Meghan Markle wedding dress revealed: Harry's bride-to-be 'will wear £100,000 Ralph & Russo gown'

Meghan Markle wearing a Kleinfeld wedding dress for her role in Suits
Kleinfeld
Hatty Collier6 May 2018

Meghan Markle will walk down the aisle in a £100,000 hand-stitched wedding dress designed by Ralph & Russo, reports say.

The former Suits actress has chosen British couturiers Ralph & Russo to make the first of two gowns she plans to wear when she marries Prince Harry in Windsor on May 19, the Daily Mail reports.

It is said that she will walk down the aisle at St George’s Chapel in front of 600 guests and an estimated billion TV viewers wearing a hand-stitched, heavily beaded design.

Kensington Palace said on Friday that Prince Harry will not see the wedding dress until the moment she walks into St George’s Chapel.

Ralph & Russo SS18 show in Paris
AFP/Getty Images

Ms Markle will also wear the dress for the reception immediately afterwards which is being hosted by the Queen in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle, the newspaper reports.

She will reportedly change into another design for the private evening reception at Frogmore House.

The Daily Mail quoted a source as saying that Prince Harry and his family will meet the cost of the £100,000 dress.

Ms Markle wore a sheer black chiffon and tulle gown designed by Ralph and Russo for the official engagement photos back in December. It featured a sheer black top with gold leaf embroidery and a full black silk organza skirt.

Australian designers Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo founded the brand in Britain in 2007. Labels Burberry, Victoria Beckham, Alexander McQueen, Jenny Packham and Erdem had all been rumoured as frontrunners to be chosen to design Ms Markle’s dress.

The wedding dress revelations come after Kensington Palace revealed on Friday that Ms Markle’s father Thomas will walk her down the aisle after she has travelled to the church in a car with her mother Doria Ragland. She will meet her father at the chapel before he walks her down the aisle.

Kate Middleton wearing a Alexander McQueen wedding dress in 2011
Getty Images

Mr Markle, 73, and Ms Ragland will arrive in the UK in the week of the wedding so they can meet and get to know the royal family.

Mr Markle, a Hollywood lighting director who lives in a retirement community in Mexico, was married to Ms Ragland for nine years before they split in 1988.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement

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Kensington Palace said it was “very important her parents both play a key role in the wedding”. The announcement came despite claims from Mr Markle’s son, Thomas Markle Jnr — who is Meghan’s half-brother — that their father had not been invited.

It was also revealed that Ms Markle will not have a maid of honour like the Duchess of Cambridge did with her sister Pippa Middleton when she married Prince William in 2011.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte are expected to be involved in the wedding as page boy and flower girl.

Their new baby brother Prince Louis – born on April 23 – will not be there.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle

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It is hoped 96-year-old Prince Philip will be fit enough to attend the wedding as he recovers from a hip replacement last month.

All three siblings of Princess Diana — Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Lady Jane Fellowes and Earl Spencer — will be at the ceremony and Lady Jane will give the reading.

Royals and guests will wave the couple on as they get into a landau for a 25-minute procession through the streets of Windsor after the service.

They will delay their honeymoon to an undisclosed destination, as their first public engagement as a married couple will be the week after the wedding.

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