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Prince Harry's relationship with Suits actress Meghan Markle has many people pining for another royal wedding, but zero bells will be ringing for the couple until Meghan impresses his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II - and gets it in writing. Due to the Royal Marriages Act 1772, the monarch has the right to veto the marriage of a member of his or her family and is required to give formal consent to any family marriages in order to guard against those that could "diminish the status of the royal house." The fact that Meghan is a divorcée - she was married to Trevor Engelson from 2011 to 2013 - has been widely speculated to hurt her chances, but it actually won't. Not only have modern royal marriage rules become more lax than in previous years, but the queen has technically dealt with that kind of drama before.
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While the Royal Marriages Act originally meant that all royal family members needed consent from Queen Elizabeth in order to marry, a change in the law in 2013 now only applies to the six people closest in line to the throne - Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Harry, and Prince Andrew - who need to seek out the queen's permission before popping the question. With the birth of Charlotte in May 2015, Princess Beatrice of York became seventh in line and her sister Eugenie slid down to eighth, so they can essentially marry whoever they want without checking with their grandmother first.
Before proposing to Kate Middleton in October 2010, Prince William had to get the thumbs up from Queen Elizabeth, and according to BBC News, she "readily gave her consent." Elizabeth signed an detailed notice of approval to the union of "Our Most Dearly Beloved Grandson Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales, K.G. and Our Trusty and Well-beloved Catherine Elizabeth Middleton." The notice was dated Feb. 9, 2011, just two months before Kate and William tied the knot.
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Though it's been reported that Harry is "besotted" with Meghan and that she's met his father, brother, and sister-in-law so far, she has yet to meet the queen. If Harry is looking to propose, he'll likely need to earn the queen's blessing sometime soon; and if she objects to Meghan as a worthy wife or feels that she isn't a good addition to the family, she has the right to rule their marriage "invalid." That's right - Harry's grandma could literally say "Nah" and his plans to tie the knot could come crashing down.
Contrary to popular belief, there are no rules that require a prince to marry someone of royal or aristocratic blood, or even a British citizen - but religion is where it gets dicey.
It's not something she has ever done, and she likely wouldn't start with an American actress. Contrary to popular belief, there are no rules that require a prince to marry someone of royal or aristocratic blood, or even a British citizen (and in the case of Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, an incoming royal can even be divorced) - but religion is where it gets dicey. There is no legal barrier that keeps a royal from marrying someone of Jewish, Buddhist, or Muslim faith, or even an atheist, but under the Act of Settlement of 1701, no one in the direct line of succession could marry a Catholic and keep their right to the throne. This is because the monarch also serves as Head of the Protestant Anglican Church of England, which was established back in the 16th century by Henry VIII. In 2015, amendments were made that now allow royal family members to marry a Roman Catholic and become king or queen - however, a Roman Catholic royal still cannot become the monarch. For instance, if Prince George marries a Catholic and raises his children in that faith, they could be prohibited from taking the throne.
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Where her divorce is concerned, Harry's girlfriend shouldn't be too worried. There have been a handful of royal family members who have past marriages and those who have carried on relationships with divorcées. Perhaps most famous was Elizabeth's uncle, Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry his divorced American socialite mistress Wallis Simpson, which resulted in Elizabeth's father George VI becoming king. In the '50s, the queen's sister, Princess Margaret, ended her relationship with divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend in favor of her royal status (and went on to get divorced some 30 years later). And as we all know, the queen's eldest son Prince Charles split from Princess Diana and went on to marry his mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles. It was Elizabeth who, likely fed up with doing damage control for Charles and Diana's extramarital affairs, urged the couple to divorce. In December 1995, Buckingham Palace announced that the queen had written separate letters to the couple advising them that "an early divorce is desirable" - an unprecedented move at the time. Their divorce was finalized in August 1996, but as the mother of heirs to the throne, Diana remained an official member of the royal family until her death the following year.
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Prince Charles sought the approval of his mother before proposing to Camilla, and their engagement was announced in February 2005. The following month, the queen released her official letter of consent to their union, and the two were married at Windsor Guildhall in England on April 9, followed by a Church of England Service of Prayer and Dedication at St. George's Chapel. Charles is the first member of the royal family to have a civil ceremony rather than a religious wedding, and his parents were not in attendance for their town hall event. It was reported that because the queen "does take her role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England very seriously," she felt it would "be inappropriate to attend that particular part of the wedding." She and Philip were there for the prayer and dedication service and also held a reception for the newlyweds in Windsor Castle.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are still quite a new couple by most relationship standards, but should they start talking marriage, she'll likely have a pretty easy time becoming a princess - because while marrying into the royal family isn't exactly a piece of cake, there are fewer hoops to jump through than most would think.
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