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Millions of royal fans watched as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said ‘I do’ during their fairytale wedding at St George’s Chapel in 2018.
There was plenty to catch the eye, including the Duchess of Sussex’s Givenchy minimalist silk wedding dress.
But there was something else worth paying attention to: Rolls-Royce chose to take the bride to the ceremony.
Gorgeous in its own right, the maroon Phantom IV that carried Meghan and her mother Doria Ragland from Cliveden House Hotel to St George’s Chapel had quite a unique story.
As 46 years ago, it was used to convey another American divorcee, the Duchess of Windsor, at the funeral of her husband, the Duke, in 1972.
Pictured: Meghan Markle arrives for her wedding to Prince Harry at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018
Pictured: Meghan and her mother, Doria Ragland, walk down the long promenade in a maroon Rolls-Royce Phantom IV as they arrive for her wedding ceremony
Pictured: Wallis, centre, is led to the funeral of her husband, the Duke of Windsor, in 1972
Was there anything significant in the election? The Duchess of Windsor, a figure at the heart of the abdication crisis, could hardly have been a welcome comparison.
The Daily Mail’s Sebastian Shakespeare asked if it could be a joke in bad taste.
And why might courtiers or aides have wanted to play such a ‘joke’?
The answer may lie in the widely reported pre-wedding tensions with Harry and Meghan, described as ‘behaving like teenagers’ in Valentine Low’s book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind The Throne.
Only 18 Phantom IVs were built by Rolls-Royce from 1950 to 1956. Other models are in museums and other public collections.
It was built and presented to the Queen in 1950 when she was still Princess Elizabeth.
Pictured: The Duchess of Windsor attended by the Queen Mother at the funeral of her husband the Duke of Windsor at St George’s Chapel in 1972
Many at the time questioned whether or not the official’s choice was intentional given the comparisons made between women
The Duchess of Windsor remained a figure of controversy until her death in 1986.
Edward VIII’s short reign ended with his abdication in 1936, after Stanley Baldwin’s government was told in no uncertain terms that he would not be allowed to marry a divorced woman and remain King.
He went on air saying he couldn’t do the king’s job ‘without the help and support of the woman I love’ – twice-divorced Wallis Simpson.
The pair married on June 3, 1937, at Château de Candé in the Loire Valley, but no senior members of the royal family attended.
They became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
His departure forced his younger brother, the Duke of York, to step up and become King George VI, creating a family wound that never healed.
The Queen Mother would blame the Duke and Duchess of Windsor for tearing the family apart and leading George VI to an early death.
The Duchess of Windsor leaves St George’s Chapel after her husband’s funeral in 1972
Freed from the weight of responsibility, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor lived the lives of the idle rich.
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