Yesterday evening, Kensington Palace released the “order of service” for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding, or should I say, the Sussexes Wedding. There were some flubs and interesting pieces of information in there, like… Meghan’s father is still listed in program. And here’s something fun: the gospel choir will perform “Stand By Me.” That’s a song I think is overused in pop culture, but when you listen to the original song, you can really feel it. It’s a beautiful song.
The Official Order of Service for the Wedding of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle is now available to download.https://t.co/dRHckWM0j8
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 18, 2018
One of Duchess Meghan’s first choices as she’s becoming a married lady? She won’t “obey” her husband. Like the Princess of Wales before her – not to mention the Duchess of Cambridge – Meghan has deleted “obey” from her wedding vows.
When Meghan Markle says her royal wedding vows to Prince Harry on Saturday, she’ll be following in the footsteps of Princess Diana and Kate Middleton by choosing to omit the traditional promise to “obey” her husband, the palace confirms. During the ceremony, officiated by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Meghan will tell her royal groom: “I Meghan, take you, Harry, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part; according to God’s holy law. In the presence of God I make this vow.”
Diana was the first to break royal precedent when she didn’t promise to “obey” Prince Charles at their 1981 wedding. A long line of royal brides before her included the phrase in their wedding vows, as prescribed in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer dating from 1662. But Diana, choosing to follow the ritual of the Church of England, instead promised only to “love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health.”
The decision was controversial at the time, and others after her did vow obedience when they married into the royal family, including Sarah Ferguson and Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1986 and 1999, respectively. But in 2011, Princess Kate followed in her late mother-in-law’s footsteps by also omitting the promise “to obey” from her vows during her wedding to Prince William. At the time, their official wedding program provided the wording to their vows, in which Kate promised to “love, comfort, honor and keep” William. One extremely famous royal who did vow obedience? Queen Elizabeth, during her 1947 wedding to Prince Philip — the first of its kind to be broadcast live on the radio. At the Westminster Abbey ceremony, the then-future Queen vowed “to love, to cherish, and to obey” her husband in front of 2,000 guests and 200 million people listening around the world.
I forgot that Diana was the OG of NOT obeying. Meghan has that streak in her too, that Diana-esque “I’m gonna do what I want” streak. That’s probably what Harry loves most about her. I think if he was given the choice, Harry would probably put it in his vows that he would “obey” Meghan.
Photos courtesy of WENN, PCN and Backgrid.
Oprah, Idris…OMG
I was so happy and surprised to see Idris! I didn’t know Oprah was going either, but it was wonderful to see her too. It makes me wonder how many other celebrities we’ll see that we didn’t know about!
Love this girl. Viva la Duchess — and hot Harry, too!
Wishing them a lifetime of joy.
So hot.
WEDDING DAY!!!!! I’m so excited!
I remember that Sarah wanted obey in her vows, but I’m disappointed in Sophie.
I hope he doesn’t shave his beard. I LOVE the beard! Who remembers honking for Harry a couple of years ago before he and Meghan started dating? I forgot how deprived of him we used to be. The writers weren’t even sure if we were interested in posts about him. And so we flooded the comment section with honks.
I’m so happy that he has found someone so pictures of him can be a mainstay on this site now!
I remember that!! Good memories 😊
I’m up! And so excited! Whose coverage is everyone watching?
BBC coverage on BBC America.
BBC was my first instinct. I love Brad Goreski but can’t stand E! But I want to see the “stars”! I need multiple TVs!!!
I am watching PBS which is showing BBC’s coverage. I am starting to consider switching to MSNBC though because they are doing some boring interviews and aren’t showing enough fashion from the guests.
Good for her! I didn’t have obey in mine either!
Good morning, everyone!
Auntie Oprah!
So excited!
Pippa looks matronly.
Not keen on the Middletons being invited. Also is that the uncle?? But eh, whatever.
It would be pretty rude not to invite them, considering weren’t both George and Charlotte in the wedding party?
The Middleton’s have arrived!
I thought PIppa looked good. Pregnancy seems to agree with her!
The colour is terrble
George and Amal
Posh looks like her heels are hurting her.
I know right. Amal as well.
I wish she would smile more. I know she doesn’t like the way she looks when she smiles, but it’s really noticeable when everyone around her has huge smiles and she’s looking so glum.
Amal can hardly walk!
She can hardly smile naturally either… and she keeps touching her hair. Ugh!
Amal looks good!
Lol I was wondering how Celebitchy would scramble to avoid saying Kate had done this too.
And it was apparently Kate who brought it back so it’s silly not give her any notice.
Idris is so fiiiiine.
Pippa looks like she’s about to hit 50.
Yeah, Pippa and Kate are aging harshly.
It’s interesting to hear the reporters saying how much more excitement there is in the air for this wedding than Kate/William’s.
Makes sense. Harry and Meghan being more exciting the Wiliam and Kate, who couldn’t be blander, the U.S. factor driving interest from Americans, the celebrity guest list…
No one’s saying it. Every survey has shown otherwise.
No one’s saying it. Every single survey has shown otherwise.
James Middleton looks a MESS
Yup
That’s interesting about Queen Elizabeth saying “obey” when she married Prince Philip. This seems contradictory?
She’s the sovereign…presumably, she’s the one who makes the decisions related to her role as monarch. Some of those decisions must intrude on the domestic sphere – that is, for royals, typically personal/private matters like their romantic lives, marital relationships, having/raising kids, etc. have public implications/consequences for themselves and the overall reputation of the monarchy.
Not to mention, she’s often making “business” decisions about their family members. There must be occasions where she has overruled her husband’s preferred course of action.
So given how her public and private roles overlap, it seems strange that a Queen regnant would be expected to vow to obey her lower-ranking husband.
Elizabeth wasn’t Queen when she married Philip. She was Princess Elizabeth. Probably didn’t really think about it much, it was just traditional.
Google for
Queen Elizabeth Philip wedding
and
Queen Elizabeth coronation
for interesting pics and videos. They show a very young Charles watching his mother getting crowned.
She was just 21 when she married, and her father died when she was 25 (he was only 56). I imagine she had assumed she had a very long time before she would have to take on the duties of a Queen. Her sister seemed to express the feeling of “better you than me”, basically…
It was soon after the end of WWII when Elizabeth married, and she had to save up ration books to pay for her wedding dress.
I know this is a royal wedding but most women no longer say obey in their vows. Kate didn’t say it either so I doubt it’s a big deal.