Kensington Palace announced today the bridesmaids and page boys for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding this Saturday. As expected, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, will both be featured in the wedding party.
Other children include the children of Meghan’s good friends, Ben and Jessica Mulroney, Ivy, Brian and John. Jessica was widely tipped to take on the role of Meghan’s maid of honor, but the bride declined to choose someone for the role.
You can see the full list wedding party here.
Notably not on the list is Mia Tindall, the daughter of Harry’s cousin, Zara. This follows news that a number of junior royals, namely the children of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent haven’t been invited. Oddly, they were all included in the Cambridges’ 2011 wedding, and a few of them appear to have relationships with Harry and his family. This includes Prince Michael of Kent’s son, Lord Frederick Windsor, whose daughter attends school with Prince George.
For those who paid attention to wedding news yesterday, it was a complete mess. Following reports on Monday that Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, wouldn’t be attending the wedding, there was a reverse-course on Tuesday and then another when it became clear that he will apparently need to undergo heart surgery. All of this came not from Kensington Palace, but rather TMZ. All told, Thomas gave twice daily interviews to TMZ despite acknowledgement from other members of the family that the Palace has been advising them, namely asking that they not engage the media.
Throughout the entire relationship and engagement, Thomas has been appropriately silent, so this is a very strange turn of events in the final days leading up to the big day.
As of right now it sounds like Thomas won’t be in London and there remains a question mark on who will walk Meghan down the aisle. The favorite is her mother, Doria Ragland, though the Prince of Wales and William remain in the mix, as well as the option of Meghan walking alone.
In other news, Canadian Prime Minister released a statement on a charitable donation made to mark the birth of Prince Louis:
“To celebrate the birth of the Prince, Canada will donate $50,000 to Jack.org, a national network of young people in Canada who are leading important conversations on mental health. The organization supports 2,500 student leaders to bring awareness around mental health issues, break down stigma, and make sure students can get the help they need. We will also donate $50,000 to Stella’s Place, an organization that helps young adults better understand their mental health and how to manage it. In addition, we are gifting Prince Louis a traditional Haida blanket – a memento of his parents’ recent visit to Haida Gwaii.”
Finally, it was reported that Doria arrived in London last Friday or Saturday to spend American Mother’s Day with Meghan on Sunday last week. Turns out she actually didn’t arrive until yesterday giving her just three days in the lead up to the wedding to meet Harry’s family and help with last-minute prep. Other guests have been spotted in London over the last couple of days, including Meghan’s castmates from Suits.
I don’t have anything slated between now and the wedding, but I would imagine there will be more news breaking in the interim and we’ll certainly cover Friday, which will see Harry and Meghan arrive at their respective hotels in the Windsor area.