*LONDON: Britain’s Prince Harry and US TV star Meghan Markle tie the knottoday in front of celebrity guests and tens of thousands of fans in aceremony beamed around the world that will combine traditional pomp andmodern twists.*
Well-wishers camped overnight to secure the best spots to watch thenewlyweds, who will marry in Windsor Castle before taking a carriage ridearound the picturesque town.
Hollywood actor George Clooney and his wife Amal, British singer EltonJohn, footballer David Beckham and his fashion designer wife VictoriaBeckham were among the guests, along with US chat show host Oprah Winfreyand tennis champion Serena Williams.
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Harry’s ex-girlfriends Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas were also inattendance, along with singer James Blunt, an army veteran like Harry andauthor of the hit song “You’re Beautiful”.
Many in the crowds offered particular good wishes to Markle after herfather pulled out of the ceremony at the last minute due to health problemsand a scandal over staged paparazzi pictures.
“After the week she’s had, she needs some support,” said Karen Wallace, 53,from Chicago.
The service in St George’s Chapel at noon (1100 GMT) will mix traditionalChurch of England ceremony with gospel music, with a choir singing “StandBy Me”, while a US pastor will deliver the main address.
The 36-year-old bride is to start her walk down the aisle on her own,interpreted by some commentators as a sign of her feminist credentials.
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Markle’s ring has been made with Welsh gold, as is traditional for royalweddings, while Harry’s will be made of platinum.
Queen Elizabeth II will attend and before the wedding conferred the titleDuke of Sussex on her grandson Prince Harry, meaning Markle will be knownas the Duchess of Sussex.
– Breaking the barriers –
Windsor was decked out with flags and bunting, and there was a carnivalarea on the Long Walk, the sweeping tree-lined avenue down which the royalcouple will drive.
Thousands of well-wishers arrived at dawn, bearing rugs and picnics, UnionJack flags and royalist paraphernalia, and the prosecco was flowing freelywell before the first guests arrived.
“We planned to stay in a hotel but we got caught up in all the excitementand we stayed here last night, unprepared,” said Karen Long, from Texas.
She said the fact that Markle was mixed-race was a huge moment, saying: “Weall wanted to be a princess, we thought we couldn’t and there she is,breaking all the barriers!”
Besides starring in the US legal drama “Suits”, Markle was also a UnitedNations advocate for women’s empowerment.
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Her father Thomas Markle, recovering from a heart operation in Mexico,still appears in the printed order of service, but his role will now betaken by Harry’s father Prince Charles.
The Emmy Award-winning former television lighting director was caught in afiasco, posing for staged photographs after complaining of mediaharassment, then performing several U-turns over whether he would attend.
*– Profound affection –*
Before they retired for the night in separate hotels, Harry, 33, met fansoutside Windsor Castle where he said he was feeling “great”, while Marklesaid she felt “wonderful”.
The couple met on a blind date in July 2016 and had a whirlwind romance,criss-crossing the Atlantic as she continued filming in Toronto.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who will marry the couple, saidthey were “very sensible” and “self-possessed”.
“There’s profound affection between them which is wonderful and a deepunderstanding and mutual support,” he said.
Prime Minister Theresa May, who has not been invited to the wedding,offered her “very best wishes” in a message on Twitter.
Prince Harry, the youngest son of the late Princess Diana, is one of themost popular royals, while Markle, a divorcee, is seen as a breath of freshair for the monarchy.
“I think it’s really nice that he’s marrying someone that’s representativeof modern society,” said Sam Lukes, 28, who came from nearby Reading to seethe procession.
“They are going to change things,” said Irene Lennon, a 72-year-old fromEdinburgh, wearing a black t-shirt with the British flag featuring thecouple on it.
She and her sister Audrey Wilde, 66, were singing and laughing as theyarrived in Windsor on the train, which has been labelled the “Royal Weddingspecial to Harry and Meghan Central.”
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Retired nurse Cynthia Osborne, from Cardiff, was resplendent in a Welshdragon hat and posed for a photograph for a US tourist.
“I think they’re a little bit envious of us, not just the Americans but theEuropeans too,” she said of the international attention.
– Diana wedding tribute –
The event is a welcome respite for a country still burdened by austerityand divided over Brexit, although polls have indicated that only around athird of the population is interested in the wedding.
Despite the meticulous palace preparations, feuding in Markle’s fractiousfamily has overshadowed the wedding build-up.
Her estranged older half-siblings, who have not been invited, have ventedwidely in the media.
Her even more distant half-brother’s ex-wife and her son Tyler, a cannabisfarmer, have jetted into Britain to make merry beyond the castle walls.
Harry, a former army officer, has had his own troubles and recentlyadmitted he was close to a breakdown at one point in his youth.
He was scarred by his mother Diana’s death in a Paris car crash in 1997when he was just 12, and he had to mourn in the full glare of the world’smedia.
Harry has asked Diana’s sister Jane Fellowes to give a reading at hiswedding, in a tribute to his mother.
The congregation will also sing “Guide me, O thou great redeemer” — thelast hymn sung at Diana’s funeral. – Agencies