Royal rule: How Charles, William and Harry defied Queen with THIS tradition
THE Royal Family is steeped in tradition and rituals, especially when it comes to weddings, but on occasion, members defy these.
Queen arrives at Commonwealth Service in Westminster Abbey
The Queen’s son and her grandsons all managed to defy the monarch in their own way when they tied the knot with their respective wives. Here’s how Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry all broke with Royal tradition.
First of all, in order for princes to marry, they must get permission from the Queen.
This was made law by King George III and his Royal Marriages Act of 1772, which was later repealed in 2013 in favour of the Successions to the Crown Act.
The new law required that only the first six in line to the throne need the Queen’s permission in order to marry.
All three princes had the Queen’s blessing before their engagements to Camilla Parker-Bowles, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle respectively.
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The 1772 act also stated senior members of the royal families cannot marry someone who is divorced or Catholic,
In 2005, the Queen granted Prince Charles her consent to marry Camilla, despite the fact that she had been divorced and was also Charles’ mistress.
Meghan Markle was also a divorcee but Harry was allowed to marry her thanks with the Queen’s approval.
King George III’s law did say that royals could not wed commoners without the Queen’s say-so, and the monarch had to give her permission for William to marry Kate.
One tradition not enshrined by legislation, but nevertheless typically adhered to, is that male members of the Royal Family should marry women younger than them.
When Prince Charles married Princess Diana, he was 12 years her senior.
At the time, Charles was 32 years old while Diana had just turned 20.
But the Queen’s eldest son would go on to break the age-related tradition for his second marriage.
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Prince Charles married Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on April 9, 2005.
He is the only member of the Royal Family to have a civil rather than a church wedding in England.
When they tied the knot, Camilla was 57 years old, one year older than 56-year-old Charles.
Camilla turns 73 on July 17 while Charles will be 72 on November 14.
The Prince of Wales’ sons followed a similar trend to their father.
William and Kate were married on April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey, followed by a lunchtime reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen.
In the evening, the Prince of Wales gave a private dinner before an evening of dancing at Buckingham Palace, attended by close friends and family.
The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall met 10 years before the ceremony while studying at the University of St Andrews, and they started dating in 2003.
Kate, Duchess of Cambridge is five months older than her husband and when they married she was 23 and William was 22.
The age gap between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is bigger than both Charles and Camilla’s and William and Kate’s.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex started dating in 2016.
Their wedding was held on May 19, 2018, in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Harry was 33 at the time while Meghan was 36.