In-laws Prince Charles and Meghan Markle shared a sweet moment at the royal wedding as he walked her down the aisle, stepping in for her own father, who couldn't attend the ceremony due to medical reasons. But how exactly did that moment come to be? In an upcoming BBC documentary, Prince Harry opens up about asking his father to walk his future wife down the aisle.
"I asked him to and I think he knew it was coming and he immediately said, ‘Yes, of course, I’ll do whatever Meghan needs and I’m here to support you," the Duke of Sussex says in the doc, Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70, People reports.
"For him that’s a fantastic opportunity to step up and be that support, and you know he’s our father so of course he’s gonna be there for us," Harry adds.
On the big day, the groom also showed gratitude as soon as his father and his bride reached the altar. He was seen whispering, "Thank you, Pa" to Charles during the ceremony.
Harry says of the sweet, simple gesture, "You’ve gotta say thank you. Just because he’s my father that doesn’t mean I can just sort of go, ‘Okay, that’s all, I’ll take it from here."
But he quickly followed up with a joke, per People, "Err, no, that is what I wanted to say but erm… and I was very grateful for him to be able to do that."
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Meghan's father, Thomas Markle, was originally planning to escort her down the aisle at St George's Chapel for her May 19 wedding to Prince Harry. However, he underwent heart surgery days before the ceremony and was unable to recover in time to travel from the U.S. to London.
In a tell-all interview weeks after the wedding, Thomas said he "absolutely wanted to walk my daughter down the aisle," but he was "honored" that Prince Charles took his place.
"I can't think of a better replacement than someone like Prince Charles," he told Good Morning Britain in June. "He looked very handsome and my daughter looked beautiful with him. I was jealous, I wish I had been there, I wish it had been me. But thank God he was there."
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.
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