The Royal Wedding In Facts
Here are some news titbits from Saturday's royal wedding between Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
-- As they paused on the West Steps of the chapel, a smiling Meghan looked up at her new husband and asked: "Do we kiss?" Harry replied with a discreet: "Yeah."
-- Prince Harry drove his wife to the evening wedding reception in a silver blue Jaguar E-Type Concept Zero with the number plate E190518: the wedding date.
-- US pastor Michael Curry admitted afterwards that his 13-and-a-half-minute speech had over-run somewhat.
"It was planned and I thought it was going to be six minutes," he said, adding: "It was a little longer than that because there were pauses in there."
-- The six bridesmaids got white leather shoes monogrammed with their initials and the wedding date, a gift from Markle. The page boys had their initials embroidered in gold on their shoulder straps.
-- For the lunchtime reception, 7,500 items of food were prepared by a team of 25, led by royal chef Mark Flanagan.
-- Markle's wedding dress featured designs of wintersweet, which grows in front of Nottingham Cottage where she and Harry live, and, from the Los Angeles girl's homeland, the California Poppy state flower.
-- It also included flowers from all 53 Commonwealth nations, including Ear of Sorghum and Cat's Claw from Botswana and Red Stinkwood from Cameroon.
-- Her veil was held in place by queen Mary's diamond bandeau tiara, made in 1932, with the central brooch dating from 1893.
-- Her bouquet included myrtle sprigs are from stems planted by queen Victoria in 1845, and a plant grown from the myrtle used in Queen Elizabeth II's wedding bouquet of 1947.
-- Harry's uniform was cut by hand and took a week to make. His medal ribbons were those of a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, his Afghanistan campaign medal, plus his golden and diamond jubilee gongs.
-- Harry's cousin Princess Beatrice drew mockery for her over-the-top headgear at Prince William's wedding in 2011 but kept it muted this time with an exceptionally low-key hat.
-- Markle showed she knew the words to the national anthem, successfully getting through "God Save The Queen".
-- The entire ceremony was made available on streaming services, in a royal wedding first. Decca Records has released the service online, with a physical release on CD due out next week.
-- Meghan's close friend, the actress Priyanka Chopra, said: "Every choice made at this wedding by you both will go down in history, not just because it was your wedding but because this incredible wedding stood for change and hope. Both things that the world needs desperately."
-- Football icon David Beckham, one of the guests, said: "What a proud day for our country today.... Watching Harry as happy as he was makes us all proud of the man and person he has always been."
-- Twitter said there were 3.4 million tweets about the wedding between midnight and 1:30pm local time, the end of the carriage procession.
-- The couple will not go on honeymoon straight away. Their first official engagement as a married couple will be a garden party at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
FACTS TAKEN FROM AFP/RELAX NEWS
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