Unanswered questions from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding from secret vows to fallout

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in 2018 looked like something out of a fairytale – but behind-the-scenes painted a very different picture of the couple’s nuptials and there are still many unanswered questions. The couple were plagued with drama in the run-up to their summer wedding, which was a star-studded affair at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, with famous faces such as David and Victoria Beckham, as well as Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney and Idris Elba, in attendance. While Harry and Meghan were busy putting the finishing touches to their big day, they were hit with one crisis after another.

From sister-in-law spats to a transatlantic feud with the bride’s father, the couple were left in tears as they dealt with the ongoing drama right out of a soap opera. As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex prepare to celebrate their wedding anniversary on Saturday, we take a look at the unanswered questions that still frustrate royal fans six years after the nuptials.

Why didn’t Thomas Markle turn up to his daughter’s wedding?

Meghan was heartbroken when it emerged her father wouldn’t be walking her down the aisle on her wedding day, and she ended up asking her father-in-law Charles to accompany her instead. The drama began just weeks before the big day when Thomas was spotted brushing up on his knowledge of the UK in snaps taken of him in Mexico, where he lives. He was then photographed getting a suit fitted, as well as searching images of his daughter and son-in-law at an internet cafe, but the secret was out just five days before the wedding – Thomas was accused of staging the photos.

He admitted he had staged the pictures, and apologised to Meghan for the “stupid and hammy” snaps. Speculation surrounded the troubled father, as many predicted he wouldn’t be allowed to take part in the special day after working with the paparazzi, who Harry and Meghan loathe. Sadly, tragedy struck when Thomas suffered a heart attack and was hospitalised, leaving his role in the wedding hanging by a thread. Meghan and Harry sent dozens of text messages to Thomas while he was in hospital, with the former Suits star even offering up her security team to protect him.

“If u love Meg and want to make it right please call me as there are two other options which don’t involve u having to speak to the media, who incidentally created this whole situation. So please call me so I can explain. Meg and I are not angry, we just need to speak to u. Thanks,” Harry wrote in one text message to Thomas, but the couple failed to get through to him. After undergoing heart surgery one day before the wedding, he was unable to fly over to London to walk his daughter down the aisle, and his final attempt to contact Meghan was in the early hours of her wedding day, when she had a missed call from her father.

Thomas has since taken part in multiple interviews criticising his estranged daughter, and she was left devastated when a private letter she sent to him after he missed their wedding was made public. Last year, he claimed he would no longer take part in interviews about his daughter, and after suffering a stroke, has pleaded with Meghan and Harry to let him see their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Did Meghan and Harry get married in secret before their big ceremony?

During their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, the couple alleged they had tied the knot in a secret ceremony, just days before exchanging vows in St George’s Chapel with millions around the world watching. “Three days before our wedding, we got married – no one knows that. We called the archbishop and we just said, look, this thing, this spectacle, is for the world, but we want our union between us,” Meghan explained, as Harry added it was “just the three of us” in their backyard.

Many suggested the small ceremony wasn’t legal as it would have required witnesses, as stated by law, and the former official who issued the marriage licence to Harry and Meghan called the former actress “confused and misinformed”. Stephen Bolton told The Sun: “They did not marry three days earlier in front of the Archbishop of Canterbury… it was a simple rehearsal.” The Archbishop himself, Justin Welby, also dismissed Meghan’s claims, and said he would have committed a serious criminal offence if he had conducted the ceremony at St George’s Chapel under false pretences. “The legal wedding was on the Saturday,” he told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “I signed the wedding certificate, which is a legal document, and I would have committed a serious criminal offence if I signed it knowing it was false.” He refused to divulge any information about what his other meetings with Harry and Meghan were about, and said: “If any of you ever talk to a priest, you expect them to keep that talk confidential.”

Harry wrote briefly about the ‘secret’ ceremony that took place before the wedding and instead chose to describe it as a “blessing” in his memoir Spare, which was released last year. “The archbishop reached the official part, spoke the few words that made us the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, titles bestowed by Granny, and he joined us until death parted us, though he’d already done similar days earlier, in our garden, a small ceremony, just the two of us, [dogs] Guy and Pula the only witnesses,” he recalled.

Did Meghan make Kate cry in the run up to the wedding?

The sisters-in-law have had a tumultuous relationship, and as the big day approached, tempers began to fray. According to reports, Kate had been left in floods of tears over Meghan’s attitude toward the flower girl dresses, and palace officials failed to release any statement dismissing the rumours. The Duchess of Sussex addressed the incident during the tell-all interview with Oprah, as she claimed it was Kate who had upset her over Princess Charlotte’s flower girl dress. She claimed there was a disagreement over the fitting and alteration of the white gown, which was made and hand-sewn in France. However, Meghan admitted Kate had apologised and sent her flowers and the matter was dealt with.

In Harry’s explosive memoir Spare, he shared text messages he claimed were sent between Kate and Meghan in the run-up to their wedding day which revealed the Princess of Wales demanded that her daughter’s dress be remade, and refused Meghan’s pleas to get it altered by a tailor that was ready and waiting. “Meg asked if Kate was aware of what was going on right now. With her father. Kate said she was well aware, but the dresses. And the wedding is in four days!” Harry wrote. “Yes, Kate, I know,” he said Meghan replied.