At her wedding Saturday to Britain’s Prince Harry, American actress Meghan Markle revealed herself as a confident mixed-race woman who has set the tone of modern-day social acceptance for the royal family.
Markle’s wedding to the 33-year-old prince showcased a prominent representation of African-American participation. The charismatic Most Rev. Michael Curry, an African-American presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, delivered a rousing sermon on the power of love in which he quoted Martin Luther King Jr. while Markle’s mother Doria Ragland sat nearby in admiration.
Among the musical performers were The Kingdom Choir, a southeast England-based African-American gospel group who offered a majestic rendition of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me,” and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a 19-year-old Black cellist and winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year Award.
During the elaborate high-noon ceremony at London’s St. George’s Chapel, Markle, 36, looking radiant in a bold yet simplistic boat neck Givenchy gown, strode alone halfway down the aisle to where she was then led to the altar by Prince Harry’s father, Prince Charles.
The new couple is now known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.