Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, will walk Meghan Markle down the aisle on Saturday when she marries Prince Harry, Kensington Palace has said, with Britain making on Friday its final finishing touches to the plans for the royal wedding extravaganza.
Her father, Thomas, gave a host of contradictory statements about his intentions then finally told celebrity website TMZ he had undergone heart surgery and could not attend, in a family drama that has played out under the glare of media attention.
“Meghan Markle has asked His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales to accompany her down the aisle of the Quire of St George’s Chapel on her Wedding Day,” Harry’s office Kensington Palace said in a statement.
“The Prince of Wales is pleased to be able to welcome Ms. Markle to The Royal Family in this way.”
Prince Harry's grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, will also attend the wedding, Buckingham Palace confirmed.
Prince Philip, 96, has been recovering from a hip operation.
Markle’s African-American mother, Doria Ragland, was due to meet Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, Harry’s 92-year-old grandmother, for tea on Friday.
Ragland will take her daughter to the wedding at St George's Chapel in Windsor.
Ragland has arrived at Windsor Castle to meet the Queen for the first time, accompanied by Meghan, 36, and Prince Harry, 33.
She has already been introduced to Prince Charles and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Outside the ancient stone walls of Windsor Castle, home to the English royal family for nearly 1,000 years, well-wishers mingled with tourists and swarms of television crews under swathes of British and American flags.
Harry will marry Markle, a star of the TV drama “Suits”, in the castle’s 15th-century St George’s Chapel at a ceremony that begins about 1100 GMT on Saturday. The details of her dress, the ring and the order of service are still to be announced.
A former army officer and one-time royal wild child, Harry met his bride-to-be on a blind date in July 2016 after being set up through a mutual friend. Markle said she knew little about her royal date while Harry said he had never heard of Markle or watched her TV series.
Markle said she was sad her father could not make it but expressed hope he would be given the time to deal with his health problems.
The palace implied that Markle would still enter the chapel alone with her bridesmaids and page boys, before joining Charles at the Quire - also sometimes called the choir - the area providing seating for the clergy and choristers.
After the hour-long ceremony, the couple will take part in a procession through the town’s ancient streets on a 19th century Ascot Landau carriage pulled by four Windsor Grey horses.
Markle’s wedding cake - a lemon and elderflower creation with buttercream icing and topped with fresh flowers - has taken six bakers five days to prepare, according to its designer Claire Ptak.
Police are expecting more than 100,000 people to throng the streets outside the castle, the queen’s home west of London and the oldest and largest inhabited fortress in the world, and have said there would be tight security for the event.
Harry, the younger son of the late Princess Diana, has always been a popular member of the royal family.
He left a lasting memory in the minds of many when aged just 12, he walked behind his mother’s coffin as her funeral cortege made its way through London after her death in a car crash in 1997.
He has spoken publicly about the pain of the loss of his mother, supported campaigns for wounded veterans and has embraced campaigns for awareness about mental health.
