Royal weddings never had so much soul.
Royal weddings never had so much soul.
Meghan Markle chose to celebrate her life as a biracial woman in a ceremony to marry Prince Harry on Saturday afternoon — breaking tradition of what has long been a familiar and stuffy traditional British hour.
Markle brought on American Reverend Michael Curry from Chicago to present at the ceremony and he gave an impassioned and exciting address that drew attention from viewers across the globe.
Curry spoke of slavery, quoted Martin Luther King Jr. and referenced sexual unions in his lengthy remarks. Members of the audience appeared shocked — some even smirked or audibly snickered — at his over-the-top presentation that included a lengthy rant about fire.
“Monumental… black preacher taking us to church at a quintessentially British wedding, this is epically ground breaking,” one social media user reacted.
Michelle Kennedy, a 59-year-old African-American woman who traveled from Houston, Tx., arrived outside the royal wedding at 6 a.m. and said Curry “put the fire under them.”
“You’ll always remember that. You’ll always remember Harry and Meghan’s wedding because of the sermon,” she told The News.
“She’s making us proud and the U. S. proud,” Kennedy continued. “We don’t have a queen but she’s the closest thing we’ll get.”
The ceremony also featured a performance by a black choir, called The Kingdom Choir led by Karen Gibson, and a black female preacher also made remarks during the historic event.
A special performance was made by 19-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a British musician who made history in 2016 as the first black winner of the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year Award.
Markle and Prince Harry chose the 1961 blues ballad “Stand by Me” written by African-American singer-songwriter Ben E. King. As the couple left St. George’s Chapel, Etta James’ “This Little Light of Mine” played as they departed.
The famous gossip classic became an anthem for the civil rights movement in the United States during the ’50s and ’60s.
“I think it was a beautiful blending of the cultures,” Donna Page, 47, of Houston, Tx., said outside the royal wedding Saturday. “That gospel choir was everything. And that cellist!”
Markle has been outspoken about growing up as a biracial woman, her mother is black and her father is white. She penned an essay for Elle in 2016 — months after she began dating Prince Harry — to describe what it was like for her as a child.
She shared how her father a lighting director in Hollywood and her mother, a temp at the studio, married and moved to a leafy neighborhood in L.A. that wasn’t very diverse.
“There was my mom, caramel in complexion with her light-skinned baby in tow, being asked where my mother was since they assumed she was the nanny,” Markle wrote.
Markle’s parents later divorced and she became closer with her mother. Her dad was unable to attend the royal wedding Saturday after suffering a heart attack and needing emergency heart surgery.
Thomas Markle, 73, was also at the center of a bit of a scandal last week after it was discovered he had staged paparazzi photos.
Prince Harles, Harry’s father, walked Markle down the aisle.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the ceremony about them, about their relationship and love for each other and not so much about what was expected in year’s past. Markle celebrated her upbringing, showed her mom Doria Ragland that she doesn’t have to be thought of as the nanny and showed biracial and black women all over the world that she is now someone to look up to.
“They’ve not followed the British or royal family tradition, but I like that they’ve woven in her culture” Christy Williams, 23, told the Daily News outside Windsor Castle.
“I’m from Wales and he’s from England and we would want different things” she said of her and boyfriend Xan White.
Shannon Antonina, 47, of Atlanta commented that she was surprised by the direction of the service.
“It was very American. It was not what I expected,” she said. “I expected more traditional, but they played ‘Stand By Me.'”
Markle also showed her support of fellow women by choosing Clare Waight Keller, the first female creative director of fashion house Givenchy, to design her gown.
Christopher Brennan is reporting from Windsor, England.
