The Surprising Manners of the Marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Following Prince Charles and Princess Diana

At first glance, it seems difficult to find similarities between Prince HarryThe new marriage of Meghan Markle and the union that his parents once shared.

To begin, well, they really seem to like it. And although it seems clear that they were confident in their link to about date three, when Harry swept the Suit The actress went to Botswana, one of the places he cherishes the most, they spent 16 more months together to be completely safe.

On the other hand when prince Charles proposed to Lady Diana Spencer, a kindergarten teacher of 19 years at the time, in 1981, they had only 13 dates. "He was not compatible with his courting abilities," Princess Diana his trainer had said. "He called me every day for a week, then did not talk to me for three weeks." Very strange, I thought: "Well, well, he knows where I am he wants me." . " "However, every time, he called, she had trouble hiding her rapture:" The thrill when he phoned was so immense and so intense. That would make the other three girls in my apartment mad. "

And while Meghan's attention to Harry's relationship with him was even more intense than expected – "I think you can have as many conversations as you like and try to prepare as much as you can, but we were totally prepared for what happened after. ", Harry shared his post-wedding conversation with the BBC of the period after revealing that she was officially his girlfriend. She could at least rest, knowing that it was unlikely that her charming prince would become king.

But Diana was too aware of what she had written for when Charles had released this oversized sapphire just months into their love story. From the 1992 Andrew Morton book Diana: her true story she laughed at her initial proposal, which made her answer: "You realize that someday you'll be queen." Diana's reaction, Morton said, was to say to herself: "You will not be queen, but you will have a difficult role."

She was not wrong. Three decades or more later, their turbulent union is well documented, their marriage simply unable to survive Charles' lingering affection for the true love of his life, Camilla Parker Bowles. And while nothing indicates that Harry and Meghan are heading toward the same tragic end, or even an end at all, their beginnings are remarkably similar.

It is certain that the two women were subjected to excessive pressure in the period that preceded their vows, some 37 years away. Endlessly speculating on their outfit, watching their faces on all their creations, from commemorative porcelain to souvenir mugs to dishcloths, and knowing that millions of people around the world will come to watch – and inevitably to judge – the most important and special day of their lives would be on a bride.

And yet both were determined not to get lost in the process. Barely 20 years old at the time of her wedding in July 1981, Diana refused to take a step back from Charles and learned that the bride agreed to "obey" her fallen husband. Although controversial at the time, it was entirely removed when rewriting traditional Anglican vows in 2000, and Kate MiddletonMeghan had not reinstated him for their day at church.

Meghan took a step forward in the declaration by organizing her resolutely modern wedding ceremony. Typing on most rev. Michael Bruce Curry– the first bishop black president of the Episcopal Church – to deliver a passionate sermon using the words of a civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and having a predominantly black gospel choir playing a moving rendition of "Stand By Me" was seen as his way of celebrating both sides of his American heritage and it sent an important message of inclusivity.

Even though the two women were apparently nervous (Diana even confused the name of her new husband, promising to "take Philip Philip Arthur George" rather than Charles Philip Arthur) on their wedding day, any anguish was overcome by waves of pure happiness. "Many times, I've been dangerously about to cry because of the sheer joy of it all," Charles would have told a cousin, Lady Colin CampbellThe 1998 book The true Diane. "It was heaven, amazing, wonderful, even though I was so nervous when I walked down the aisle that I swore to myself that my knees were hitting me and making noise."

Unlike Harry and Meghan, who celebrated with a host of bold names, including Serena Williams and a casamigos-slinging George Clooney, Charles and Diana jumped their Queen Elizabeth II– a busy evening reception to start their honeymoon, a work trip that forced them to pose for many press photos along the way. They were driven into an open car with the "Just Married" sign and were taken to Waterloo Station, where they took a train to Broadlands and boarded the Royal Yacht Britannia for a two-week cruise around from the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea before landing. in Balmoral, Scottish residence of the royal family.

The auctioned correspondence last year revealed that Diana had written to her personal secretary, Jane Parsons, about the fact that the holidays were "an ideal opportunity to rest," this extended trip did not been totally relaxing. At each stop, the newly-weds had to wave and smile at the photographers, a joyful facade they did not necessarily follow between the ports. Although their yacht was packed with more than 200 staff, they did not go to much trouble to hide their discord. While Charles hoped to spend time reading and painting, Diana preferred to spend her time swimming and sunbathing, feeling the dedication of her husband to the watercolors and Laurens van der Post books.

Even worse, Penny Junor detailed in her book The Duchess: the unpublished story, was the moment when a picture of Camilla was removed from Charles's diary. "Another time," Junor went on, "while they were in formal wear, she noticed that the prince was wearing a pair of gold cuff links engraved with intertwined Cs."

Like in Charles and … well, not Diana.

By the time the newlyweds landed in Scotland, their love story was no longer a fairy tale. In The true DianeCampbell describes in detail the jarring fights in which Diana screamed loudly and threw Charles' books across the room.

Nevertheless, in her interview after the separation from Martin Bashir of the BBC in 1995, Diana insisted that their debut was relatively happy, though more stressful. "Well, we were a newlywed couple, so obviously we also had these pressures, as well as the media, completely fascinated by everything we did," she said. "And it was difficult to share this burden, because it was I who was always in front, whether it was my clothes, what I said, what my hair was doing, everything that was actually a pretty boring subject, done, and it has been exhausted over the years.In reality, what we wanted to be, it was our job and our team. "

Due to their extended honeymoon, Charles and Diana did not have their first joint commitment as a married duo until October, but when they ventured to Wales for a three-day tour Diana was stunned.

Diana would have always been right not to use an umbrella in wet and windy weather so as not to be drier than the crowd waiting to meet her. . As a former British Prime Minister Tony Blair remembered in the 2017 special Diana, 7 daysReflecting on the week following her death, "She was the first member of the royal family to really feel like acting and acting like a normal human being."

An impressed Charles "was proud of me", will later tell Diana to Campbell of the trip. "And I was delighted to see that proud look in his eyes."

Like his parents, Harry and Meghan started working as royals. Back at work just three days after their wedding, the new duchess donned a fascinator (and a tights!) To attend a party in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in honor of Charles' 70th birthday.

They were also present for the June Trooping the Color procession, which included the debut of the Buckingham Palace balcony of Meghan, the Royal Ascot and the first solo outing of the former actress with the Queen to open Cheshire, the bridge of Mersey Gateway in England.

But before all that, they could eclipse for a honeymoon without a single member of the press. Nor did they share details of their restorative African tour except to clarify the rumor that they had settled in a particular country. "No, we did not go to Namibia," Harry told a guest at the June Young Leaders Awards, according to HI! magazine. "I will not say where."

Like her mother-in-law who she would never meet, Meghan earned rave reviews for her charming and effortless style during DIY walks. Grant Harrold, former Royal Butler of Charles, Camilla, William and Harry said that his decision to offer a hug to a girl at an event early in 2018 would have been a gesture that the Princess of the People would have taken.

"You look at Princess Diana's energy and she was really someone who would embrace people, she was famous for that, is not she?" he told E! New. "None of the other members of the royal family got hugged, it was just not done … Now, the younger royal princes, Princes William and Harry, you see them kissing each other. … so it's their way of doing it.They copy a lot what their mother did, which is fantastic. "

The heat of Meghan was honored throughout the first week of her 16-day journey in the company of Harry, across Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and the United Kingdom. Tonga. Their choice for their first joint tour is particularly noteworthy as it was the same place for Diana's original trip abroad. In 1983, she and Charles spent 41 days accumulating 23,601 miles of travel, including Sydney Opera House, Ayers Rock and Alice Springs.

At that time, the newlyweds had a special guest. In November, barely four months after 750 million people watched the future king allegedly take a wife, royal observers rejoiced at the good news that an heir, born of the unique pressure of a day on the throne, was on the way.

The future Lord or Lady of Harry and Meghan will not feel this particularly overwhelming weight. Born seventh in the rank for the throne, he will not even be designated prince or princess unless his grandmother decides so. But that did not stop fans from feeling the same joy unleashed last week when Kensington Palace officials announced that Prince Henry Charles Albert David and his new wife, Rachel Meghan Markle, would become parents next spring, announcing that comes five months later. they tied the knot, keeping the couple on the same accelerated trajectory as his parents.

Throughout their days on tour, the couple accepted a flood of gifts from the expected (a kangaroo stuffed animal that Meghan proclaimed "our first baby gift!") To perplexity (a bushel of homemade carrots?) with innumerable name suggestions.

And while Diana (the first choice of bookmakers) would certainly be an appropriate tribute, the way Harry leads his life, constantly in the honor of his late mother, is a fitting tribute.

From an early age, the boys joined the princess in shelters and hospitals for the homeless. "I tell them about homelessness projects," she told Bashir at their assembly in 1995, "I brought William and Harry to people dying of AIDS – even though I told them that it was a cancer – I took the kids to all kinds of areas where I'm not sure that any one of that age has been in this family before. "

Since then, they have made it their mission to defend their closest causes, and Harry recently teamed up with Elton John a coalition to expand HIV treatment and adopt a little more, like Harry did with injured veterans, and William is committed to ending wildlife poaching. No doubt their work would make Diana smile who had proclaimed that her deepest wish was that her boys "understand the emotions, the insecurities, the distress, the hopes and the dreams of the people".

And this Harry found a wife who not only embraces this as the work of his life, but chose it himself well before that fateful date of the first blind date, well, it's even sweeter. "My mother raised me to be a citizen of the world, with eyes open to sometimes harsh realities," Meghan wrote on her lifestyle blog, now gone. The tig in a passage that might look like Diana. "I've never wanted to be a woman who dines, I've always wanted to be a working woman, and that's the kind of work that feeds my soul and feeds my purpose."

So, as Harry said in his engagement interview, he found a woman that his mother would have fully endorsed. "Oh, they would be thick like thieves, no doubt, I think it would be on the moon, hopping up and down, you know it so excited for me," he says, "but then, as I said, would have probably been best friends, best friends with Meghan. "

More importantly, she would have liked Harry to be the best, the best friend of his wife.

Recalling her 1995 interview how she had announced Charles's separation from her eldest, she said: "I went to school and told her, in particular, that if you find someone that you love in life, you have to stick to and care for it, and if you are lucky enough to find someone who loves you, then you have to protect it. "

This is a tip that Harry particularly enjoyed, since he's been trying to protect Meghan from the less desirable areas of his world, while taking care to show him the ropes of the trade and the way it could realize its plan to create real change. Their romance is a completely modern monogamous twist on the one her parents used to share, but their mission is to connect and affect young hearts and minds, well, she's a pure Diana.