What’s wrong with her mom walking her down the aisle? So much frothing over this.

It seems a bit of a mess that whole family. Her father was wrong to do what he did and that calls for a strongly worded conversation in private on her part. But to agree (or demand) for him not to attend her wedding to prevent embarrassment seems shallow and harsh.

So many stories swirling around. I was talking to my sister today and she seemed to think that Meghan was talked into inviting her dad as having him walk her down the aisle was the right protocol.

I think I will set my alarm clock like I did for all the other royal weddings. Can't wait to see what she picked as her wedding dress. Se also has a second one for both of the receptions.

Blue, I thought that it was his decision to not attend and cause further embarrassment. At any rate, his health is fragile at this point.

eld6161 I understand that dad is reported not to attend to prevent further embarrassment but if my father said that I would say "no- of course you are coming and walking me down the isle." My father was very important to me- I would never let anyone make him feel that he was not good enough.

Meghan was married before. Who walked her down that aisle?

Rita, I looked at daily mail last night and found an interesting tidbit. Their own photographers took pictures of him just two days after his "heart attack" buying McDonalds then later went to KFC then driving home which wasn't far away. They said there's no records of him having a heart attack.

I thought he was already in England but the pictures were taken here in the states.

The whole thing is weird.

Similar to when Jackie got married, she wanted Blackjack to walk her down the aisle but her mother got Michael Canfield to get Blackjack drunk on the wedding day and her stepfather walked her down, she was furious. Also Joe Kennedy picked out her engagement ring which she thought was hideous. Her gown was chosen by him too and she hated it. She wanted a small wedding of about 700 and they had 1200. Power rules.

Am I the only person who has absolutely no interest whatsoever in a Royal Wedding? Clicked in here just to see if there's any explanation of what sounded completely inexplicable on the national news last night. Not that I care ;), but what exactly is the issue?

We rewound a coupla times and could not figure out why pictures of a heavy set American guy looking at a guide book make a scandal-anyone care to enlighten? In today's social climate in the US at least, may we at least concede that from our highest level of leadership the, um, scandal meter has been set a bit higher than that?!

I don't know anything about the bride, her family or her career history but I'm surmising there must be a messy family story here somewhere?

Runningl, I think that it was that he was selling the pictures, supposedly at the advice of his daughter, Meghan's half-sister.

At any rate, here is a young woman who should have a loving family surrounding her for her special day. It is very true than when Harry said that in some ways this is the family she never had. At that point, the stepsister denied this, ha, as if they were actually part of her life, which turned out to not be true at all.

The heart attack story may have been exaggerated in order to have an excuse for him not to attend.

I think Meghan is getting a taste of what life is going to be like being a part of the royal family.

>>>>Am I the only person who has absolutely no interest whatsoever in a Royal Wedding?

No.

There are a host of others who couldn't give two hoots, and many of them live in England. One Brit described it as the marriage of a lesser royal to a D-list actress, which seems a bit harsh, but that's how a good number of people see it. Frankly, I think the bloom is off the rose. William will one day be king, so his wedding sparked a good deal more interest, and now he's making gorgeous children so the births are also getting attention. Harry's wedding won't be near the draw, but I do think they're a nice-looking couple and I wish them well. I won't be watching though.

Ditto what IdaClaire said.

I have no interest in the royals at all. I will not watch their weddings. It's bad enough that every news channel will replay scenes ad nauseum for days, possibly weeks afterwards. I wish them well. I don't care to see or know all the details of their lives. Then again, I'm not interested in the private lives of actors, singers, sports figures, etc either.

I kinda feel bad for him. He's been thrown into the middle of a media circus with someone watching his every move. Who knows what missteps - intentional or not, anyone might make under those circumstances. What he did is sort of tacky (you mean the staged photos of himself, right?), but based on what I read, it's really not *that* bad. Probably embarrassing for him more than anything

Yeah. the royal family "has people" to manage their public lives and help them avoid such bruhahas. Which of us would be prepared to make all the right choices /behave properly at every turn under such scrutiny? I feel sure I would fall short.

Frankly, they should do whatever THEY want to do. Not anyone else's wedding after all.

For 99.9999% of the people in the world, I'd agree ... but the Royal Family sort of "belongs" to their country, and their wedding kind of is "for everyone".

Her father was wrong to do what he did and that calls for a strongly worded conversation in private on her part.

Yes, that seems appropriate. But I agree with those who suspect the heart-attack thing is being "blown up" to give him an excuse not to attend the wedding -- and once he's missed the wedding, it's something she can never go back and "fix".

If Dad really is so sick that he cannot travel, it'd be nice for the couple to go through with their big wedding ... then come to see him immediately after. Even have a small private ceremony here with him.

but her mother got Michael Canfield to get Blackjack drunk on the wedding day and her stepfather walked her down, she was furious.

Eh, no. No one can force another to become drunk. He was an adult man and knew how much alcohol he chose to drink. If the wedding mattered to him, he'd have used moderation.

We rewound a coupla times and could not figure out why pictures of a heavy set American guy looking at a guide book make a scandal-anyone care to enlighten?

He took money for the photographs. That's the scandal.

But keep in mind, none of us know the actual truth about any of this. We just know what the media's said.

FAKE NEWS!!! LOL

He took money for the photographs. That's the scandal.

When I googled this yesterday (Oakley's post was the first I'd heard of it), what I read indicated he had not been paid for his participation in the photos. That's what I based my original comment on, but it seems the details are changing faster than I care to keep up with.

I'm interested to see her dress and I'm sure I'll look at the photos afterwards. I wish them well but beyond that.... no, I'm not really all that interested.

Added: Even if he did receive money for the photos, I'm still not sure what the big deal is. They were only pictures of himself, so who cares. It's not like he was selling private photos of the bride and/or groom, or telling embarrassing secrets about MM for profit or something. It's tacky, yeah... but (in typical fashion) I think it's being blown way out of proportion. Maybe he deserves to make a little money as compensation for the stress & inconvenience & intrusion into his privacy he's suffering. :)

I won't be getting up early to watch, unless I can't sleep for some reason. I will watch the highlights after that. I am a bit of a sucker for this stuff. It's harder to get all wrapped up in the romance of it when the bride has already been around the block before. I do wish her the best. I can't imagine a life of going to ribbon cuttings and ship launchings and that sort of thing, although she's old enough to know what she's getting into. She does seem as if she was meant for a more substantial life, although acting in a series like Suits is not exactly brain surgery. I hope it all works out for them and that they have a couple of cute kids.

"Added: Even if he did receive money for the photos, I'm still not sure what the big deal is. "

I think the big deal is that at first the photos were released saying that he was being followed by (and were taken by) the paparazzi. When the whole thing was a set up between him and the half sister. Keep in mind the paparazzi is blamed in the death of Princess Diane.

I just lately have been feeling a bit sorry for Ms. Markle. Now I am also feeling a bit sorry for the Queen. You know, it all reminds me of Pride and Prejudice! ("such a family!")

I hope that the marriage will work, but with such a dysfunctional sounding family, I don't have high hopes. Hopefully her mother is an adequate support for her.

When a pic of Meghan in her dress pops up I will take a look but beyond that www.whogivesadamn.com

edited to add - who knew? - that's a real website! go figure.

I wasn't given away by either parent at my first and only wedding, which they did attend. Neither did the wedding invitations mention the parents. Oh, and we were younger than the royal couple but were independent from our parents.

At the time, I had no clue that that we were breaking any traditions.

LOL, Lars, on giving away twice and the ex. People used to treat second wedding as more low key, but that is long gone.

I was an older first-time bride, and my father was deceased, so I didn't want someone to walk me down the aisle. But, my oldest brother really, really wanted to do it, so he did, and I'm glad he did.

Meghan Markle is 36, she isn't some young ingenue as Diana was when she married Charles. She's had a successful career out of the limelight, she's a university grad with majors in theater and international studies and has been involved in charity and non-profit organizations (mainly in support of women) for a number of years.

Harry has had a rough go of it with parents who both had affairs and a mom who died young under tragic circumstances. CNN did a special on the two of them the other night and the section that described Harry was particularly interesting and heart-warming. He too has become very interested and picked up the mantel regarding charity work (Invictus games and mental health awareness)

They both come from, as many of us do, fragmented and dysfunctional backgrounds however, I think they will marry, and slide into the background and become a powerful couple in terms of charity work and volunteer work. They both have heart.

Their wedding is at a much smaller venue outside of London with no heads of state being invited unlike William and Kates wedding. If they could go smaller and quieter in their choices I suspect that they would.

I guess you can say I was given away by both. Both my mom and dad escorted me to the altar.

I am going to plagiarize a poster on the Internet out there somewhere - I remember he made me laugh that day; so credit given. He said:

"I sincerely can't think of a single thing to say that would make it past community guidelines".

Since I am not that creative ... "what he said". :-)))

Of course, the whole "giving away" tradition is archaic and harkens to the days when women were chattel, owned as property by their fathers before transferring ownership to the husband. I suppose you could argue that we simply perform a more modern, enlightened version of that, wherein the father sends his little girl off to the home of another man, but I'm still a bit uncomfortable with that. (And yes, my father once "gave me away" in marriage when I was a wee babe of 19. It didn't stick.) Seems to me that certain rituals are so ingrained in our culture that we never once stop to question the origin or the meaning behind the symbolism.

My dad walked me down the aisle, but I was adamant that he was not giving me away. Not property and he’s stuck with me as his daughter no matter who I marry. So I had the minister ask, “who joins in asking God’s blessing on this marriage” instead.

It can be thought of as departing one family to form another -- so being escorted on the journey by someone important in the family can make sense if thought of that way, no matter the origin of the custom.

I sort of wish we would return to the second wedding being a bit lower key. I remember that a woman would wear something like an elegant dress or suit, never a bridal gown, and it would generally be a smaller, more intimate affair.

This piece in the Guardian touches on what makes me truly uncomfortable about Meghan Markle's father's debacle. It's not fair that the Royal Family do nothing but stage photo ops (hyperbole, of course they do more than stage photo ops some would say, others would disagree) in order to profit from them and when this poor fellow is caught mimicking them, he is made to look like a greedy boor and he and his daughter may have to pay an unacceptably high price for having stepped out of line.

I am far from anti-royal family, but they would become utterly irrelevant the instant the media stopped paying attention to them and they know it. Pretending that there is a conflict, rather than a balance between them and the press is a fantasy (as is the position that Diana was hounded to her death by a paparazzo.)

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/15/all-the-worlds-a-stage-thomas-markle-and-the-art-of-the-celebrity-photo

So following Lars' logic, then the second husband should be the one to give her away. Her father gave her to #1, so #1 should now give her to #2. At my nieces weddings, my BIL responded "her mother and I do". It is awfully old-fashioned.

Does anybody taking wedding traditions seriously? They are nods to the past in a theatrical production. The language of giving away seems to be at odds with the language of the 13th Amendment ;-)

PS And with any luck, the wedding is the theatrical production and not the marriage.

And now I hear her dad changed his mind.

Yes, Nates! I just heard that too. This whole thing is like watching a tennis match.

Daily Mail says father is having surgery, so no-go. Only Meghan's mother will be at the wedding according to DM.

Right, he has to have an angioplasty and stent put in, so he cannot travel. He is still in the USA.

Sad situation.

However, I am surprised that he wasn't there already. I thought he and the mo were supposed to do meet and greet ahead of time.

CNN is reporting that Prince Charles will be walking Meghan down the aisle. Be still my heart. I'll be watching, with tissue in hand. :)

Oh well. I guess it is the best possible solution from the royal standpoint.

It should have been the mom, from the beginning.

Because her mother has been there a couple of days I would bet she encouraged Meghan to ask Charles. Apparently Meghan was the one who did the asking.

I'm a traditionalist so I find it also be romantic. Sigh.... lol

It seems odd that a member of the family that she is marrying into would walk her down the aisle. I think that her mother would be more appropriate.

I think it is very kind that Prince Charles would do that, as he will be Father-IL. I think too that it might be overwhelming for her mother to do (is it a very public role now!) and just another thing that is non-traditional, which can be touchy where royals are concerned.

I wish them all well. I think the press has been tough on her so hopefully she at least gets some sympathy/empathy/understanding; how many people have relatives that drive them crazy?

Apparently Meghan Markle will walk part way by herself with the page boys and bridesmaids and then Prince Charles will meet her part way and escort her the rest of the way. She asked him with Harry's blessing. I think this is a strong statement from the family that Meghan is a welcomed member of the family and for everyone to back off with the criticisms.

I can't even begin to imagine how the lives of MM's families have changed. Her parents will be stalked from this point on by paparazzi. Her half/step siblings, (who seem to be ready to turn a buck or grab the spot light in nano second) will be as well. There will be nothing but scuttle in the "news" that comes from the siblings for years. Any disparaging comment they make, any money thrown their way for an interview it'll hit the papers.

And her parents, how can they go on to lead life as they knew it? The possibility of the press behind every curtain -- or worse-- someone wanting to do them harm simply because of who their daughter is married to. Will they have to have security? Who's going to pay for that? How would one even begin to afford such costs?

I do not envy them at all.

Oh, it will work out. Families always seem to have these ne'er-do-wells. After a while they fade away. Sarah Ferguesoe, Billie Carter, Roger Clinton.

Kind of strange IMO.

Why wouldn't the mom walk her down the aisle, or better yet, walk her the last meters.

They might fade away more quickly if they quit running their mouths. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon. I'm hard pressed to feel sorry for the dad or the half-siblings being "stalked" by the paparazzi when they invite the attention.

I suppose that asking Prince Charles, would be a bonding gesture towards her soon to be father in law, and a tribute to the royal family in general. It's not protocol to have a family member of the groom's side, escort the bride up the aisle, so as Oakley said, Meghan's mother may have suggested it, once she learned her ex-husband would't be able to do it.

Aside from being her father in law, and grandfather to any future children, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Charles will likely be the next King of England. Someday if her future children ask who walked her up the aisle, she'll be answering "the King."

By the way, I think they should say 'walking up the aisle' when the bride is walking towards her bridegroom, and 'walking down the aisle' when the married couple are heading towards the doors, to leave the church, IMHO.

Considering the royal family is as dysfunctional as any family, (tampongate), Meghan's siblings is a nothing burger to them. Her sister will be blabbing until kingdom come & nothing will shut her up. Did you all see Piers Morgan give her a smack down yesterday? It was great.

I can't wait to see her smile when Charles steps forward to take her to the alter while the guests faces light up with big smiles. Maybe not, not sure if the upper crust do smile in public. :)

Now if I could just tell Meghan what to wear on her outings. Nix the belted dresses, they don't flatter anybody!