As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary, their lives have changed exponentially since their wedding day at St George’s Chapel in Windsor in 2018.
The couple now have two children, Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet Diana, 23 months, they live in Montecito, California, and they are no longer working members of the royal family.
Following their decision to leave the UK and step down as senior royals in January 2020, a rift has developed between the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family, which has no doubt been exacerbated in recent months by the £88 million dollar Netflix series Harry & Meghan and the release of Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare.
In the Netflix documentary, they revealed what their time in the UK was like after getting married in May 2018, and shared stories of how they were uncomfortable in the spotlight as senior members of the royal family.
However, the couple also revealed happier times as they reminisced about their “fairytale” wedding reception and Meghan revealed how much it had meant to her to have King Charles walk her down the aisle and how she called the day a “modern fairytale” in her wedding speech .
As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary, FEMAIL takes a look back at their ‘modern fairytale’ wedding day when they celebrated with joyful guests and had their first dance in Land of a Thousand Dances (pictured)
The order of service itself was in some ways a break from tradition, as the pair selected an American bishop, the Rev. Michael Curry, to deliver a rousing sermon that captivated audiences around the world and became one of the standout events of the day became.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain after the wedding, Rev Curry beamed at the newlyweds saying their love and marriage had brought together a diverse group of people.
“The love between those two people, between that royal couple, was so powerful, not only did we all show up, but it brought all these different worlds together,” he said on GMA.
“It brought different nationalities, different ethnicities, different religious traditions, people of all stripes and types, people of different political beliefs, basically we were together for a moment, organized around love.”
After a dispute with her father Thomas Markle, who was not present at her wedding at St George’s Chapel in Windsor, the Duchess instead asked her father-in-law, King Charles, to lead her down the aisle.
The Prince and Princess of Wales and Prince George and Princess Charlotte took center stage during the Sussexes’ wedding day
He also spoke of the hope the couple’s marriage had given people around the world, adding, “They’re going to work to make this world a better place and empowering women is one of the ways we’re doing that.”
The little details at the wedding ceremony also hinted at the duke and duchess’s commitment to serving as senior royals — like Meghan’s gorgeous wedding veil, which featured a flower from each Commonwealth country embroidered.
In the Harry and Meghan Netflix documentary, the Duchess revealed the predicament she found herself in days before the wedding when her own father, Thomas Markle, staged paparazzi photos and communication between the couple fell apart.
When it became clear that Mr. Markle would not be attending the wedding, Meghan asked King Charles, her father-in-law, to walk her down the aisle and give her away, which was a touching moment to witness.
Meghan said in the documentary: “Harry’s father is very charming. And I said to him, ‘I lost my father in this’.
“So he, as my father-in-law, was very important to me. So I asked him to escort me down the aisle and he said yes.’
The now feuding brothers Prince William and Prince Harry stood side by side on Harry’s wedding day with the Prince of Wales as best man
The Duchess also revealed in the documentary how the wedding reception was planned so the music would be “fun” and said the couple had their first dance to Wilson Pickett’s Land of a Thousand Dances.
She asked Harry, “Song of a Thousand Dances?” A thousand dances? I always get it wrong.’
The Duchess added: ‘That was our first dance. It was so much fun. Just spinning like a whirlwind. It was so great.’
The series also shared a series of previously unseen snaps from the reception in which the guests seemed overjoyed to celebrate the couple.
Pictures showed the couple cutting their cake, the Duke of Sussex giving a speech as the Duchess watches and her mother Doria Ragland cheering alongside Camilla and Prince William at Windsor Castle.
Another image showed the late Queen beaming and one showed the Princess of Wales at the reception with another guest.
Elsewhere, Prince Harry was seen offering Doria a kiss on the cheek after the ceremony, while another image showed Charles and Meghan greeting each other.
There were also a number of photos of the drink that followed at Windsor Castle.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding reception spawned plenty of happy photos, including one of the groom laughing with the guest and DJ Idris Elba
One showed Sir Elton John playing a piano for the audience, which included Meghan’s mother Doria.
Meghan even shared an excerpt of her speech at the wedding reception in the documentary, revealing how she thought her wedding was a “modern fairy tale.”
She read a line from the speech and referred to “a story I wrote about the man I love and the way we met.” Let’s call this a modern fairy tale.’
Another photo showed the pair apparently giving a short speech to the guests at the event. They can be seen in an instant cutting their wedding cake.
Today, after years of growing rift between the Sussexes and other members of the royal family, the couple is believed to have little to no contact with their in-laws, but on their wedding day in 2018, things were very different.
Prince William, Princess Kate, Prince George and Princess Charlotte all stood in the foreground at the wedding ceremony, with little Charlotte as the bridesmaid (although reports later emerged that the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex had fallen out over Charlotte’s dress) .
And the brothers themselves seemed closer than ever as they walked into St George’s Chapel in Windsor, smiling as they strolled side by side. With William as Harry’s best man, he joked beforehand that “revenge is sweet.”
When asked ahead of the wedding how he felt when he was named Harry’s Best Man, William said, “It feels amazing. Happy and delighted, of course. Revenge is sweet.’
It was a clear reference to Harry’s brutal behavior when he played the same role at William’s wedding in 2011.
Beneath the public banter, where they once regularly poked fun at each other, the couple shared a special bond that was strengthened after the death of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in Paris.
When Harry’s engagement was announced, William said his family were “all very excited, delighted for both of them and wishing them all the best of luck at this very exciting time.”
He joked, “For me personally, I hope it means he stays out of my fridge. It’s going to stop him scavenging all my food. He’s been done for the last few years.”