Royal Wedding: Meghan Markle will not vow to 'obey' Prince Harry

Harry will also wear a ring and Meghan will not promise to obey her husband and the service is more contemporary than traditional.

Update: 2018-05-19 06:48 GMT
Britain's Prince Harry (L) and his US fiancee Meghan Markle attend a service of commemoration and thanksgiving to mark Anzac Day in Westminster Abbey in London on April 25, 2018. (Photo: AFP)

Royal bride-to-be Meghan Markle will make a break from traditional wedding vows today and not say she will obey Prince Harry in her nuptials at St Georges Chapel, according to media reports.

Prince Harry, 33, will today tie the knot with the 36-year-old former American actress at St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle. The royal couple are bringing their own modern touch to their marriage ceremony.

Instead of using traditional vows, the royal couple have selected words from The Marriage Service from Common Worship (2000), Yorkshire Evening Post reported.

They will pledge themselves to one another: "for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part".

The marriage service features contemporary language - using the word "you" instead of "thee" and "thou" and offers the most flexibility in the choice of readings and prayers, the report said.

Harry will also wear a ring and Meghan will not promise to obey her husband and the wording of the service is more contemporary than traditional, it said.

Recent royal tradition has been for royal brides not to pledge to obey their husbands. The Duchess of Cambridge did not in 2011, and neither did Harrys mother the Princess of Wales in 1981 when she married the Prince of Wales.

Diana was the first to break royal precedent when she did not promise to "obey" Prince Charles at their wedding.

This comes after it was yesterday revealed that there will be another break from royal tradition, Prince Charles will walk Meghan down the aisle instead of her own father, Thomas Markle.

The former Suits actress asked her father-in-law-to-be and the Prince of Wales to walk by her side at St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle after it was confirmed that her father Thomas Markle Sr would not be attending the wedding ceremony due to ill-health, having reportedly undergone a heart procedure earlier this week.

The 69-year-old heir to the British throne has some practice of this role, having previously escorted Alexandra Knatchbull, the daughter of his close friend, down the aisle at her high society wedding to Thomas Hooper in 2016. 

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