With the royal wedding just nine days away and no more official engagements on their calendars, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are ticking off the final to-dos before they say “I do.”
Markle, who is said to have largely planned the wedding with her best friend, Canadian stylist Jessica Mulroney, is “on top of everything,” according to one friend, and looking forward to welcoming her parents; her mother is already rumored to be in London. “Meghan can’t wait to see them and show them her new home. There won’t be a rehearsal dinner. Instead, Meg has planned a number of low-key events for her parents so they can meet her new friends,” a source said.
As Vanity Fair reported last week, there will be a private family meeting so that Harry’s family, including his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, can meet Markle’s parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland. Her parents will spend a brief amount of time in London before heading to Windsor, where there will be a dress rehearsal ahead of the big day. The Palace has not yet confirmed where Markle and Ragland will be staying.
Meanwhile, Markle has been busily zooming around the capital doing last-minute pre-wedding jobs. Her schedule is being managed by Harry’s senior communications officer, Amy Pickerill, while the actress has an army of professionals on hand to get her ready for May 19. According to sources, she has had her final dress fitting and is said to be overjoyed with her bespoke wedding gown. (Bookmakers stopped taking bets on the designer of the dress in late March; photographs were released of Harry leaving Ralph & Russo last week.)
It is thought that Harry and his family will pay for the dress, which is rumored to cost £100,000 and is said to be adorned with hand-stitched beading. Markle is also said to have booked the services of celebrity stylist Miguel Perez, known for “bouncy curls,” to do her wedding-day hair. Though The Mail on Sunday recently quoted Perez saying that he and Markle “have a plan” for the wedding day, Perez has since taken to Instagram to say that he is not doing Markle’s hair and “did not even meet Meghan.”
Markle has made an appointment to see her trusted facialist, Nichola Joss, whose signature facial involves massaging inside the mouth to lift and sculpt the muscle. Her manicurist has been booked to come to Kensington Palace next week to ensure her nails look perfect for that all-important close-up when she and Harry exchange rings. And Meghan has been exercising, doing regular workouts at Kensington Palace and Heartcore Pilates, with her friend, instructor Heather Dorak, to combat her pre-wedding nerves. “Meghan has been doing regular exercise as a way of beating the stress,” said a source. “She goes jogging around the park most days and starts every morning with some yoga and a meditation.”
While she and Harry have both practically quit drinking as part of their healthy pre-wedding regimen (Harry has also quit smoking for Meghan), the actress is partial to a glass of red wine in the evenings to help her unwind.
It is also going to be an exciting day for little Jasper George Galloway Dyer, who has been asked to be a page boy on the big day. The five-year-old son of Prince Harry’s close friend Mark Dyer is rumored to be one of Prince Harry’s godsons, and will join Prince George, who will also feature as one of the couple’s page boys, presumably. While Kensington Palace has not announced the details of the bridal party, the Dyers have excitedly been telling friends that their son Jasper will have a “starring role” on May 19.
Dyer is a former equerry to Prince Charles who became a mentor to Prince Harry in the years after Princess Diana’s death. It was Dyer who suggested Harry travel to Lesotho in his gap year, and the two have been close ever since.
Source: https://www.vanityfair.com