Meghan Markle says she asked 'very charming' Charles to walk her down the aisle at 2018 wedding as she 'had lost' her own father
BBC
- At her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry, Meghan Markle was walked down the aisle by her father-in-law, Charles.
- "'I've lost my dad in this,'" Meghan recalled saying to Charles. "So I asked him to walk me down the aisle and he said 'yes.'"
- Meghan's father was supposed to walk her down the aisle, but he dropped out of the wedding after getting caught up in a paparazzi scandal.
Meghan Markle opened up about why her father-in-law, Charles, walked her down the aisle during her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry in the second installment of "Harry & Meghan," a Netflix docuseries about the pair's decision to leave the royal family.
"Harry's dad is very charming and I said to him, "'I've lost my dad in this.' So him as my father-in-law is very important to me," Meghan said. "So I asked him to walk me down the aisle and he said 'yes.'"
Her father, Thomas Markle, was originally supposed to feature in the wedding but backed out of attending after a health scare and a paparazzi scandal.
In an earlier episode of the series, Markle discussed how the scandal — when her father posed for paparazzi photos in exchange for a payout — made headlines just days before the wedding, leaving her scrambling to find a replacement for her dad and in the middle of a PR nightmare.
Kensington Palace then announced that Charles would step in to walk her down the aisle, which surprised some who thought her mother, Doria Ragland, might do the honor.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were married on May 19, 2018, at St George's Chapel near Windsor Castle in England while surrounded by royal family members and celebrity guests.
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Meghan's father later expressed regret for not being there to walk his daughter down the aisle in an interview on "Good Morning Britain" in 2018.
"I can't think of a better replacement than Prince Charles," Thomas Markle said at the time. "He looked very handsome. I was jealous, I wish it was me, but thank God he was there and I thank him for that."
He continued: "The unfortunate thing now is that I'm a footnote in one of the greatest moments in history instead of a dad walking his daughter down the aisle. It was a very emotional moment. I regretted it because I really wanted to walk her down the aisle. But I'm thankful for how it all went."