational.
A friend of mine is married to an English guy, so they go there to visit his family a couple times a year. They were over there when Will and Kate got married and they were in the crowd watching. I made her bring me back a mug and I still have it in its pretty box. Now, coincidentally, they are going to be there for this wedding too–and they plan to go stand in the crowds–and I have already “put my order in” for Meghan and Harry mug. 🙂
People forget above and beyond the royal are a business!
This weddi g will make a lot money!
Wrong thread!
I like them together?
I don’t believe RR is making that gown or it’s costing $100,000. It’s probably a lesser known designer, or even an unknown. RR could be making the night party dress
Good point, it could be the party dress.
I think that engagement dress and the cost that people flipped out over is what is fueling this rumor. I’m doubtful she’ll even wear that label.
I don’t trust the Daily Mail at all about anything, especially after their horrific treatment of Meghan.
Same. Harry supposedly doesn’t know, yet they also reported him, with photos, leaving R&R several weeks ago. They just make stuff up because they get clicks. Ralph & Russo may be designing other items. They may be doing the dress. DM is just taking shots in the dark regardless, though.
Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. Spot on.
Exactly. I don’t think any outsider knows at this point. Personally I cannot wait! I hope it’s beautiful, true to what Meghan wants, and tailored well to her petite figure. I think she’ll look gorgeous.
I read he was actually leaving his gym in those pictures, which is why he was wearing sneakers and sweats.
This is the same thing that happened with Kate’s dress. Everyone was throwing out labels they were so sure she was wearing, but the reality is they didn’t know for sure until she literally stepped out of the car and they said, “It’s Alexander McQueen!”
If the dress is paid privately be Meghan or the royal family then what is the problem?.
@sushi – matter of public perception. Britain’s going through hard times. Personally, I think Meghan and Harry are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. The whole point of royalty is to look royal – what did anyone suppose, she would head over to David’s Bridal here?! So on the one hand people want royal spectacle but on the other they are offended when it costs a lot. Impossible dilemma. That’s why I think European royalty, and the BRF in particular, is on its last legs. It can’t have its cake and eat it, too, and that’s what it’s desperately trying to do.
If any European monarchy is on shaky ground these days it is Spain. Given the scandals of Juan Carlos and Cristina, separatists in Catalonia, and questions of family dysfunction, Felipe has a big job ahead of him.
@421istheanswer, because anyone who criticises H&M must be doing it out of racism. Or something like that.
Because it’s being paid for by the Royal family with tax payers money when school children don’t even have meals, it’s all a bit Marie Antoinette. Also, I think they aren’t even paying for the commoners they’ve invited to their wedding , and people have to bring their own lunch. It’s all a bit lol.
The wedding itself is being paid for by the Windsors privately, security by the taxpayers. Security will be much less at Windsor than a London wedding would have been, and Harry was always going to have a big wedding due to his position in line. Don’t recall this amount of concern over the taxpayer money used for the security for 6,000 people outside the church at Zara wedding, and that was a completely private (untelevised) event.
The people who are bringing their own lunch are not wedding guests. They’re people who applied for free tickets to be on the lawns outside the Church but inside the garden walls.
@notasugarhere
While I have no idea how the posters on Celebitchy talked about the cost of Zara’s wedding back then, I do recall quite a few articles in the British press decrying the fact that the taxpayer had to foot a good chunk of the bill. Same thing for the William-Kate wedding.
The cost v. benefit discussion is a constant when talking about the royal family. Why should it be any different when it comes to Harry and Meghan?
i think it is a rene and russo dress which is paid by harry privately. i dont see what the fuss is about – kate had 2 dresses too so will meghan and if it makes them happy then why not
I’ll believe it when we actually see it.
LOL, what does sex-drunk on each other mean? My gut feeling tells me that someone at R&R slipped up (or purposely) and leaked info about the cost of engagement dress. The royals don’t forget when someone blabs something that embarrasses them; and for that reason, I believe R&R automatically disqualified themselves. At that point, they made it known that a dress made by them will be leaked to the media and I strongly doubt they made the wedding dress. Just the fact that this is being leaked into the media a couple of weeks prior to the wedding would just cement the fact that R&R can’t be trusted to keep a secret.
Sex-drunk = having lots of sex
Bwahahahahaha 😂😂😂😂 thanks Lak. I’ve never heard of that..
F*ck-struck!
I’m sure that dress was on the runway, so the price of it is available for buyers.
They just did a cut and paste of Meghan’s head and put it on a runway wedding dress. It was insanely badly done lol.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they are making the nighttime reception dress though. Wasn’t there a pic of Harry and his security detail walking out of their store?
@Imqrious2,
Insanely and no doubt deliberately bad – trying to implant an association with Jane Badler after a little snack https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LZYoAmZX4rI
No R and R have not disqualified themselves. In the short term the negative press was unfortunate, but in the long term, the photos and nostalgia will win the day. No one remembers how much Grace Kelly’s dress cost but the photos live forever.
It would be a shame if it weren’t them because they are the only true couture house in the UK. The term is so often misused, but haute couture is not bespoke. R and R are the first to be selected from the UK in over a hundred years to join the exclusive Chambre syndicale.
They deserve the honor if they are the designers she has chosen.
IDK Magnolia, I could be wrong but I feel R&R dropped the ball that one time they were trusted. This is me of course talking but I feel their disclosure of the price tag on that dress was a no no, for me at least. But maybe, a lesson was learned and they probably were given a second chance, who knows with these people?
I’m still hoping for something dead simple with no lace. But then, I like Lady Sarah Chatto and CP Victoria’s wedding dresses best.
Monaco is a supremely wealthy nation / tax haven / money-laundering operation whose citizens are virtually all pretty wealthy and pay very little taxes (low business taxes, no income tax). As such, the cost of Grace Kelly’s dress doesn’t carry the same symbolic weight as the price of a British royal’s gown.
That being said, 100k for a royal wedding dress is perfectly reasonable. Definitely within the expected range.
As for R&R, they’re pretty meh as far as I’m concerned. The Chambre Syndicale’s seal of approval means very little in terms of quality nowadays; it merely operates as a gatekeeper for the Paris Fashion Week and attempts to track down celebrity-linked creators to guarantee maximum media coverage, hence the inclusion of Serkan Cura (linked to Lady Gaga) and R&R (previously linked to Beyonce)…
Intercourse-induced intoxication.
I love this description. It’s simultaneaously accurate AND victorian-ly prudish. 😊
Well I heard that the engagement dress was a ‘sample dress’ which Meghan picked out herself as she like it, I didn’t lol!. So if it was a sample there is no way that Meghan or whoever bought it would have paid 60k or whatever. That price was bandied about the makers in case anyone wanted to buy one like it, it was all advertising for the brand. But of course people believe that the royal family paid 60k for that dress when in true fact they paid nothing near that amount. All of the truth of this will emerge in years to come.
If it’s being paid for privately by either Meghan or Harry, I don’t see an issue. Kate’s gown was £250,000, so Meghan’s not really going overboard. I’m wondering who might have leaked this information (if it’s correct) though – wasn’t Kate’s designer a secret until the wedding day?
If I recall correctly… unfortunately about a week before the wedding the designer for Kate’s dress was made known to the public…Sarah denied but confirmation came the night before when she was spotted in the Goring Hotel…
Don’t trust DailyMail…their bias leaks off of their papers; but the secrecy of the designer is to protect them from media intrusion, etc…
@Tonya, I thought Kate’s dress maker was outed when the designer was seen coming into KP the eve of the wedding, no? At least that’s what I ready somewhere.
The Sunday Times let the “cat out of the bag” ahead of the wedding day.
Here is a link to the article published I think in March 2011… At the time of the Wedding William & Kate didn’t live at KP (they moved there after the wedding & after millions of pounds were spent to “fix up” their abode in KP)…
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/revealed-mcqueen-designer-to-make-royal-wedding-dress-g5996wtzf5z
@Tonya wow they actually called her catherine in that article
It’s ridiculous when a piece of clothing costs as much as a house, but oh well. I’m not paying for it, and it’s not the most expensive dress ever worn
Oh, that must be so nice! I’m looking at apartments now, and a one-bedroom is around $500 000. :,(
What?! Where do you live?
I agree… they’re not the only ones who pay ridiculous amounts of money on frivolous things, but it doesn’t make it right.
Of coarse, everything is relative.
DP , meanwhile freeze to death in the winter because they can’t afford to turn the heat on!
Yeah, the cloth is expensive, but you’re paying for LA or as well. These things are hand-sewn, 300 hours, 10 seamstresses…
*labor
Wow…
The photographer, that shot the engagement pictures, said he brought different outfits to the shoot, and they settled on that R&R dress, so chances that dress was loaned or deeply discounted.
The dress the dailymail is showing was on the runway, so if R&R are making the dress it could be a different version.
I swear Meghan dad is trolling the press, getting measured for a suit, two weeks before the wedding, is he sending the measurements to Hong Kong.
Or going to one of Charles’s Savile Row tailors who would be happy to schedule last-minute suit-making for one of Charles’s future in-laws.
Lol. I heard Singapore. I am joking, but they do custom suits too. Oh wait this is a story about Brits, so I am officially “taking the (insert favorite term) out of him”.
Thank goodness, Mexico uses the Metric System, otherwise Thomas would be in big trouble.
I think the US is one of the few countries that doesn’t use the metric system. Canada, Mexico, Europe, China, Russia, all metric. I did read an article that said US scientists use the metric system. Is it being taught, or is it just not used in the States?
We don’t use metric, but it is taught in school. So we all learn it, but only scientists and foreign-car-mechanics use it. It’s a ridiculous, expensive, adherence to an outmoded way of life that is analogous to the insistence of maintaining racist, misogynistic attitudes in our public life.
I’m old enough to remember the U.S. Metric Conversion Act of 1975. It wasn’t popular and was abandoned in 1982.
My kid is in 6th grade
They learn both metric and the us way
It’s learned at the same time
@Lady D. As minx noted, they’ve tried to move the US entirely to metric, but it hasn’t been successful. Kids are taught both systems in school, and have been for decades. I’m 50 and I was taught to use both systems in school, as was my 60-year-old sister.
So, the vast majority of Americans are familiar with and can use metric — and our scientists all use it. However, metric never stuck enough to cause a cultural change in usage.
The family announced the dress was “privately purchased” – translation, Charles paid for it. If Meghan had bought it, they’d have come out right away and said so. Either way, it points to a taste for luxury.
That’s an assumption on your part. The Middleton family paid for Kate’s dress(es), ergo “privately purchased”.
@Violet that is absolutely not true. It’s entirely possible that MEGHAN paid for not only the engagement dress but the wedding dress as well. She had income from her website & Reitman’s endorsement as well as her “Suits” salary and “Suits” is on Netflix now so she will be receiving residuals forever. Her mother could have contributed as well — we just *don’t know* so you can’t state things like that as fact.
As hard as it is for some to believe, Meghan had her OWN PERSONAL money prior to dating Harry. And not only that, Meghan had a personal source of income, which was a job that she worked at on a daily basis for years and that job paid her very well, so yes she can afford to buy a 50000 dress if she wanted one. Prince Charles might be paying for Kate Middleton outfits right now, but I doubt he was paying for her stuff prior to her marrying William. So same treatment for Meghan, prior to wedding, Meghan and her fiance are footing the bill, and since Meghan has her own money and has been supporting herself for years, 99.9% chances she is paying for most her stuff.
Lol! Yes Meghan’s Dad trolling the press, that is a good one.
Harry was photog’ed leaving R&R a few weeks ago. Hope she does not go with them – bad PR move and out of touch with the common opinion. Also, they were not discrete the first time around commenting on the engagement shoot dress.
He was photographed leaving an office building where many businesses are housed, including R&R…
And apparently his gym is in that building.
@Vic did you also think that Kate’s dress was “out of touch with the common opinion?” It’s not as if most of us peasants wear Alexander McQueen!
This wedding is an international spectacle. It’s being televised and millions upon millions of people will be watching. Part of Meghan’s responsibility is to make it special and memorable, no matter who designs the dress, and I think she understands this.
@ Lorelai This. Yes.
Plus, I would do the same if I married Harry.
I think it’s lut of touch not b/c how much it costs but by association to R&R. The engagememt dress got a lot of heat and opting for the same house again is a reminder to that critisized opulemce so not the best PR move.
Kate was marrying the heir. It was Kate’s first wedding. And Kate is much taller and could handle more froufrou on her gown.
When I read the Meghan’s gown was R&R, I groaned. First, for the optics of a very fancy beaded gown for a second wedding. It is just pretentious and not tasteful. And crazy expensive. Isn’t a 25K gown expensive enough? Meghan sure loves luxury!! Second, because she is so tiny, anything heavily beaded is going to wear her, not the other way around. I don’t expect her to wear an outfit like Camilla’s, but a gown more streamlined and less elaborate would look much better on her. All of this is just so tacky, and plays into what so many people think about tacky and classless Americans. JMHO.
I wonder once Charles, aka the British taxpayer, starts paying for her clothes if she will pick out 5 or 6K bespoke dresses like Kate does. Again, Kate is the wife of the heir. Meghan just seems to act like she is.
As with any outfit, it would depend on the design and execution. Queen Letizia wears cocktail and evening gowns that are covered in beading, and generally looks great. As long as the silhouette is simple, it can suit someone with a small build like Letizia or Meghan.
Just googled the designer R & R and their wedding dresses are foul. Look very saudi beaded opulence. Boardering on Machessa territory.
Well I am hoping its Roland Mouret…..not heaven forbid Erdem…Aaargh!!
If it’s £100,000, doesn’t that mean it’s much more in dollars?
150,000 dollars approximately
It’s a looot of money.
$1357 179.97
correcting my previous post.
135,354.00
I think this is a planted story to distract from the actual designer. Get ready for a dust ruffled Erdem, folks 😜
Her frame is too small for a dust ruffled dress, getting flashbacks to Diana’s over the top dress.
@Peg – ITA! And Diana was 5’10″+ and even she was drowned by that hideous dress.
@Violet I am glad that I’m not the only one who haaaaates Diana’s wedding dress. Utterly hideous puff-sleeved monstrosity that looked grey and brown in certain lights. I never understood why Diana was considered so fashion forward.
I know Princess Diana’s dress was very much “of the era,” but wow, it was excessive even by those standards! You’re right, she was absolutely drowned in that dress. I recently saw pictures from the wedding day and had to remind myself that she was actually quite tall. You’d never guess that by the frills and puffs on that dress!
I remember that era well. The Emanuels used the puffy sleeved, ruffled crap that was popular then, and they put it on steroids. Diana’s dress was just a mess and it’s also hard to see it in retrospect, knowing how badly the marriage turned out.
As a 5yr old, i adored Diana’s dress. It was the combination glass-coach, tin soldiers, B-I-G poofy dress, the endless train on the dress, tiara and a prince waiting at the altar….Le happy Sigh. Everything a 5yr old would want in a wedding featuring a royalty. We were reading Hand Christian fairytales at the time. Skipped the grim endings, and the cautions hidden in the tales.
Teen/ adult me, is horrified by that dress.
Sarah’s in 1986, while still having a nod to the 80s with the puff shoulders and bow on the back, has stood the test of time much better.
Sure, Diana’s dress was a mess, but it was a “Wow!” kind of mess. Anybody that got up at the buttcrack of dawn to watch that wedding televised remembers that dramatic moment. She was a fairy tale princess. I didn’t have that “wow” at all when Kate stepped out. I remember thinking, “That’s it? Cone boobs? Flat ugly veil?” and that was all she wrote. I’m sure the embroidery on it is a wonderful thing up close, but none of that translated for television.
@Abby Rose – Bite your tongue! But there’s some interest in your scenario: Meghan could have decided to give the DM a punch in the nose by leaking the story so they could end up with egg on their faces when it turns out how wrong they were. A bit of payback for running all those stories from the half-sibs. How juicy would that be!
Wonder if the DM would have been just dumb enough to fall for it or would have looked for third-party verification?
The DM probably wouldn’t bother looking for verification since they can hide behind “A source said…” And they lie so much that they wouldn’t care if it was all false anyway. By the time of the actual wedding and the actual dress that article will be long buried by the actual news and photographs and forgotten. It will have served its purpose, which is clicks, comments and ad revenue.
Yeah like the fake web browser addess Kensington Palace had up a few weeks ago when we were waiting for the kids name – that showed Prince Albert Windsor to fool people that was what prince louis was being called. Prolly willies sick idea. yes R & R called be the red herring.
Erdem…please noooo!
I think it will be a different designer. The Daily Fail is just trying to give fuel to their hateful readers.
Well, probably a minority opinion here, but I didn’t like their engagement photos, I thought they looked very Hollywood, very OTT, very high end catalogue – and that Kate’s and William’s formal photos looked simpler and more natural, and whoever bought Meghan’s dress, it was way over the top in price. All that said, as there was no formal announcement on who is making the dress, the DM, if this is true, scored a huge leak. For that reason, I’m sure (again, if it is true) that Meghan isn’t happy about it. If there was no formal ID of the designer as soon as the commission was accepted, it’s a safe bet they were waiting to announce the day of, as Kate’s was. I wonder how much the DM paid out for the info.
There’s also an article on the DM this morning about the couple’s new Cotswolds place, where security stuff was recently installed, and on an estate apparently belonging to one of David Cameron’s best friends – Cameron is well to the right, politically, isn’t he?
Bottom line – rich people go on living like rich people. What a surprise.
Agreed.
Agree with everything you say except that we don’t know how much they paid for the R&R dress. There’s no way they paid full retail price for it and it may have been a token payment in exchange for free publicity. But yeah, richies gonna rich.
The Fail is also claiming that Harry and Meghan will be getting York Cottage. The Fail’s sources on the couple must be limited so they are throwing everything at the wall hoping something will pan out so that later they can pretend they had the inside scoop.
Seriously. Is there a designer they HAVEN’T yet claimed is doing the dress??
Beluga, I don’t think Vicky Beckham has been named yet!! And ironically, I think her streamlined style would suit Meghan better than any of the over the top designers that have been mentioned.
Veronica T – Nope, I’ve definitely seen VB’s name mentioned because of the engagement photo jumper! But I agree that her clothes have an unfussiness (TM) about them that would suit MM. Maybe not for a wedding dress, partly because I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a little-known designer rather than one of the big names. And I’m keeping my toes crossed for no Erdem!
I didn’t really like the R & R engagement dress at the time and didn’t think it went with Harry’s suit. But looking back I think it fit her well, which is something MM has struggled with since then.
Completely agree, Violet.
After Elizabeth has gone, I really hope we say goodbye to the Royal Family- they serve no purpose in this day and age. I wish Meghan and Harry all the best, but I don’t understand all of this build-up and expense for someone who’s 6th in line and for a second marriage.
Really? Well I am a romantic and I love history!
I would have respected the couple more if the affair was going to be more understated.
(Tongue in cheek) somehow I don’t believe you.
Peg,
Tongue in cheek:
Of course you don’t.
When you ascribe racism to any dislike of someone, you see racism.
@ Veronica, are you trying to convince me or yourself?
Peg, why would I have to convince myself? I am certainly not racist, and if I fall into moments of white privilege, I try to be aware of it and correct my thinking. None of us is perfect, but I try to be thoughtful.
I am making a thoughtful comment here, there are other reasons to dislike Meghan, just like I dislike Kanye because of his Trump love, not his race. But you try to just snark it away without any thoughtful response. So I think perhaps you are married to your idea, without much thinking about it.
It is already much smaller than a wedding at Westminster Abbey. They were always going to have an event on a large scale, due to his position to the throne. Windsor is the smaller and less expensive option.
For the royal family, this wedding IS understated! It’s not quite on the level of getting married in the backyard or eloping to Vegas, but it is on a relatively smaller scale than W&K’s wedding.
Charles is going to be king. It was his second wedding to Camilla and her second wedding. So why is this SO much more elaborate than their wedding. And why does the fact that people are angry about the cost to taxpayers always called racism on this site? From what I read, times are tough in many circles in England right now, and people are angry about this for a second wedding to 6th in line.
I know you say he will be a working royal, but Charles works more than all of them, and he did a very understated second wedding.
People like Harry a hell of a lot more than they like Charles. And people mostly hated Camilla (though the general consensus seems to be softening. Was Charles and Camilla’s wedding even televised?
How much did Fergie’s wedding dress cost? Andrew was pretty far down the ladder at that point. Were people bitching about how much that wedding cost?
Also do people not realize just how much money the BRF earns for the Country in tourism dollars?
Every day I see people whining about how much the BRF costs the taxpayers and I just shake my head. Millions of people are going to watch this wedding on TV. They’re going to buy souvenirs, pumping money back into the British economy. They’re going to buy the magazines and the books about Harry and Meghan. I could go on but really, do people not get that?
@hezzer19
The idea that the royal family is a valuable source of income is false. It isn’t, never has been and never will be.
The BRF does not bring in tourism money. No royal family does because tourists don’t visit a country to see its head of State, whether they wear a crown or not. They go to see things and places they find attractive and interesting. That’s why Versailles will always get more visitors than Windsor Castle, even though the latter is occupied and the former isn’t.
As for royal wedding-related memorabilia and what they add to the economy, it’s entirely offset by the fact that a royal wedding always implies an extra bank holiday, which costs about 2.3bn.
A royal family is a net loss financially speaking.
Racism and misogyny infuses so much of the criticism of these two. She shouldn’t be allowed to marry in a big ceremony because she is divorced? Gosh, the Church of England doesn’t have a problem with it, but so many others want to override the decisions of the Church itself. Letizia of Spain was divorced and married in a big Catholic ceremony.
Charles and Camilla were mid 50s, married after a decade of public scandals related to Charles and his first wife, and married with only 2 months notice. It was the former Archbishop of Canterbury who was urging them to get married, who praised them for their lasting love. Event had to be changed last minute due to the death of the Pope; Charles attended his funeral.
They had a wedding blessing at St George’s Chapel Windsor in addition to their registry office wedding. Camilla wore a beautiful custom floor-length gown to the blessing, so it wasn’t a casual event. 20,000 people showed up in Windsor to cheer for them on their wedding day. Civil wedding attended by 30 guests, blessing at St George’s attended by 800 guests. 800 guests. 200 more guests than are rumored to be attending Harry and Meghan’s wedding BTW.
Edward and Sophie had a wedding at Windsor, complete with carriage ride and 800 guests. He was 7th in line to the throne at the time and they weren’t even going to be working royals.
This is a smaller-scale event than expected, much smaller than if they’d gone with Westminster Abbey (or even bluhare’s longed-for St-Martin-in-the-Fields). This is Harry’s first wedding and he and his wife will be main working royal for the next 30 years.
@Veronica T, your posts are the funniest! Somehow, I find it interesting how, in one post, an American complains endlessly about British tax payer money being spent on Meghan and Harry wedding and then in the next post, its I’m glad we don’t have a royal family to spend money on in the US!! Meanwhile, your taxpayer $s in ranges of hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent on a single weekend that Melania and Dotard spend at mar a lago but you have zilch complaints about that ever!! Very interesting.
@42istheanswer We’ll have to agree to disagree.
Important difference: both Charles and Camilla married before. But this is Harry’s first. And hopefully last!
@notasugarhere
Again, the idea that Harry and Meghan are treated in a worse way than other royals is demonstrably false. Many people did have a problem with the cost of Charles and Camilla’s wedding just as they did with that of Edward and Sophie. And of William and Kate and of Andrew and Fergie and of Charles and Diana. It’s a matter of public record that is very easily checked.
“Are they worth the money ?” is a question that is asked every single time the royals engage in something costly, regardless of who said royals are. And a bloody good thing it is too !
Royals have always been criticised, both entirely fairly and utterly unfairly, awful things, right and wrong, have always been written/said about them. They’ve always been mocked, derided, ridiculed. What Harry and Meghan are dealing with right now in terms of negative media coverage is a picnic compared to what others have been/are subjected to.
@hezzer19
I wasn’t aware that numbers could be agreed/disagreed upon. But ok, no problem.
42istheanswer: “I wasn’t aware that numbers could be agreed/disagreed upon. But ok, no problem.” Right?!
I guess that establishment PR gaslighting is hard to shake.
42, that’s not what I’m saying or addressing. VeronicaT appears to think Charles and Camilla *only* had the registry office wedding with a handful of attendees. They didn’t. They had a formal blessing at St George’s attended by 800 guests.
But when the figures for viewing and visitors to Windsor come out I bet that the interest will be on a par with W&K’s wedding.
Sure you would have.
so harry and meghan sd have married in front of a judge ? harry is getting married to someone he has found worthy to be his partner and why shouldnt they have a fancy wedding with pretty dresses and guests ? if zara could get married in a white wedding dress then meghan can do the same. why should she be penalised for wanting a public celebration – and besides it is only 600 guests watching them get married
I followed Kate back in 2010-2011 before her wedding and while there was lots of speculation as to who designed her dress, I definitely don’t remember any hand-wringing about the price. I wonder why all of a sudden everyone is so concerned about ££! 🙄
😉
Because some people just really, really hate Meghan Markle. They wouldn’t be happy either if she walked in in a very cheap dress. They would accuse her of not taking her place seriously.
Yep, her racist haters would attack her if she wore a 1,000 dress as much if not more than if she wore a 100,000 dress
I guess the problem is she is not English Rose. Even if she picked off the rack dress, she would still be told ‘go and sit in the corner’.
Sushi- The UK is going through a very difficult time at the moment and people resent the Royal Family and are questioning their purpose in today’s society. It’s a lot of expense for someone who’s 6th in line and a second marriage.
As a person that has been around for a while, and at the risk of dating myself, the British economy/recession/unemployment is not a new experience, there has always been ups and downs of these nature in the UK. I watched a video sometime back of when TQ got married and how the British people sent her their version of “food stamps” to buy a wedding dress (she returned the stamps with messages of how grateful and thankful she was of their thoughtfulness), now those were hard times, just a couple of years post WWII. this is not new, recessions come and go but lives don’t cease. regardless of whether Meghan marries in a sack cloth, it won’t change a thing. And why is Harry’s position in succession to the throne always being used as a diss to the man? Harry, of all the BRF men, served his country with such honor in 2 Afghanistan deployments!! Why the continuous disrespect for the guy? Just so haters can take digs at Meghan because she is not their choice of a bride? And I don’t get the “a lot of money for a second marriage, this is Harry’s first marriage and Harry is THE BRF member, not Meghan!! And why should Harry be treated differently than any other BRF member, just so he is punished for not marrying an English rose? Prince Edward, who by then was the 7th in line, got married in such pomp, princess royal kids were married in pomp, Harry will be married in the same pomp as well and Eugenie after him will do so at the end of the year, end of story. And I wouldn’t say “people resent the royal family”, that’s such a stretch. There might be some that don’t like them, but as many as there that resent them, there are even more that don’t what them to go nowhere. That’s why its mostly people from other countries, other than the UK, that have their pants tied in knots about the BRF and taxpayer dollars etc etc. For the most part though? Most British people are just minding their own business and getting on with their lives.
It’s Harry’s first marriage, and they will be working royals for the next 30 at least years
If he were marrying WHITE Cressida or WHITE Chelsea there would be none of this hand wringing and pearl clutching.
@Sushi – LOL, Kate’s no English Rose, either. She puts on a lot of makeup to look like one, but the minute you look at Diana, a real one, you realize Kate’s just an ordinary middle-class girl with mediocre complexion. Great figure, no question, nice hair, but none of the really striking coloring and gorgeous skin I, anyway, associate with the term “English Rose”. When I hear that phrase I think Diana, or actresses and models from bygone eras like Susannah York, or Pattie Boyd. Cressida Bonas came a lot closer to the English Rose type than Kate, IMHO. In fact, I think the Middletons were not too happy about Bonas, as she would have shown Kate up for just that reason: Kate’s an imitation, Bonas was the real deal. Just speculation on my part, of course.
Unless as an American I’m mistaken, the term English Rose doesn’t mean any English white girl, but someone who fits into a more specific type. Anyway, Kate doesn’t look that way to me. British posters welcome to correct me on this.
I really hope it’s not R&R. I don’t care about the cost but I would like to see another designer have his/her day under the spotlight. They already did the engagement dress, give someone else a chance to shine! Plus, their design tend to be quite heavy and overwhelming. I don’t think that style suits Meghan at all.
i think we sd respect her choice – if she makes a mistake then there will be enough people gloating about it anyway
I still think that engagement dress was blah for the price tag. If she’s going with the same designer, I hope she or her stylist picks better this time.
@Melone – I hope she leaves the stylist out of this choice completely. A house like R&R should be well able to assist her in assessing design choices, that’s part of their job. I think Mulroney has done way more harm than good for Meghan’s appearances so far. Meghan and the designer AND the stylist IMO is way too many cooks in the soup.
The Royal School of Needlework connection has me excited just to see the dress, regardless of who’s wearing it. My mom went over to England to do a two week course there one summer and I think that all of the embroidery that she did in that time equaled about 20 cm x 30 cm total, but it was AMAZING stuff. That’s not counting the piece that she left behind for some national project. I can’t do needlework like that without my head exploding, but I love it.
This. The artistry that goes into some of these gowns! I didn’t like the embroidery that Kate chose (there was embroidery, right? I’m not completely off my rocker?), but the work was just breathtaking.
Kate’s dress was a 250.000 pounds McQueen, so spare me the “it’s too much money! she’s out of touch! she likes luxury!” She’s a ROYAL bride, do people expect her to walk in in a 2000 pound dress? The whole world will watch her and analyze her dress and overall look.
Agreed. No royal bride is going to roll up to the wedding ceremony in an off-the-rack number, no matter how gorgeous it looks.
It was Kate’s first wedding. William will be king. And her parents paid for it. With Charles paying for it, people think that they will end up paying for it.
And for all those saying how the coverage of MM is racist, yes, some of it is, and some comments are. But I just went back and looked at Chelsy Davy’s coverage – good Lord!! The press was brutal to her. They hid in her back yard, they call her Miss Piggy. Are they prejudiced against Blondes? OR pigs? Fergie was called a porker, her body was mocked. Eugenie and Beatrice were mocked when young teens, shown in bikinis and called fat in the press. So please…can we stop putting Meghan out there as the only one who ever suffered at the hands of the press?
Some of this is just normal hate to sell papers. Some is racist. But to not see how their spendthrift ways have added to the vitriol is being willfully blind.
Veronica, if racism is exhibited it is racism.
To minimize it’s existence, prevalence, etc. & too often deadly consquences makes the denier complicit…
Meghan has been in the media spotlight for almost 2 years now…C was in the spotlight for at least 7 years…
Meghan has been attacked for her race, appearance, age, nationality, career, feminism, divorce, behaviour, estranged half relatives’ behaviour, etc…
What happened to C wasn’t racism because C is white…I really felt badly for her- she was constantly stalked & her looks were picked apart. HORRIBLE TREATMENT!!! I don’t recall people attacking her because she was born in Africa or identifying that both her parents were white, etc. So she was attacked for her appearance & behaviour …
This wedding will be Harry’s first & Harry being 6th in the line of succession (& the second son of the future King) befitting…Edward who was 7th in line at the time of his wedding had a royal wedding. Margaret was 5th at the time of her wedding & her wedding was more grandeur than this one…
I said I agree that some of the comments both by the media and individuals are racist. Did you miss that? It is right up there. ^^^
And I think this wedding is over the top and tacky and thoughtless since it is Meghan’s second. But I’m not a taxpayers in England. The gown that costs more than 100K, the 30 million in cost to the taxpayer – these are reasons people dislike her. And the taxpayers have every right to feel that way about how their money is being spent without being called racists.
don’t forget that unlike Kate, Meghan has her OWN money to buy her dress if she wants to. She’s not an adult woman who needs her parents to buy her wedding dress like Kate did, she’s always worked and can pay for her stuff HERSELF. much more respectable than relying on mommy and daddy like Kate did.
this may be meghan’s second wedding but it’s harry’s FIRST and he’s the royal here! it’s a big deal because of who HE is not who she is. it was always going to be a big wedding regardless of who he married.
People seem unaware of the facts of Charles and Camilla’s event. Registry office wedding was attended by 30 people, but they had 800 guests at their wedding blessing at St George’s. 20,000 people in the streets of Windsor cheering for them.
It is also blatantly obvious that some people would have no problem with any aspect of this wedding if Harry was marrying a 19 year old blond, white virgin.
Veronica, I read & comprehended your comments; I felt that your comments were dismissive of the racial overtone that exists with Meghan. Comparing C’s attacks to M’s attacks is like comparing “apples to oranges’. The sheer fact that the media has to add the additional adjective of race & doesn’t feel the need to add that adjective when describing C shows that they are ‘hung up on’ race versus appearance, action & personality, exclusively.
I agree that some people dislike Meghan dislike her because of reasons other than race, however, when you preface criticism with the adjective describing ones’ race there is only one way to interpret that…
You keep mentioning costs that bare no receipts …to be fair (unbiased) no one except those privy to the budget know for certain… I mentioned 2 BRF weddings that we have estimates of the final cost & each member’s line in succession (until a week ago Harry was 5th in line like Margaret yet higher than Edward)… Whomever Harry married there would have been costs accrued …
You as an American observer is entitled to your opinion & like the thousands or millions of disgruntled British citizens don’t have to watch…
Yeah, Prince Harry should marry his BIRACIAL American actress of AFRICAN heritage semi-privately and very, very quietly in a registry office. Because “etiquette.” And because the DM readership says they should. Let’s forget the fact that the Church of England has no restrictions on a wedding for this pair – the Royal Family should impose its own restrictions. Do the ceremony on the cheap and quiet. And not Sophie and Edward “quiet” – more like Charles/Camilla or the Duke and Duchess of Windsor quiet. Yeah, let’s give Harry and Meghan the shame service they give to other all the other dual- adulterers.
Lol just think about the optics on that. Think about the message it would send if the Queen imposed a downmarket, off brand registry wedding onto a beloved senior British Royal, her own grandson, and his WOC bride – the only bride of established AFRICAN heritage to ever marry into the royal family. I’m sure it would play well with the DM readership (and you, because “etiquette”) but the rest of the world would rightly seize upon it. It would be a PR nightmare.
Luckily, the BRF knows better. They have embraced Meghan and this marriage whole heartedly (at least publicly) because they want harry to be happy, they want harry to have a wedding befitting a prince of the realm, they know they’ll be putting Meghan to “work” and understand the public won’t buy her as a proper royal unless THEY demonstrate their but-in first, AND because they are not going to give anyone, anywhere a chance to accuse them of letting bigotry trump love. Nope. Not today, Satan.
Veronica, this is Harry’s first marriage and he is the Royal one. He is also entitled to happiness and that looks like Meghan Markle.
Meghan has been working for at least 10 years and has had enough money and connections to wear luxury labels for quite some time. I don’t like to diss Kate, but since you used her in your argument, at least Meghan uses her own money to dress herself. I’m 30 years old and I stopped using my parents’ money to buy clothes a long time ago.
Kate has been “beloved” since day one, regardless of her non existent work ethic and career. The only negative some people liked to point out is her mother’s past job and background. They’re solid middle class and still managed to spend a quarter of a million pounds on ONE of her wedding dresses (the other one must have been at least 100k). Meghan is a foreigner, an actress and *gasp* half-black. Some people will hate her forever, no matter how well she does and attacking her supposed 100k dress is a way of doing so (and I’m not saying you are doing this, I mean the press trying to ignite more hatred against her). It’s sad that Meghan’s crime is her race. This is why so many of us celebrate her and Harry, because we know how effed up this is.
What Chelsey went through bears no comparison to what Meghan because she has a black mother is having to put up with, we have not really heard the full extent of the hateful and vicious onslaught against Meghan.
I keep reading how the British media is treating MM unfairly, and I cannot but wonder that apart from Daily Mail whose reports many British commenters here say have no impact because they are only read by a tiny section of the population, which other media has been consistently biased against her? I’m just wondering because I always read flowery stories about her from media like the Guardian, Independent, BBC, ITV, Sky, Mirror, Sun etc. So besides DM, pls which other media is guilty of ‘stirring hatred’ against her?
I mean, you could do an in site search for “Meghan markle” at the top 3 British papers online and get answers yourself. Just a thought.
I didn’t like her engagement pictures dress (though I agree she and Harry had fairly sizzling chemistry for the often sexless-seeming BRF), so I kind of hope it isn’t the same designer.
Ralph and Russo make beautiful gowns. Plus if dailymail is right her dress will cost less the Kate’s dress.
Of the engagement photos, my fave was the one where they are walking together and Meghan leans into Prince Harry while holding hands. Sweet, natural look.
I’ve never cared for the engagement photo dress itself but, meh, she seemed to like it.
Also, I don’t expect rich people to skimp on their wedding attire or anything else really. It would just be an optical illusion, if you will. Meghan and Kate are always going to be expensively dressed, wedding or other occasion. I am not sure why people expect anything different from either of them.
That’s the point though.. they don’t really wear expensive clothes. People act like Kate wears the same type of clothing as affluent Arab Princesses – couture and extremely high end. All of her pieces ( including shoes) can be and are bought by regular people. Meghan is the same. It was announced ages ago that Ralph and Russo were designing her wedding gown. IIRC, it was French Vogue who spilled first. I think the Windsors and Charles will be paying, well that’s what it says in the new articles. Ralph and Russo make exquisite couture gowns for international clients. Hopefully, she doesn’t go for the over the top embellishment, and they keep it classic and beautiful. Meghan will be overwhelmed with too much fabric, and I hope they get the waist right because she is quite squared shaped. Her clothing choices tend to overemphasize her barrel-shaped waist area. It will be nice to see her get that right after the wedding with a good tailor and a good stylist. She needs to dump Jessica Mulroney as a stylist.
I actually have a couple of the mugs with Kate and Harry on them! The company that produced them effed up and used a photo of Harry instead of William – I absolutely love them!
That mug could be worth something then, hang on to it! Lol!
Meghan is a very beautiful woman. Unless she wears something uttely dreadful which seems unlikely, she’ll look lovely, R&R or not.
Ummmm. let her wear what ever the hell she wants. She’s got her own money,she is stunning and fresh and ALIVE and I love them. This is a royal couple for the history and the fairytale books. Plus…I remember feeling that way. Rich or poor,gay,straight, bi,married,hanging out whatever…we have all felt that way.
Who knows what the DM knows or doesn’t know? If they’re right, they got a scoop, and if they’re wrong, it will roll off their backs like water off a duck. R&R seem like a simpatico design house for Meghan: dramatic. I like other designers more but as long as it’s not Erdem or McCartney I’m okay with it.
The Met office is btw predicting a chilly day with downpours, and so far there have been much fewer requests for waivers of fees for permits to close off streets for what we call here “block parties” to celebrate than there were in 2011. I think it’s as understated a wedding as is appropriate, given that it’s Harry’s first wedding and he’s 6th in line, and as grand as appropriate given he’s the next King’s son. It is what it is, as they say.
A registry office would have been a real letdown unless it was followed by a big “Blessing Ceremony” like the one C&C had, and by the time you get to that, you might as well have the big church wedding and be done with it. I also think the registry office bit would have undermined Meghan’s place in the family before she is out of the starting gate, they want her to be accepted as full member taking on a full role.
That said, I have to say the to me, and this is just me, the big white dress and veil on a divorcee pushing 37 seems somewhat inappropriate, too. But that’s no reason Meghan can’t have something grand and beautiful and less like a traditional first-time blushing bride. There ARE many styles and approaches that can pull off a beautiful, sophisticated, regal look without going all orange blossom and veils.
Don’t you think she was gifted the R+R in the engagement photos? Or was gifted for just the shoot and she returned it? I would assume R+R could gift her wedding gown as well, in turn for all the publicity they are getting… I mean, no one pays for their Met gowns lol. Same deal.
Royals are not allowed to be gifted clothes in this way so I think they must have just paid a token amount for the dress. After all the publicity Ralph and Russo got must be ten times what the dress is actually worth. I had never heard of the company before but now I have and this association means that they will not be forgotten. The creators of Diana’s wedding dress have lived off it now for over 35 years, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they will be paid to talk about Meghan’s dress, in fact they have already been paid to talk about what would suit Meghan.