As an outspoken activist and actress, Meghan Markle is already proving to be a truly unique princess-to-be.
The 36-year-old former Suits star is set to marry Prince Harry on 19 May, breaking hearts on both sides of the pond.
And it’s a fair bet this royal wedding will not be the stuffy, stiff-upper-lipped event of days gone by.
Indeed, it seems as though Meghan Markle will be shaping the wedding to reflect the couple’s fun-loving personalities.
And why not? After all, although royal weddings bear the weight of centuries of tradition, this is a modern, independent-thinking couple.
In an interesting spin on regal custom, Meghan herself will be delivering a speech at the reception where she will give an ‘affectionate’ tribute to her new husband.
The speech is reported to include a thank you to the Queen as well as family and friends. There will also apparently be a couple of cheeky jokes, which let’s face it, is brave when your audience includes the literal Queen…
Meghan’s dad Thomas is known to be quite a private, shy sort of person. He will be walking his daughter down the aisle, which is no small task for an introvert when said aisle is at Windsor Castle.
However, it is unlikely the 73-year-old former lighting director will be making a speech at the reception.
This is of course totally fine. We all have our own special talents, and luckily Meghan is already an extremely accomplished public speaker.
A source told The Sunday Times:
The feeling is if Meghan’s father doesn’t speak for her, she wants to have the chance to thank her husband and everyone who has supported them.
Harry thinks it’s a great idea.
As former editor-in-chief for lifestyle website The Tig, we already know Meghan has a way with words. This coupled with her years worth of experience in the acting world should make for a memorable speech.
She has already proved herself with a passionate speech at the U.N. Women’s 2015 conference where she discussed her interest in fighting for worthy causes at just 11-years-old:
When I was in grade school, I saw this sexist commercial for dish soap.
With [the Riveter’s] ‘We can do it!’ mantra in mind, I wrote a letter to Procter & Gamble, Hillary Clinton, and Nick News anchor Linda Ellerbee, who sent a camera crew to meet me.
Guess what? They changed the commercial.
She added:
They changed it from ‘Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans’ to ‘People all over America,’
It means that a wife is equal to her husband, a sister to her brother. Not better, not worse—they are equal.
It was at that moment that I realized the magnitude of my actions,
At the age of 11, I had created my small level of impact by standing up for equality.
It will be intriguing to see if Meghan draws from her various humanitarian interests in her upcoming speech.
Now as of yet, we still don’t know anything about Prince William’s speech, who is hotly tipped to be best man.
However, fingers crossed it will be suitably embarrassing in accordance with essential big brother duties.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.