Meghan Markle’s wedding anniversary photos served as a reminder of relationship she once had with ‘caring’ King Charles – and could be a new bid to appeal to the royal family amid rumours of a reunion
The Duchess of Sussex’s unseen wedding photos might have looked like a glossy celebration of marital bliss, but a leading royal author claims that they also reveal her secret pain. The 44-year-old dropped two bumper albums on Instagram last week to mark her and Prince Harry ’s eighth wedding anniversary – and her father-in-law was the only other member of the royal family to feature.
“Meghan doesn’t do anything without purpose, so she’s sending a message, isn’t she?,” claims royal expert Ingrid Seward. “The message is, ‘We’re still very much part of your family.’ That’s what Harry and Meghan need because I don’t think they knew when they cut themselves off – with Harry’s book and the Oprah interview – just how alienated they were going to be.
“The relationship Meghan and Charles had at the beginning meant a lot to Meghan. Charles was very caring towards her, and although he is said to have nicknamed her ‘Tungsten’, I think he saw through that and saw her as quite vulnerable.”
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She continues, “He also thought that if he brought her closer rather than push her away, he would be more in control of anything she might potentially do.”
The images hark back to a time when Meghan and Charles were said to share a close bond, with him stepping in to walk her partway down the aisle at St George’s Chapel in place of her own father, Thomas Markle Sr. “Like everybody, Charles had such high hopes for the marriage and, in a way, was quite honoured to be part of it because he’s quite a humble man,” Ingrid claims. “He would have been very touched by the fact she wanted him to walk her down the aisle.”
Kensington Palace announced shortly before the Sussexes’ wedding day on 19 May 2018, that Charles would step in for Thomas, who was recovering from heart surgery, adding that he was “pleased to be able to welcome Ms Markle to the Royal Family in this way”. The then Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, also told journalists at the time that Charles was performing the traditional fatherly duty as “a sign of his love and concern and support”.
As their relationship has crumbled in the years since, Ingrid says Meghan likely has a mountain to climb towards reconciliation because “Charles’s way of dealing with upset is to sort of put his head in the sand, a bit like his mother used to.”
Meghan’s latest wedding throwbacks were captioned “Eight years ago today…” and included other snaps of Sir Elton John on the piano, some never-before-seen pics of the newlyweds on the dance floor at their wedding reception and one image of Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland. Harry’s best man, Prince William, and the couple’s sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, were notably missing. While the carefully chosen snaps project happiness and hope, Ingrid believes they also mask years of emotional turmoil behind the scenes.
“Their wedding was like something from a Disney film and the highlight of Meghan’s life and her ambitions,” she claims. “The weather was beautiful, with cloudless skies, and the crowds and the cheers. It was no doubt the best day of her life, but it’s never to be repeated and the minute the ring was on her finger, the trouble started, so there is obviously secret pain there.
“I imagine her absent father causes her pain because he reminds her of her previous life and she also probably feels some guilt about the way things have turned out. The whole world has been against her and Harry at times, and she is very aware of that. So, she wants to stand up for herself and block all that out.”
Since quitting royal duties in 2020, Meghan and Harry’s relationship with the royal family has continued to deteriorate, with the couple’s headline-making Oprah Winfrey interview and the release of Harry’s explosive memoir Spare.
At the same time, Meghan has remained estranged from her own father. Aside from talk of a personal letter from Meghan being passed to him after his highly publicised leg amputation last year, the pair are thought not to have spoken for years. “I think she’s just blanked him out of her life and decided that if she doesn’t talk to him and doesn’t see him, he’s not there,” Ingrid claims.
Meghan is believed to have last seen Charles in person in summer 2022, when she and Harry came to the UK for Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, now aged seven and four, in tow.
Despite this, Ingrid claims, Meghan is acutely aware that “Charles is the number one man”, and the path to reconciliation is rocky because the distrust behind palace walls still runs deep.
“She’s also astute enough to know that having a good relationship with her father-in-law can only help her relationship with her husband, if that’s what he wants,” she claims. “Out of anyone, she needs to get him on side. Of course she’s also got Camilla to deal with, who would never be rude or unpleasant to her, but knowing the sort of woman she is, she will be absolutely very, very wary of Meghan indeed.”
For now, Meghan’s carefully curated wedding memories may show a picture-perfect fairy tale, but only time will tell if the King is ready to hear Meghan’s message.
