The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was held on Saturday 19 May 2018 in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom.

The groom is a member of the British royal family; the bride is American and previously worked as an actress, blogger,[1] charity ambassador,[2] and advocate.

[3][note 1] On the morning of the wedding, Prince Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, conferred upon him the titles of Duke of Sussex, Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel.

Upon her marriage, Markle became a princess of the United Kingdom and gained the style Her Royal Highness and titles Duchess of Sussex, Countess of Dumbarton and Baroness Kilkeel.

[7][9] The relationship was made public by the press on 31 October 2016,[10] and it was officially acknowledged on 8 November 2016, when a statement was released from the Prince's communications secretary addressing the "wave of abuse and harassment" directed toward Markle.

[37] The official engagement photographs were taken by Alexi Lubomirski (a former assistant to Mario Testino) at Frogmore House, and were issued by Kensington Palace on 21 December 2017.

[38] To mark the wedding of Harry and Meghan, the Royal Mint produced an official UK £5 coin, showing the couple in profile.

[41] The wedding was on the same date as the FA Cup Final, which Prince Harry's brother William normally attends in his role as President of the Football Association.

[84] A total of ten bridesmaids and page boys were chosen, with the bride and groom each selecting five: two of Markle's godchildren, seven-year old Rylan Litt and her six-year-old sister Remi, as well as Brian, John and Ivy Mulroney, the three children of her friend Jessica Mulroney, were chosen by the bride, while Prince Harry's nephew and niece, Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, as well as his godchildren Florence van Cutsem, Zalie Warren and Jasper Dyer, were selected by the groom.

[87][88] The bride spent the night before the wedding at Cliveden House along with her mother, while the groom stayed at Coworth Park Hotel with his brother.

[97][98] Prince Harry's maternal aunt, Baroness Fellowes, read a scripture lesson from The Song of Solomon in the Christian Bible.

The Dean of Windsor, David Conner, conducted the service with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, performing the marriage ceremony.

[108] Prince Harry was seen wiping away a tear during the congregational singing of the latter, which was a favourite of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, and was sung at her funeral in 1997;[109] it was also the opening hymn to William's wedding in 2011.

[113][114] The bride walked down the aisle to "Eternal source of light divine" (from Handel's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne), sung by soprano Elin Manahan Thomas, with the trumpet obbligato performed by David Blackadder.

[103] Other music during the service included the motet "If Ye Love Me" by Thomas Tallis; the song "Stand by Me" by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller and Ben E. King, arranged for choir by Mark Delisser; and "The Lord bless you and keep you" by John Rutter.

1 in B-flat major by William Boyce and "This Little Light of Mine" by Etta James, Jester Hairston and Harry Dixon Loes.

[116] For the evening reception, the Duchess of Sussex wore a halter-neck, open back dress by Stella McCartney and an emerald cut aquamarine ring formerly belonging to Diana, Princess of Wales.

[128] This was in contrast to the wedding of Prince Harry's elder brother, which had a large number of such guests due to his position as a future monarch.

[129] The decision not to invite political leaders to the wedding was taken in part because of the limitations of the venue, and also took into account Prince Harry's position as sixth in line to the throne.

[129] The only politician invited was the former Prime Minister Sir John Major as he previously was "a special guardian on legal matters to Princes William and Harry after the death of their mother".

[72] With a smaller ceremony and reception at St George's Hall, the guest list included approximately 600 people, most of whom have a "direct relationship" with the couple.

Markle's Suits co-stars Patrick J. Adams, Gina Torres, Abigail Spencer, Sarah Rafferty, Rick Hoffman and Gabriel Macht, as well as her non-work friends Serena Williams, Ben and Jessica Mulroney, Jill Smoller, Janina Gavankar, Misha Nonoo and Oprah Winfrey.

Inside was an order of service booklet for the wedding, a gold chocolate coin, a bottle of water, a fridge magnet, a 20% off voucher for the Windsor Castle gift shop and a tube of handbag shortbread.

[140] In April 2018, the couple requested that, rather than sending wedding gifts, people should make a donation to one of seven charitable organisations, none of which they had a formal association with:[141][142] The Sytner Group also made a MINI 3dr Hatch known as the Harry and Meghan Royal Wedding Memorabilia Car, which was sold at an auction in 2018 and its proceeds were donated to HIV charities at the couple's request.

The BBC Radio coverage was co-hosted by Claire Balding, Jonny Dymond, Gemma Cairney, Jane Garvey, Paddy O'Connell, Aasmah Mir, Rachel Burden, Alistair Bruce-Ball and Julian Worricker.

In the United States coverage aired on ABC, FOX, NBC, CBS, PBS, E!, BBC America, TLC, HBO & CNN.

[161] The parody hosts were Cord Hosenbeck and Tish Cattigan, played by former Saturday Night Live actors Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon.

[164] In April 2020, it was announced that $112,000 in profits from the BBC broadcast of the Duke and Duchess's wedding would be donated to Feeding Britain amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

[168] The wedding was widely reported as being significant for its departure from tradition typically associated with the royal family and for its inclusion of African-American culture in the service.

[174][175][176][177] Other reports cited more limited impact, including that "Markle being biracial as opposed to African American impeded black people embracing her as one of their own".