This is a bit sad! As it turns out, everyone decided that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry could not and should not invite any politicians to their May wedding. Harry is the heir’s spare, so obviously his wedding was never going to be as important – socially or politically – as William’s wedding. But many of us thought and hoped that Harry’s personal friendship with Michelle and Barack Obama meant that he would extend a wedding invitation to them. Alas, it was not to be. I guess Downing Street believed that if Harry invited the Obamas and not the Trumps, it would be seen as a notable “snub.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are keeping politics out of their upcoming royal wedding.
“It has been decided that an official list of political leaders – both U.K. and international – is not required for Prince Harry and Ms. Markle’s wedding. Her Majesty’s Government was consulted on this decision, which was taken by The Royal Household,” a Kensington Palace spokesman said Tuesday.
Their decision to omit world leaders from their guest list means former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama will not be attending the May 19 ceremony at Windsor Castle, PEOPLE understands. While Harry and Meghan have become close to the couple, their guest list is being reserved for long-standing friends they have known for years. Even though Barack and Michelle won’t be at their wedding, Harry and Meghan have plans to visit with the Obamas in the near future.
“Both the couples look forward to seeing each other soon,” adds a royal source. Harry has become close to Michelle in recent years through their mutual work on behalf of veterans. Barack also supported Harry’s Invictus Games in Toronto last September.
The absence of dignitaries at the wedding also means President Donald Trump and senior British politicians will not be invited.
“Those in attendance will be people who one or both of the couple has a existing direct relationship with,” adds a royal source.
I guess Downing Street, Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace all came down on the side of caution, because there was absolutely no f–king way that Harry and Meghan would invite Donald Trump, and since they didn’t want to look like they were snubbing the baby-fisted fascist in particular, they just erred on the side of making their wedding completely apolitical. It is sad – they should be able to invite whoever they want.
Maybe Harry and Meghan will make a point of doing one of their first married-couple appearances with the Obamas? That would be nice. Apparently, Harry and Meg are rumored to be planning for a honeymoon in Namibia, allegedly at the Hoanib Valley Camp. They should invite Michelle and Barack along.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Sad that the world is pandering to the maniac in USA just to avoid a nuclear war..
True.
Agree.
Absolutely.
Harry has had a few appearances with the Obamas – has Meghan ever even been seen with them? This great friendship seems to be wishful thinking more than anything cause if they were such good friends, they would have invited the Obamas, Trump. notwithstanding. You invite those you care about to your wedding, screw Trump.
@Veronica T: I agree. There have been a few, photographed events w the Obamas, not even places where they necessarily always came together, so why leap to the conclusion that they’re actually “friends”–much less close friends? Seems like VERY wishful, unsubstantiated thinking to me, too.
It’s sad, but I can understand why the Foreign Office felt the need to lean on Harry about this. We are leaving the EU. We cannot afford to alienate the US president. Based on the evidence, I’m sure Harry and the Obamas really are good friends, but we are not in a position to upset the tiny-fisted dictator over something this trivial.
Good grief, the US POTUS wants us to have sour milk , chlorinated chicken and thrash our NHS. It’s weird that we’re trying to keep them happy when they’re going to pretty much screw us over.
Don’t blame me – I fought hard against Brexit. Everyone sane knows it’s going to be a disaster. But given that both the Conservatives and Labour have abrogated their responsibility to the electorate, it’s going to happen and we have to deal with it.
Well it could be that Windsor could not handle the impact of security for a royal wedding AND a visit by a former US President. Security needed for US Presidents is enormous.
Yeah, I had previously been convinced that Michelle would come on her own for precisely this reason. Windsor is actually a lot easier to secure than anywhere in central London, though (being unconquered for almost 1000 years).
This is her life now.
Uhhh there are people I like that I wouldn’t have necessarily invited to my wedding. The Obamas just may not have been a priority on the guest list, you know?
Yeah, Haz and the Obamas obviously get along but maybe they’re not close enough to invite to the wedding. In any case it seems sensible to keep all pollies off the guest list in this instance.
They’re not inviting the Prime Minister either so to invite the Obamas would be a snub to their own leader.
That one was really surprising. I would have thought PMs from all commonwealth countries got automatic invites to these things.
I was going to say the same thing. It’s not like we’ve seen Harry and/or Meghan hanging out on vacation with the Obamas. They’ve been seen together at public events. Obviously they like one another and seem to get along, but that’s a far cry from phoning someone and saying, “Want to catch a movie on Friday?” Being friendly and actually being friends are two different things.
I can understand not wanting to bring politics into the mix..trump will probably claim that the evil FBI stole his invitation..
Haha too true!
10 to 1 odds he doesn’t give a damn!!!
Trump not care that he doesn’t receive an invite? And if the Obamas did receive one? This is the orange child who is still seething he isn’t getting an official State Visit and carriage ride through London.
Damn….I wanted to see what Michelle was going to wear because you know it would be amazing. 🙂
I know she would’ve been amazing.
Harry has a good relationship with them, I think it’s cause of the orange evil buffoon.
I thought maybe just Michelle would go. But I understand. It would be a security nighmare to have the former POTUS there. IDGAF about the Orange Cheeto and doubt it had much to do with him.
I mean let’s face it, who would wouldn’t want Barack and Michelle at their wedding…sigh…
Prince Harry dipped off…QUIETLY (and I do mean…QUIETLY…we didn’t hear anything about it until a couple of days AFTER the event) to fly to Chicago’s Southside to speak with students at my old High School, Hyde Park Career Academy with Michelle…and he and Obama have been together several times and it’s documented that he is close with both …so I know the ONLY reason that they didn’t invite Obamas is because of the optics regarding the POS that currently resides in the White House…but the wonderful thing is…that I’m sure they will hang out together in the near future!
There is also a chance that they are invited to the private evening reception. No one knows who is invited to that one. And that guest list is thought to be restricted to 200 of their close friends. The Obamas may be invited to this one and the world wouldn’t know.
The public invitations would be for the public church and reception portion of the wedding ie the non exclusive event at which the diplomats, other royal families, professional friends of the family are invited. This is the portion Trump would have been invited to.
@LAK I actually wonder about the wording. It says no political leaders aren’t being invited. Last I checked, The Obamas are no longer political leaders.
BrandyAlexander: good catch. It’s slippery language, and it allows for the Obamas and Sophie Trudeau.
BrandyAlexander: Just had a thought, this ‘no politicians at the wedding’ might mean no *Prince Seeiso of Lesotho which would be a shame given his co-founding Sentebale with Harry.
* https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Seeiso_of_Lesotho
I figured this would probably be the case. But it would have been so delicious to see the Obamas attending and Trump stomping his little foot in rage.
The Trudeaus released a statement last night they’re also not attending the wedding. Looks like more of a private wedding which is wonderful and of course Harry being the spare, it’s not a state occasion.
where did you see their statement?
Katie3 I caught it last night while watching CP24 news channel.
Trudeau is in the middle of a “constitutional crisis” right now. Between his promise to be more considerate of the environment and the Paris Accord, his promise to not ignore Section 35 of the Constitution and his government’s push to approve KM against scientific evidence that it is harmful and unnecessary he has bigger issues than a selfie op with royalty. So yeah, release a statement that you’re not going to a royal wedding. That works!
All our PMs face the resource extraction for economic benefit vs. going green/environmental protection controversy though. It wouldn’t stop one from attending an event. Plus, Megan and Sophie are friends. I think it’s more likely that the Trudeaus and Obamas weren’t invited because they didn’t want to invite the Trumps too, but who knows.
Theresa May, Prime Minister of Great Britain, is also not on the guest list. They really can’t invite Trudeau or Obama if they don’t invite May.
Sure they could. The Obamas aren’t politicians anymore. I think the bottom line is the Obamas are friendly w Harry but not friends. And as far as only inviting “dear friends,” there have been stories of Meghan inviting their engagement photographer, and they just met him.
Thanks for that info, I was wondering about the Trudeaus.
Hmm…this wedding really does require some high profile visitors from the America’s, especially as Meghan is from across the pond. Maybe Serena Williams will be the highest profile American, setting aside the brides parents of course.
Kinda sad the Obamas aren’t going because that would have been amazing.
Anyway, had a dream yesterday that Kate had the baby (who was a duchess at birth instead of a princess for some reason) and LOL, dream me was definitely not happy with their name choice – (Duchess) Babe Lady.
😂😂
That name made me lol 😂😂
So this is our world now. They cannot invite their friends who no longer hold any political office to their wedding lest it upset the Toddler-in-Chief who has already cancelled his state visit to the U.K. I understand the reasoning, but all it is teaching Emperor Baby Fists is that his temper tantrums get results.
I’m curious though – would having the Obamas and other high profile political figures (however ex-) add another level of security concerns? Maybe that’s a consideration.
As far as the Cheeto-in-Chief, you can’t use the word teaching in the same sentence. He’s long past the point where he’s capable of learning anything, positive or negative.
That is Harry’s world since his birth. He have to be politically neutral. It’s better to keep the wedding light, it will all about them and the hats.
That’s not exactly accurate. There is longstanding royal protocol to consider.
They are also not inviting Theresa May.
I find that quite odd. The PM always attends events with the BRF multiple times a year.
He’ll be sixth in line. Harry gets a pass cos he’s Diana’s son. Otherwise the wedding wouldn’t be that much publicised.
If they invite May, then they need to invite the leader of the opposition, then there are the Commonwealth Heads of State – invite one and not the rest quickly becomes messy.
Plus I don’t recall Heads of Sate etc.. being invited to Andrew, Anne or Edwards weddings.
Nancy Reagan went to Andrew’s wedding, and he was fourth in line at the time. The First Lady is usually a good compromise.
I like to think that there was a strategic personal conversation with the Obamas, as well as with the Trudeaus. There are personal friendships between Harry and the Obamas and between Meghan and at least Sophie T. I think they wanted to invite them, but didn’t really want to deal with the additional security and the carrying on about Trump. —AND PM Teresa May is also out.
Before this all broke I thought maybe Sophie and Michelle could come without husbands, but everyone is adult and I am sure the friendships are intact and we will see them “reunited and it feels so good!”
or perhaps they are not close enough to be invited to something as personal as their wedding! I find it so funny that people think they know a lot about celebrities, including who they are friends with – just by seeing them interact in a friendly manner at some events.
^^^ this. I’m sure Harry & Meghan like the Obamas well enough and are fond of them and vice versa, but do we seriously know that they’re hanging out a lot? Going on double dates and gabbing on the phone? They live on different continents; I always just assumed the relationship was more professional than organic buddies. Like colleagues that get along great but not necessarily warranting a wedding invite. I can’t stand Trump, but I also can’t blame them for not using their (highly publicized) wedding as a way of trolling him. It’d be awesome to watch, but really who wants their wedding remembered that way?
@Shannon, so true. I remember someone who sat behind Haz and Barry at the Invictus Games shared the conversation they overheard between them (I don’t remember if it was someone here or if it was leaked to the media), anyway… it really was the blandest of small talks, not even a friendly small talk.
I remember getting the impression that they hadn’t talked before the event, or that they don’t really talk between events. All in all, not much of a relationship between the two of them as PERSONS vs as PUBLIC FIGURES.
Well lets hope that there are some nice surprises on the day.
No Trudeaus, no Obamas. I’m sad. I was looking forward to the two gorgeous couples being there, and yes, I was gloating about Trump seething over it.
Sometimes when couples get married out of state they have a big reception at home after the honeymoon for all their friends and family that couldn’t make the wedding. Maybe one of the couples will host a post-wedding party for Harry and Meghan and invite the other. 😊
I’m sure this decision to keep ‘politics’ out of the wedding was made solely for cost reasons and nothing whatsoever to do with that orange fool. All these high profile people would require huge amounts of additional security and the alleged existing (public purse) costs for that is already outrageous.
Skylark, I think you have it. I have no doubt that no one wants Trump at the wedding but he isn’t the only politician in the world. They would all need protection, and accommodations would have to be made for Secret Service for the Obamas and for whoever guards the Trudeaus and on and on. Logistics and cost would be a little crazy for a wedding.
I know everyone desperately wants the lack of Obama’s invitation to be Trumps fault but I think in this one case it’s just not. From everything I’ve ever heard about British intelligence, they are damn good at what they do. I believe that if they had any say in this, they probably advised HM that it would be best all around to not have any world leaders present.
@RedOnTheHead – I suspect – and hope – that this decision is solely down to our slippery UK gov, despite their usual pandering to the entitled royals, having to accept that while there’s a reasonable amount of goodwill about for Harry & Meghan, there’s also a distinct lack of appetite on the part of the tax payer (for money which should be going towards all our crucial services (so many of which are at crisis point) being used instead to provide security for attendees at what is, at base, a private wedding.
I agree as well, the estimated security cost is already in the tens of millions.
Apart from the political issues I also believe that Kate is quite happy that Meghan will get a smaller wedding 😉
The woman is 9 months pregnant and you’re still making digs. Kate married the heir, she was ALWAYS going to have a bigger wedding. Seems like you care far more than Kate does.
The royals play a tricky diplomatic role, and it just sucks that this is yet another fun thing botched by the tiny fingered monster in DC. The US & Britain love highlighting their “special relationship,” and it’s hard to imagine that in a post Brexit world where every opportunity is critical to strengthening diplomatic relationships, that if any other person occupied the White House they wouldn’t have used a marriage between an American and a royal to highlight this “special relationship” with some sort of official representation from the US, whether it’s a state occasion or not. Theresa May has already made such a mess of things vis a vie the notoriously petty Trump, that this no politician workaround is the best compromise, it’s iust too bad that the Obamas and the Trudeaus who are clearly friendly enough with the couple to make it into a 600 person invite list got caught in the middle of it.
This.
I’m bummed. He seems really friendly with them, and I would have loved the thought of them partying it up together afterward.
Could see Obama’s crashing!
I’m hoping we see Malia and Sasha roll up to the wedding. I’ve done that before; represented my family at a wedding. It would be a delicious, sly statement that would actually be in keeping with H&M’s brand.
What a great idea!!
That would be amazeballs if it happened. Wasn’t Malia dating some british toff anyway?
There is no way the Obamas could have attended this wedding without the one who won’t be named spewing orange vomit from his mouth. I think if someone of Obama’s own political party had been elected President then I could see the O’s being able to attend without incident. Hmm. Perhaps even with a different type of republican in office too, i.e., McCain but with nameless’ fragile self-esteem and ego issues and where the US is right now it wouldn’t be prudent for the Obama’s to attend.
Boooooo! Would have been so amazing for the Os to be there and f-u to 45!
Beatrice and Eugenie officially attending the Queen’s Dinner for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. Let the tiara speculation begin (if they will wear tiaras, who knows)
It’s my guess this decision rests on a menu of issues: 1) the family wants to make sure a distinction is drawn between a state or semi-state wedding of an Heir Apparent or Heir Presumptive, and what is essentially a private wedding between the sixth in line and a divorcee who isn’t even yet a UK citizen, 2) if you invite one, you have to invite others and they want to avoid political issues, 3) heads of state means higher security and accommodation costs, and there’s already been mutterings about the public paying a huge sum for what isn’t a state wedding. It’s a foretaste for Meghan of one of the downsides of a marriage like this: your own wishes often have to take a back seat to the family’s view of things.
I’ll be interested to see who represents Europe’s other royal families at the wedding. I can’t imagine there won’t be any, but if political bigwigs aren’t coming, it’s probably a safe bet that crowned heads aren’t, either.
Do you have this dislike of all divorced persons, like Charles, Anne, Camilla, Andrew, Fergie, Letizia of Spain, essentially the Duke and Duchess of Kent? Or other foreigners who marry in to Royal families (Maxima, Mary, Marie, Charlene, Grace Kelly, Autumn Kelly Philips, Duchess of Gloucester, Gary Lewis, Prince Philip)?
Or just this one divorced person and foreigner?
I think the Windsor wedding is the result of them spending most of their courtship at Windsor, so it is special to them. It is also an attempt to keep security costs lower, because securing a wedding at Westminster Abbey would cost much more. Crowds would show up regardless, as they did for Edward and Sophie, Zara and Mike, etc.
These two are going to be major working royals for the next 20-30 years. I know that has some people in a snit, but it is the fact. W&K’s kids won’t show up for royal duties until they are mid-thirties. This wedding reflects that position, while being the less costly of the options.
On citizenship and such things.
Well, the Markle case is a bit different. Prince Harry is a political person due to his family and now he marries a non-British non-European US-American. I know that issues of citizenship are taken very lightly nowadays and it seems to be the assumption that you can change you citizenship as easily as buying new winter shoes every 3 years. But that is in my opinion actually highly questionable. In my country there are a lot of people with a migration background and a lot of different migration backgrounds. Some of them have integrated relatively well, especially if they came from mostly christian and modern democratic countries. But some came from non-christian dictatorship countries and they don’t integrate. Their grandchildren are still not integrated and worse, they consider christians and jews as “inferior humans”. No joke. Many people from these groups pose a serious problem to people who are not of “their group”.
Markel wasn’t raised in Britain nor in Europe. So I wonder how she fees about certain British traditions, British history and philosophy and the British way of life in general?
Or put it more practically:
How would you feel if D.T. divorced Melania and married a Russian lady?
I simply don’t believe that issues of citizenship are as simple as many laws about changing your citizenship suggest.
Good heavens – I’m trying to analyze how THEY think, that doesn’t mean it’s how I think! And partly it’s based on what I’ve read what others here have said: it’s not the same as Charles and Diana or William and Kate. I’m no expert on the royal family, just making what I didn’t think were off the wall guesses!
I read the phrases “state wedding” and “semi-state wedding” on this very site, I didn’t dream them up.
I haven’t a thing against divorces or divorced people – I’m actually new here and gamely trying to figure out the landscape and make a not-idiot contribution.
@sugar – and by the way, as Meghan and I are from the same country, I hardly view her as a “foreigner”!
@Tata Mata
Don’t quite get the overall point you’re making, but think you’re reaching with respect to Meghan Markle.
First, she isn’t necessarily changing her citizenship; according to the Dept of State website, it looks like she can obtain British citizenship without having to renounce her US citizenship, unless she chooses to. Both countries permit dual nationality.
Both are English-speaking, which means language isn’t the factor in acclimating it might be elsewhere.
She’s been living in Toronto, part of the Commonwealth, for seven years – so likely is already acquainted with aspects of British life. Don’t see knowledge of British history to be a prerequisite for moving there.
Finally, she’s been dating a citizen of Britain for the past two years, and seems to have spent much of those two years actually on British soil, so ditto the above. I suspect “how she feels about certain British traditions…and the British way of life in general”, is, she’s very comfortable, or she wouldn’t be moving there, and she’ll integrate quite well (it’s not like she’ll have to worry about money or a job or a place to live).
Again, don’t quite get your point, but re: your remark about DT and Melania – am not sure but always assumed Melania isn’t US born. That’s not a problem in itself. They’re both awful people – that’s the problem.
Violet: There is no such thing as a semi-state wedding. William and Kate never called their wedding semi-state, BUT because they *didn’t invite the diplomats (presidential or otherwise) that they should have invited, the fans took to calling it a ‘semi-state wedding’ to explain away the lack of diplomatic presence at his wedding. A term about as real as ‘part-time royal’. Something is either a ‘state / royal’ thing or it is not. No inbetween.
*there is a William interview with an American morning show on youtube where he discusses the invitations to his wedding. Apparently, the Palace initially pulled together a wedding list that included all the necessary diplomatic and professional friends of the family and UK. According to him, the list was huge and all were unknown to him. WK had envisioned a small village country wedding rather than the grand wedding the list implied. William complained to HM who told him to tear it up and invite his friends and the rest would be added later.
The end result was a much smaller wedding and crucial diplomatic people left off the list. Ditto the decorative trees at Westminster to evoke a country wedding.
“a divorcee who isn’t even yet a UK citizen” reads like you classing her as “the other” which amounts to “foreign to the UK” in this context.
Did you have similar objections to Maxima, Mary, Charlene, Autumn, Brigitte, Maria-Teresa of Lux (her own mother in law called her La Negrita – yep, guess the root)? Or Gary Lewis, the Maori member of the BRF? They all took on new countries, new citizenship, some of them do royal duties. Many of them publicly attend events about the immigrant experience through the years. Not ignoring the fact they are immigrants, but embracing it as part of their new identity in their royal family.
As pointed out, Meghan Markle has lived in Canada off-and-on for 7 years. She already had her own base of friends in London before she met Harry. There will be adjustments and loads for her to learn, but she isn’t a Martian. She appears to have the ability to learn and adapt.
LAK those trees. To me they were hokey and covered the architecture.
@Violet, ” I’m actually new here and gamely trying to figure out the landscape and make a not-idiot contribution.”
You are doing fine and I promise most of the people you run into here are both kind and patient. A great many of them have a killer sense of humour, too.
@notasugar – what it “sounds like” is your interpretation. I’m not even British and I’m not classifying anything. On the one hand people say she’s a completely new thing on the royal family’s landscape because she’s an American divorcee and this couldn’t have happened 30 years ago and after all he’s much farther down the line, and then they turn around and get angry if you wonder if any of that is at work at all behind the scenes re the wedding. It’s nothing to do with me at all. I don’t have objections to Meghan and I don’t have objections to any of the people you list (although since you mention Charlene I have to say her eyes often look tragic to me and I wonder if she’s just a tool of the Monaco family – if I have an objection there it’s toward her husband, who I think is a creep). I mean “objections” suggests personal investment, doesn’t it, which I don’t have.
“a divorcee who isn’t even yet a UK citizen” needs little interpretation IMO.
NOTA, that you say “major working royals” and Harry in the same paragraph just makes me giggle. Harry has never done any major amount of work. He is basically unemployed and has been since he left the military.
And even if we believe Meghan may try to light a fire under him (and I think she will, as she is used to working and I think will be very frustrated at how little she will be allowed to work) you of all people know that there is NO way they will be allowed to outwork or outshine Wills and Kate. Never.
And you are correct: “a divorcee who isn’t even yet a UK citizen” doesn’t need interpretation. It is simply a fact. No judgement involved. Fact.Not sure how facts can have a racist bias, since that is what you are always implying when anyone doesn’t fawn over MM.
@Veronica, Harry works harder than William and Kate (both “major royals”). Always has, and likely always will.
Does anyone else think that “a divorcee who isn’t even yet a UK citizen” reminds them of “a virgin who can’t drive”? Just me? Bueller?
Given the rest of your comments, there is plenty of judgement involved.
The working team of royals will soon be down to six, if Charles’s rumored plan is true. That means Harry and Meghan will be 1/3 of the team, ie. major working royals.
There’s no such thing as a semi-state wedding. It was made up to justify William and Kate doing what they wanted.
@Tina – I just looked up the guest list for William and Kate’s wedding:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wedding_guests_of_Prince_William_and_Catherine_Middleton
Note the “Members of Reigning Royal Families”, and scrolling all the way down, “Commonwealth Governors General” and “Politicians and Diplomats”.
What is it that William and Kate wanted to do that was inappropriate to William’s place in the line of succession? This guest list has a lot of people on it that clearly are on it due to protocol that W&K had no control over. To me this guest list screams “state occasion” unless there’s some technical aspect to the term that I don’t understand. But to me it seems this guest list shows that their wedding was on a different level from Harry’s and Meghan’s.
I don’t see why this is a matter of contention. That’s what royal families and hierarchy and all that fuss are about, isn’t it?
@Violet, I don’t really blame them, but weddings of the second in line to the throne are not state occasions. If it had been a state wedding, they would have had to invite world leaders outside the Commonwealth. People who are second in line to the throne have married before (most notably the Queen’s father and mother) but no one has felt the need to call it a “semi-state” wedding before.
Violet: what Tina said.
William admitted that he removed many of the diplomatic people that should have been invited and the family had to settle for the few leaders they could invite without upsetting the ones that had been left off the list.
If we are to believe William’s own words about the list the Palace had initially drawn up, then it should have looked more like his father’s guest list in terms of level of diplomats and royals invited.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wedding_guests_of_Charles,_Prince_of_Wales,_and_Lady_Diana_Spencer
Charles ended up with 3500 guests vs William’s much reduced 1900.
WK ended up inviting charities and Kate’s village to make up numbers rather than invite diplomats that would have been a first step in his diplomatic career.
Charles and Diana got married in St Paul’s which seems bigger than Westminster Abbey and Windsor Chapel combined.
@LAK – OK, so now I’m totally confused. If I’m understanding you correctly, it WAS supposed to be a state occasion and W&K got it cut down and that’s why they put up the term semi-state? And I looked again and there were guests invited from outside the Commonwealth, Ambassadors to the UK from foreign countries, like the US, Japan, Israel, France, Holland, Poland, and even North Korea. So is it that ambassadors count as representatives of foreign countries but not their governments?
BTW, at the bottom is a list of those who declined invitations – together with the reasons why, which are pretty interesting in themselves – like, the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk declined due to the announcement of their separation.
I tell you, this stuff is like a spider web. I hope Meghan knows what she’s getting into.
Violet: There is no such thing as a semi-state wedding / occasion. Please remove that thought from your mind. It’s a black and white thing, one thing OR another, nothing grey or inbetween. You are confusing yourself by creating a grey area where there is none.
William’s state guests were not as many or the delegates of seniority that Charles had, but that doesn’t mean he had a wedding of lesser status than his father.
William is the future head of state of UK therefore his wedding was a state occasion with all the accoutrements of a state wedding regardless of size or pretensions otherwise.
I showed you part of Charles’s list to demonstrate the calibre of guest expected to be invited to William’s wedding eg presidents, Kings as well as GG, commonwealth and ambassadors.
William settled for second tier representatives like ambassadors and left off the top tier.
Regardless of his choices, his wedding was still a state wedding.
Finally, the reasons people turn down invitations are not relevant to the discussion. Being invited doesn’t mean one must accept. And frankly, looking at the reasons given for declining the wedding invitations, those are very good, practical reasons not to attend. Nothing to cause a diplomatic incident except perhaps good gossip.
A smaller wedding venue is a good excuse for not inviting political big wigs.
I am not sure Markle would want a grand wedding. Why? You would have so many guests you don’t even manage to speak to half of them.
Also a smaller wedding means that this Church-of-England-no-divorcees business can be avoided. And the Queen takes her role as protector of the faith very seriously.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42141868 ->
The Church of England did not officially permit remarriage after divorce from the 17th Century until the 21st.
The rules were almost certainly breached informally. But it was only in 2002 that the General Synod, the church’s legislative body, allowed remarriage in church of divorced people whose former partners were still alive, in “exceptional circumstances”.
St George’s Chapel is a Church of England church. Meghan has been received into the Church of England. There is no issue with her being divorced and hasn’t been for 16 years. Harry and Meghan chose Windsor because it is smaller and easier to secure, not because of anything to do with her being divorced.
And Meghan will, in time, take UK citizenship. She will have to go through all the same things that anyone marrying a British citizen would do (including proving that he has a certain income), taking the Life in the UK test, and waiting the appropriate length of time. It would look terrible for her to jump the queue and I’m sure they won’t do that. Your tone about citizenship is odd – the UK is a modern, diverse country. I know many British citizens who were born elsewhere and are fully accepted (albeit in London).
“Also a smaller wedding means that this Church-of-England-no-divorcees business can be avoided. ” As you yourself are pointing out, this does not exist anymore. Divorced persons have been welcome to remarry in CoE since 2002.
Before these two were even engaged, Westminster Abbey released a statement that they would happily marry these two in a full religious service. There is no impediment to them marrying in any CoE church they want, St Pauls, Westminster, St George’s Chapel.
Autumn and Peter, Edward and Sophie were also married at Windsor. It is where they tend to have the smaller, more family-type events.
@Lady D – thank you!
Jesus, a lot of people here live in a weird fantasy world. I guess Obama and Harry are now besties who speak every day and the evil politics of the day has kept them from spending Harry’s wedding together! It’s like a modern Romeo and Juliet! Maybe they just aren’t as close as people think? And I really hope the last line of this article was sarcasm.
I guess you can’t invite the Obamas without inviting Trump. Markle is a poc and I doubt she would want D.T. to attend her wedding.
Additionally Britain is currently in Brexit negotiations and I am not sure how it would play out if they invited US political royalty.
TBH, post Brexit, we’re going to be f**ked anyway. The ‘special relationship’ with the USA is a nonsense. Considering that they want access to the NHS to dismantle it, and want us to wreck agricultural standards to import their chlorinated chicken and sour milk. Now May is hipped to jump into bombing Syria with Trump who seems more beholden to Putin than anything else.
Lord, this thread is full of quite bizarre fantasy and speculation.
Back in the real world, this is about a gov, aware of public anger at its failure on so many grim levels, looking to be seen to be acting responsibly and minimising the public cost to the tax-payer of this wedding. Nothing more, nothing less.
The idea that the infantile dunce in the WH is at the root of this ‘politics-free’ decision is truly comical.
Maybe, just maybe, Harry and Meghan are having the wedding they want, with the guests they want, and the amount of hoopla they want? As they have public roles they meet a lot of folks they probably like and enjoy, but not everyone makes the guest list for their wedding.
You start inviting politicians and former presidents, and you get into a new level of security detail that might not be acceptable to them.
I don’t believe there is one single person commenting here who knows the exact relationship between the two couples. It’s all conjecture based on pleasant photo ops.
I am going with the official explanation here,
Trump is still being snubbed. Meghan’s dislike of Trump is on record, and Trump knows from Piers Morgan she doesn’t like him. Meghan steered clear of Trump on Deal or No Deal (according to Morton’s book). The UK state visit for October 2018 is still being hammered out and Trump is still not popular in the UK. A recent had 69 percent people polled said Trump should not be invited to the wedding; 56 percent said no even with Obama on the guest list. The no politician rule is to provide cover for all involved. Everyone knows how petty Trump is, and this is pretty extreme to make sure Orange-zilla doesn’t try to crash or damage diplomatic relations. Trump is now stewing about the Mueller investigation now, but I bet he’s mad he’s not invited despite no other pol is going. He wants to be in the center of things .
Obama is skipping the wedding to protect the British people from Trump’s wrath.
Janet Gerber, Trust me on this one, he doesn’t give a damn!
I don’t know which “he” you are referring to in this scenario, but I promise you that 100% of the following are true: (a) Obama cares about the British people; (b) Trump would mind enormously if he was not invited to the wedding and Obama was invited; and (c) pretty much everything Trump does is with a mind to erasing Obama’s legacy. Trump is a sociopath. Obama is a gentleman, and a patriot.
But Obama is not a world leader anymore. So I don’t see why he should be left out if Harry wants it. The Obama’s and Harry are going to have a life long connection and support each other in their different like minded causes.
Now if Barack were now the president of Kenya is would be a different story. Ha, ha.
Tina,Trump. he has a full plate he doesn’t care. Besides that how many men do you know , actually enjoy going to weddings, personally I don’t know a one, to them it is like pulling teeth. I am sure you would love for him to be deeply offended, but he truly doesn’t care.
The world doesn’t want anything to do with the sh*tshow here in the U.S., and I don’t blame them.
“Best not to invite any of the bloody Americans right now, eh?”
Addison, as a former President of the U.S., Obama will always have the rank and status of a world leader. He certainly does represent the U.S., and the fact is, if Trump is not invited and Obama is, Trump will have an epic sh-t fit and Great Britain will have to bear the brunt of Trump’s verbal (and who knows, military?) assault. That’s why he’s not going. Because he is putting his allegiance to his country and the well-being of the world above his personal feelings, as any world leader (exemption: Trump and like-minded strongmen) would do. It’s Obama’s patriotism to the U.S. and love for the world that makes him decline this wedding invitation.
Obama did not get the Nobel Peace Prize for nothing. He is a world-class humanitarian and political leader who puts to shame what we have in the White House now. The contrast between the two men could not be more stark or heart-breaking. I cry for the world.
It’s a shame if they actually did want to invite the Obamas but didn’t because of the orange child that is in office.
I’m sure Harry and Meghan would have loved to have the Obama’s at the wedding. We can debate how close the actual relationship is, but it is obvious that Harry admires both Obama’s. As a biracial politically engaged American the Obama’s are naturally meaningful to Meghan. There’s a photo of Meghan meeting Barack for the first time that captures her emotions well. And I’m sure the Obama’s recognize the significance of this marriage. In the long run it will be good that there will be no politicians at the wedding, but since Meghan and Barack have the same birthday I’m hoping we seem them together for a joint birthday celebration one of these years.
The Obamas didn’t lose sleep over not being invited to William’s wedding, they won’t lose sleep over this.
But where is the evidence that they are anything more than friendly colleagues? I’m sure they are fond of each other (has Meghan even met the Obamas?) but there is no evidence that it goes beyond professional courtesy.
I think Michelle and Barack are way too busy to hang out or Facetime with Harry, who being mostly unemployed, has much more time to pal around than our ex-President and his wife do. Besides, they have totally different lives, the Obamas have kids, etc.
I think this great friendship is a fantasy. I do think they get along, but I think that is the start and finish of it.
No one is claiming there is anything more than a professional friendship. These are adults, not teenagers. It is obvious that there is affection on the part of the Obama’s toward Harry. Michelle and Harry promoted Invictus together, and Barack has said that Michelle considers Harry a friend. Barack gave his first interview since he left office to Harry. Harry has supported Michelle’s work outside of Invictus . She took Harry with her on school visits when he came to the Obama Foundation. Meghan has met Barack Obama at least twice. I don’t know for sure about Michelle, but it wouldn’t surprise me given the number of women’s events Meghan attended and Michelle’s interest in supporting and involving women like Meghan. There’s a reason the statement given about the Obama’s not being invited also said they looked forward to seeing the Obama’s soon.
Agree SV.