Robert Lacey writes for the Daily Mail following the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
As Britain’s newest and most dazzling Duchess was taking her final non-royal steps along the aisle of St George’s Chapel yesterday, her route passed over the tomb of King George III (1760-1820), the last King of North America. What would he have made, one wonders, of this fresh young American recruit to his centuries-old dynasty?
The chapel, the trumpets, the oaths and the rituals, the clip-clopping horses and the cheering crowds: on the surface, the trademarks of British monarchy have changed very little in the 250 years since ‘Mad King George’ came to the throne.
The pomp and circumstance, along with the veneer of royal names, titles and palaces, look largely the same – from the outside. But from the inside, things have changed profoundly. It is one of the cunning survival devices of our ever-adaptable Royal Family.