Everything you need to know about the royal wedding

The wedding of the year is finally around the corner. Prince Harry, the son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and sixth in line to the throne, is all set to marry American-born Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018.

The much-awaited royal wedding will take place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle at 12:00pm.

Prince Harry’s wedding will be slightly different to that of his brother, Prince William, in terms of venue and the guest list.

Seven years ago, when Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton tied the knot, they invited foreign royal family members and different politicians/ministers to attend their special day, but the exact has not been done for Prince Harry’s ceremony as it is a very “private and intimate affair”.

Only 600 hundred guests have been invited to Prince Harry and Meghan’s ceremony in comparison to the 3,500 guests invited to Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding and about 1,900 guests invited to Prince William and Kate’s ceremony.

Prince Harry has also surprisingly invited his late mother’s family to his special day.

Harry and Meghan have also invited over 2,000 members of the public, who although won’t be allowed inside the Chapel but will witness the royal proceedings from the grounds of Windsor Castle.

All expenses of the wedding will be borne by the royal family.

Royal weddings usually take place on weekdays, but Prince Harry and Meghan are set to break tradition by marrying on a Saturday.

The wedding day falls on the day of the FA Cup final, which Prince William attends as the President of the Football Association, however, his attendance seems unlikely this time.

Celebrities, including Sir Elton John, Ed Sheeran, Cara Delevingne, David and Victoria Beckham will attend the wedding.

The event is not only set to be broadcast on television channels but it would also be shown at 200 theatres across the US without any commercials.

How the couple met

Meghan Markle whose real name is Rachel Meghan Markle is a retired American actress and is most popular for her role in the acclaimed legal drama series Suits.

Markle was married to film producer Trevor Engelson from 2011 to 2013.

Harry and Meghan were introduced to each other in early June 2016 by a mutual friend, Misha Nonoo.

According to reports, on their first blind date, neither of them knew about each other as Harry had not seen any of Markle’s work and she was a little shy on the royal dynasty’s knowledge.

Reports further suggested Harry instantly fell for her and claimed after the first meeting that he somehow knew that “she was the one”.

Their engagement was announced on November 27, 2017.

The ring given by Harry to Markle cost around £122,500.

Royal traditions

Just one week before the wedding, Queen Elizabeth signed the Instrument of consent – a document granting royal permission to her grandson to marry his fiancé.

According to royal traditions, Markle was asked to abandon all her social media accounts after her engagement to Harry as from then on everything about her life was to be released through the official accounts of Kensington Palace and the royal family's social media assets.

For their wedding, Harry and Meghan asked that anyone who might wish to mark the occasion of their matrimony by giving them a gift, should instead donate it to charity.

Honeymoon

The newly-wed couple will not be flying out for a honeymoon right away as Prince Harry needs to travel to Australia to represent his family and grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

After completing the royal duties, the couple will fly to Namibia for their honeymoon.