"Royal Family Ties - Meghan Markle . . . "



Greetings,

We each have our little darkened corners of nerdity - and The British Royal Family is certainly one of mine.  Aside from the obvious architecture, fashion, and pageantry - the movement and status of each of the royal titles I find especially fascinating.  I thought I'd put together a bit of minutia (and some facts!) - to keep you entertained and well-informed on the comings-and-goings at the palace in London. 

Let's start with the newest member of 'the firm' - Meghan Markle.  As I'm sure many of you know, her engagement to Prince Harry was announced just before the holidays (date set for May 19th!) and she made her first 'family' appearance at church services on Christmas Day.  Let's see what the future holds for Meghan . . . 



1)  Royal Title.  

Contrary to popular belief (and the overwhelming narrative influence of Walt Disney), Meghan will not be a Princess.  Wives take on the feminine version of their husband's title - but, "Prince" is not Harry's title - it's his name.  Most commonly, HM (Her Majesty) will bestow a title on their wedding day - much like she did when Prince William became Duke of Cambridge (and Catherine became Duchess of Cambridge) on their wedding day.  The good money is on "Sussex."  Thus Harry and Meghan would become The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.  (Now for some proper minutia, Meghan CAN be properly titled "Princess Harry of Wales," but that's a kinda obscure use of the title.  The only other member of the family I can think of is "Princess Michael of Kent.") 



2)  Duties.  

Like most of the wives of the members of the royal family, one of her principal duties is to support the work of her husband and the family.  I'll be interested to see if the charitable connections that she already works with will become causes that will be supported by the royal family.  It certainly seems from the interviews that they have done - their charitable work was one of the early things that they shared in common . . . so, it could be quite interesting to see how this works out.




3)  She can't marry him because . . . 

There has been a firestorm of negativity since the engagement was announced with various random folks declaring that for this or that reason, they can't be married.  In a word, nonsense.  Though her previous divorce was I'm sure an obstacle, it certainly does not prevent their wedding.  People have been endlessly siting The Duke of Windsor's abdication as proof - luckily, The Church of England and modern society's views have clearly moved forward in the 80 years since those events took place.  And honestly, if the Queen approves of her . . . that's all I need to know.  Though it is unusual for an American to marry into a family - it's certainly not the first time it's happened.  Grace Kelly.  Queen Noor of Jordan. 


In closing . . . some thoughts.  I, like I assume all of you, have never met these people.  So I, like you, base my opinion on what I'm offered by the royal family and the media.  But, I really like her.  She's certainly well-spoken, well educated, and seems to be head-over-heels in love with Prince Harry.  The fact that she was invited to Sandringham for Christmas (even though they are not yet married - a HUGE break with tradition) clearly shows that the family are excited about having her in 'the firm.'  

Check back in from time to time . . . we need the work through some issues with Catherine's name.  And at some point, we'll need to discuss Charles (the next King).
 

Until then -

Cheerio -
Scot 


(and yes, I know I left a few things out - but, I didn't want to overwhelm everyone a 4000 word essay this first time out! Hang in there - we have LOTS more to talk about!)


Comments

Unknown said…
Scott She had to give up her own charity work, including the Rwanda UN work she did as their represenitive upon the engagement She is not allowed to do any charity work outside what the British Royal Family are involved with already Just a guess she will join with Harry's charites And chose some she personally wants to be involved with like Diana with AIDs She has already been put on the Board of Directors on the new Charity Foundation that Wm Catherine and Harry founded to help with Mental Health issues I do not remember the name of it off the top but i recently read they just did it upon the engagement Also saw yesterday the Queen has told Harry she must have a Pre Nup something not usual for Royals and Megan blew up Royally when he told her She was not pleased but remember she is reportedly worth over $5 million herself.
Nancy - You are absolutely correct! I didn't mean to infer that Meghan would continue her existing charity work . . . but, I'm curious to see how the family's charity work might be influenced by her. I've heard the rumors about the 'pre-nup' business . . . but, I'm not sure I believe it. I remember one of the London tabloids - over the period of ten days - announced that 1) The Queen was going to abdicate in favour of William. 2) The The Queen was going to 'retire' and put Charles in place as a regency. 3) That once Charles becomes king that he would immediately abdicate in favour of William. So when I hear about 'reports' from the palace, I can't imagine that something like this would actually become public knowledge.

Scot
Unknown said…
They were in Cardiff Castle today dressed very casually and had large crowds all around them They appear to be very happy and you can see Harry is very protective of her. She was great around the young kids and paid a lot of attention to them even leaving Harry to dart to one holding a sign who leaned over and hugged her as did several others. I noticed the woman from Cardiff Castle who met them when they arrived bent down and did the Royal Curtsy to both of them separately. I was surprised i did not expect them to do that for her yet but maybe she just wanted to show respect for them both early in support. Megan handled the situation well as did Harry If you go on you tube you can see them for yourself. They sure did not dress up much to go on this visit.lol Nothing like Wm and Kate who are both very modern. Maybe its because he is the next King after Charles? They both look very happy..and in love.

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