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Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
How the hasty planning of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson's calamitous wedding made it so miserable - marked by the 'sad' looks in the wedding photos
Throughout British history, royal weddings have been extravagant affairs full of pomp and grandeur, but there has been one major exception to this tradition. Hundreds of miles away from the Royal Family, King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson were married in a low-key wedding ceremony 88 years ago today. It was highly unusual, taking place in the shadow of Edward's abdication crisis, less than a month after the coronation of King George VI. The wedding was hastily planned, taking place a month and a day after Wallis's divorce from Ernest Simpson was finalised. Straying further from tradition, Wallis opted for a long, finger-hugging white wedding dress in the style of the period while Edward wore a civilian suit instead of a military uniform. Despite the opulent setting of the wedding in the Chateau de Cande in France, the couple looked far from happy in their official pictures. Royal photographer Cecil Beaton, who was behind the camera for the event, remarked that Edward had an 'essentially sad' look in his eyes. Meanwhile, royal author Jane Marguerite Tippett, in The Lost Memoir Of Edward VIII, wrote that Wallis and Edward looked back on the wedding without much fondness. The Duke and Duchess are seen on their wedding day alongside Edward's best man, Edward 'Fruity' Metcalfe (right) and businessman Hermann Rogers, whom Wallis later had an affair with In the memoir it was revealed that Wallis said that preparations for the wedding 'were not very gay'. Which is unsurprising considering the royal wedding was in stark contrast to those before it, taking place in a small ceremony with no one from the Royal Family present. Among the guests were Edward's best man, Major Edward 'Fruity' Metcalfe, along with his chauffeur and equerry. Businessman Hermann Rogers, whom Wallis fell in love with and had hoped to marry, also attended. Reverend J.A. Jardine officiated in defiance of Church of England rules surrounding divorcees with living former spouses. He was later defrocked and would go on to open the tacky 'Windsor Cathedral' in Hollywood. Edward had also been left furious by King George's refusal to grant Wallis the status of Her Royal Highness. He bitterly joked that it was a 'nice wedding present'. When his mother, Queen Mary, did not send him an actual gift, he told her that he was 'bitterly hurt and disappointed that you virtually ignored the most important event in my life.' The royal wedding was in stark contrast to those before it, consisting of a small ceremony with no one from the Royal Family present A Faberge box that was sent as a gift by his younger brother Prince George, the Duke of Kent, was rejected by Edward, on the basis that his sibling had not shown any desire to deviate from the family's official stance towards him. Edward and Wallis's wedding venue was owned by millionaire Charles Bedaux, who was later frowned upon by the British and French intelligence services. The chateau boasted modern comforts that included a pipe organ costing $40,000 and a $15,000 telephone system. On the day itself, Wallis wore a blue wedding gown which she twinned with silk gloves made from the same material and a straw hat. She also wore an impressive diamond and sapphire brooch alongside a glittering sapphire wristband and earrings. Her second divorce - from shipbroker Ernest Aldrich Simpson - had been finalised only a month earlier. The Duke had originally wanted a royal chaplain to officiate at his wedding, but this desire was rapidly torpedoed by his brother, the King. His second choice had been the Reverend Martin Andrews, who presided over a parish in the Duchy of Cornwall. The couple looked less than jolly in the official photos that were taken to mark their wedding In the end he had little choice but to go with Reverend Jardine, who was described as 'turbulent' by Edward's biographer Philip Ziegler and later stripped of his duties. Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang - who had been instrumental in sealing Edward's abdication - described Jardine as a 'seeker of notoriety'. He questioned how Edward - who had been King of England just months before - could have 'lost his dignity' to the extent that he asked 'a man of this sort to celebrate his marriage'. Jardine officiated in defiance of the Church of England, which until 2002 would not perform weddings of rulers to divorcees who had living former spouses. While Edward believed that in Jardine he had chosen well, this idea was somewhat punctured by the priest's subsequent tour of the United States, where he revealed all about the ceremony. The altar was what Ziegler described as a 'bogus renaissance chest adorned with plum caryatids'. Beaton took official photographs of the couple after they tied the knot. In his diary he described Edward's expression when his photo was taken as 'essentially sad, tragic eyes belied by impertinent tilt of nose.' He added that the former King had 'common hands - like a mechanic - weather-beaten and rather scaly and one thumbnail is disfigured.' Beaton had talked to Wallis at length and decided that she was a 'strong force', and 'intelligent within her vast limitations'. 'She has obviously a tremendous admiration for the Duke and considers him one of the greatest brains… of our times. 'She admires his character, his vitality and is determined to love him, though I feel she is not in love with him.' As well as his best man, chauffeur and equerry, guests also included the Duke's hairdresser Charles Topper and Mrs Buchanan Merryman, Wallis's aunt. The service itself was composed of a French civil ceremony and then an Anglican counterpart conducted by Reverend Jardine was carried out ten minutes later. In both versions, Wallis promised to obey her husband. Incredibly, the Duke failed to kiss his bride in either the civil or religious ceremony, although there were tears in his eyes when he put Wallis's ring on her finger. Despite the controversy that surrounded the wedding at the time, the Duke and Duchess received more than 3,000 telegrams and 30,000 letters of good wishes after their wedding. In a statement, the Duke said: 'The Duchess and I would like to thank all those who have so kindly sent us presents and good wishes on the occasion of our wedding. 'We shall never forget their friendly messages, which mean so much to us on this day.' Following their wedding the couple eventually settled in France in the so-called Villa Windsor on the outskirts of Paris. Here they led the life of the idle rich, attending parties in France and America and going on lavish holidays with close friends. Though she lacked the status of an actual queen, it was the kind of high life that American Duchess had always sought. But when the Duke died aged 77 in 1972, Wallis was left alone, bereft of the man who had worshipped her. The Queen, with whom she had had minimal contact in the decades since her husband's abdication, hosted her at Buckingham Palace when she arrived for his funeral. The two had previously met when Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip visited the Duke in Paris in his final days. Wallis was buried next to her husband at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore. The burial was attended by only the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Princess Diana and eight of Wallis's aides and friends It was a sign of the Queen's willingness to put differences to one side for the sake of the greater good. When Wallis died over a decade later, her funeral service at Windsor's St George's Chapel was attended by senior royals including the Queen, Prince Philip and the Queen Mother. Her name was not mentioned during the service. The service lasted for less than half an hour and, in scenes strikingly similar to her wedding, it was stripped of nearly all the pomp and ceremony that usually marks a royal death.
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The 16 times Meghan Markle broke royal protocol - and she even did it in her engagement photos
In May 2018 Meghan Markle tied the knot in front of nearly 30 million viewers and was plunged into the world of royal protocol. Thrust into the historic rituals of royal life, she brought with her a distinctly American flair for individuality, and a belief in doing things her way.
News.com.au
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Sad truth behind Meghan and Harry's wedding picture
COMMENT Even after all this time, it seemed unequivocally magical. If you'd pitched the idea in a Disney boardroom – an American actress with her own working copy of Gloria Steinem's collected speeches and ripped jeans meets handsome, kinda lost British prince, great love ensues, he makes her royal – you would have been laughed out of there. But seven years ago, that's exactly what happened when the world gathered around TV sets and exhaled at the sheer bloody Cinderella-ness of it all. What a crock. When it comes to Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's 2018 wedding, we were all sold what, it is now clear, a sham. On May 19, Meghan Markle walked down the aisle of St George's Chapel in Windsor on then Prince Charles' arm and into the history books. Even now, in 2025, new details are still coming out about what a load of flimflam it all was. The image of the royal family banding together to welcome the Californian into their midst, joyous at the addition of modernising zeal: Not real. The collection of celebrities who filled the pews, like George and Amal Clooney, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy and Carey Mulligan, suggesting a plethora of starry royal friendships: Reportedly not real. Even the bride's choice to have floral emblems of the 53 countries of the Commonwealth embroidered onto her five metre veil, suggesting she was like dead keen and all that on upholding everything Crown Inc stood for: Not real. Looking back, besides Harry and Meghan's adoring, smitten love for one another which is still on display today, was there anything about May 19 that has not been shown up to be something of a ruse? The royal family might be in the business of image but what took place on that spring day really takes the cake for an elaborate set piece of playacting. The full extent of all this is still coming out. This weekend Diana, Princess of Wales' biographer Andrew Morton revealed that back in 2016, within a week of Suits star Meghan being outed as Harry's newest squeeze, things were going pear-shaped between them and the wider royal family. Only a week after it was revealed he was dating the actress he 'broke the code' of the royal family, according to Morton. On November 8, 2016 Harry put out an unprecedented, cymbal clash of a statement volubly condemning the 'wave of abuse' Meghan was receiving from the press – only he did it while Charles was in the middle of a high-wire tour of the Middle East, thus blowing coverage of his father's trip out of the water. 'That was something which broke with the code of the royals,' Morton told The Times. 'When a member of the royal family is abroad the focus is on them, not on the domestic royals. For Harry to give that fairly hysterical statement while his father was in the Middle East was seen as self-indulgent.' From there, things hardly improved behind palace gates. As the duke would later scribble in his bestselling burn book slash memoir Spare, Prince William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales took to Meghan with about as much enthusiasm as the late Queen would have to oat milk or manifesting or Candy Crush. Hugs were not reciprocated. (Meghan's attempt at a friendly embrace of William at their first meeting in 2016 'completely freaked him out,' Harry wrote.) Lipgloss was, painfully, not shared. Things really went from nippily chilled between Kate and Meghan to outright GHDs at 50 paces when it came to the issue of the bridesmaids dresses, the infamous incident, even all these years later, still being dissected and interpreted like Dead Sea Scrolls. Versions vary. In 2019 it was reported that Meghan had made Kate cry; then the duchess did Oprah and said that actually it was her who had been left scrabbling for tissues, so to speak. Ready for a new version? Veteran royal biographer Tom Quinn recently released Yes Ma'am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants with a whole new account. A former member of palace staff told him: 'Meghan said a few things she regretted and Kate said a few things she later regretted but it was all in the heat of the moment. Both women were crying their eyes out!' All of this had happened, all the emotions and 'freaking outs' and tears and code-breaking before the first trumpeterer was warming up on May 19, 2018. There is still more about that day that has been called into question. Call it the Clooney Conundrum: Hollywood A-listers, on that day in May, took their seats alongside liver-spotted dukes and old Etonians called Bunter and Chucker, promising the glorious union of the worlds of Hollywood and the Holyroodhouse. However in the years since then, many of the duke and duchess' starry A-list friendships have blinked out. The Clooneys were later revealed to have admitted to a fellow wedding guest they didn't actually know the couple; David and Victoria Beckham were soon on no-speaks with the Sussexes and these days pal about with King Charles; and guest and reception DJ Idris Elba last year joined forces with His Majesty for a King's Trust event. Others like Oscar nominee Mulligan and Mad Max's Hardy have never been seen in the same postcode as the Sussexes since. Zoom out and what the Sussexes' wedding day stood for was promise – so much fat, juicy promise. Of a monarchy revitalised by a passionate cool girl member who was champing at the bit to muck in and work for Crown Inc. But was Meghan ever going to be happy with her royal lot? Would she, I wonder, have ever truly been content plugging away at hosting Association of Commonwealth Universities roundtables and giving speeches at dog's homes and occasionally slipping the palace yoke to guest edit Vogue and to wear black nail polish? Would she ever have been okay with tamping down her entrepreneurial and creative instincts? As far back as 2019, the Sussexes were in talks with billion-dollar US streaming service (the long since shuttered Quibi), the Telegraph has reported. Also, as a royal staff member has told Quinn that 'she expected a billionaire and she got a millionaire'. To join the royal family is to acquiesce to being squeezed inside a prescribed box and being HAPPY to stay there until you get the palace call up to open the Chelsea Flower Show or whatnot. Given what we now know of Meghan, her natural ambition (said with great admiration) and her hunger to put herself out there (even if the results are sometimes watching her make ice cubes) – was she always doomed when it came to her royal future? Look back at those photos of May 19 and they have the same poignancy and heart tugging quality as seeing a shot of the Titanic tied up at the dock at Southampton. On that day, everyone wanted us, the public, to believe something – that it could work out, that the royal family was jazzed to have inveterate hugger Meghan on board; that she was willing to subsume herself in aid of a hoary institution; that George Clooney actually has Harry's mobile number. On Monday, the duchess marked the day by sharing a shot of a pinboard full of sweet photos of Harry and their children, including of the tots as babies, with the head, 'our love story'. At least we can definitively say, seven years on, the Sussexes' love for one another is the realest of real deals.
News.com.au
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Meghan Markle ‘berated' her wedding caterer so badly Queen Elizabeth reportedly stepped in
Meghan Markle 'berated' one of her wedding caterers so badly that Queen Elizabeth II had to intervene, royals biographer Katie Nicholl claimed. 'On one occasion in the run-up to the wedding, Meghan went to Windsor Castle for a menu-tasting and ended up having a tense exchange with a member of staff,' Nicholl claimed in her book The New Royals, per the Daily Mail. 'Meghan was at the castle to taste some of the dishes, and told one of the caterers she could taste egg,' a source claimed. 'She got quite upset, saying that the dish was meant to be vegan and macrobiotic.' According to Nicholl's source, the incident got back to the Queen who allegedly decided to address the issue. 'Suddenly the Queen walked in and said: 'Meghan, in this family we don't speak to people like that,'' the insider claimed. A rep for the Duchess of Sussex did not immediately respond to Page Six's request for comment. This wouldn't be the first time Markle, 43, has been accused of being 'difficult' with palace staff. In February, British journalist Tom Quinn claimed Meghan earned the nickname 'Duchess of Difficult' before she and husband Prince Harry stepped down from their royal duties and moved to the US in 2020. 'She could be difficult because she was finding life difficult — trying to feel her way and work out the intricacies of a positively medieval, labyrinthine system,' an anonymous palace staff member reportedly told him. The insider claimed the former Suits star was also called 'Mystic Meg' because of her 'new agey' views, which were deemed 'so woke'. The source further claimed, 'Through absolutely no fault of her own, Meghan wasn't always great with her staff — she just wasn't used to it as Harry was.' They continued, 'One minute she would be really friendly, perhaps over-friendly, hugging staff and trying to make friends with them, and the next she would be irritated by the fact they wouldn't respond instantly at all times of the day and night.' Meghan was also accused of bullying a young member of the palace staff in 2018.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Wedding Broke the Same Tradition as King Charles and Queen Camilla's Big Day
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Royal weddings are full of tradition and meaning, including special touches like Welsh gold wedding rings, significant flowers and historic churches. But when King Charles and Queen Camilla got married in 2005, they broke an unwritten but longstanding practice—and 13 years later, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle went on to make the same choice with their own Windsor wedding. The Queen Mother and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were both married on Thursdays, while Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married on Wednesday, July 29, 1981. Three decades on, Prince William married Kate Middleton on a Friday morning, but when King Charles walked down the aisle for the second time, both his civil service and church ceremony took place on a Saturday—and so did Harry and Meghan's 2018 wedding. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will celebrate their seventh wedding anniversary on May 19 after tying the knot at St. George's Chapel on a Saturday afternoon, just like Harry's father did. While The King—then known as the Prince of Wales—originally planned to marry Camilla Parker Bowles on a Friday, Pope John Paul II's funeral ended up being scheduled for the same day. The couple made the decision to push the ceremony back to Saturday, April 9 out of respect for the late pope. There's no set rule that royal marriages should take place on a weekday, but for weddings of heirs like Prince Charles and Prince William they were both made bank holidays, giving the country an extra day off work to celebrate and enjoy the moment. Sadly, it looks like there won't be another British royal wedding for years to come. But if you find yourself camped outside a church in London waiting for Prince George to ride by in a carriage one day, it'll probably be on a weekday—and a major celebration for the future King and country.
