When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot in 2018, the details of the event were kept so secret that even the late Queen was denied access to a preview to Meghan’s wedding gown
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married in 2018, their high-profile wedding was shrouded in secrecy in the lead up to the big day.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex tied the knot on May 19 2018, with the details of the day being kept under lock and key as the preparations got under way. When it came to Meghan’s wedding dress, the design of the iconic gown was even kept a secret from the late Queen Elizabeth.
The designer of Meghan’s dress, Clare Waight Keller, even stepped into the maid of honour role to help the Duchess with her gown right up until she walked down the aisle of St George’s Chapel to meet her prince.
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Writing in the book Finding Freedom, royal experts Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand explained that the “then-artistic director for Givenchy rode ahead of the bride so that she would be waiting on the castle’s West Steps when Meghan arrived”.
Meghan had met the A-list designer at Kensington Palace shortly into her engagement to Harry, with the pair quickly developing an “easy relationship” before she was given the task of designing Meghan’s now iconic dress.
With the exact details of Meghan’s dress kept a secret, Scobie and Durand wrote that the designer had to undertake a number of fittings herself in a secure room at Cliveden House.
The fittings, which were carried out “in the early hours in a cloak-and-dagger operation”, devised by Meghan’s personal assistant, Melissa Toubati, and aide Jason Knauf, even “involved several protection officers and a man-made tunnel.”
They added: “The pair laughed at the insanity of their scurrying around with the world’s most wanted dress. Everything about the dress had been shrouded in secrecy.”
With even the late Queen Elizabeth denied access to see the sketches of the royal wedding dress, Meghan travelled to LA with the drawings of the gown to show her mother Doria, according to the royal authors.
Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith also described the late Queen’s turmoil at Meghan’s insistence on shielding her from any details, after speaking with Her Majesty’s cousin Lady Elizabeth Anson.
The late Queen was reportedly left saddened after “Meghan wouldn’t tell her” anything about the wedding dress, Ms Bedell Smith wrote.
She added that while having tea with the Sussexes, “she was trying to find out about the wedding dress, and Meghan wouldn’t tell her”, leaving her “very upset”.
Meghan’s wedding dress featured long sleeves and a bateau neckline, which was a nod to the iconic Givenchy dress in the 1957 movie Funny Face, and cost £100,000. Meghan also added a personal touch, stitching a piece of blue gingham fabric from the dress she wore on her and Harry’s first date in the hem.