A Royal Coat of Arms? An Inside Look at the Queens Gift to Meghan

Time to dust off your finest china and pull out your hat: The Royal Wedding is just over a month away. With all the speculation surrounding what Meghan’s dress will look like, which celebrity guests are invited, what personal twists Harry and Meghan might be putting on the big day including what personalised thank you gifts they might send out to guests; we’re wondering what Meghan Markle’s name will change to once she marries Prince Harry?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

It is likely Meghan will carry several names but one thing’s for sure – Meghan won’t be known as Princess Meghan. While the Royal Family have yet to confirm whether Harry will become a Duke upon marriage, there has been much speculation that she may become ‘Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex’ as it is widely believed, Harry will take the vacant rank of Duke of Sussex. If Harry retains his current rank, His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales, it’s believed Meghan will take on the feminine version of his title becoming ‘Her Royal Highness Princess Henry of Wales’. So, what will happen to the Markle family name once Meghan is declared a Mountbatten-Windsor?

It is not uncommon for a bride-to-be to receive gifts before her wedding. Whilst the use of the Queen’s precious jewels and a country residence might seem enough, with the norm being a keepsake presents such as personalised champagne flutes, there is one very unique gift Meghan and her family are set to receive in the wake of the Royal Wedding; a traditional personalised coat of arms. This will be specially and carefully designed to reflect and identify the Markle family name, customised with symbols to reflect the family’s background and history. However, with Markle’s father (Thomas Markle Sr) being a US citizen, it is unknown whether the former actress’ coat of arms will be in the Markle family name. As a result, her father will need to prove he has an ancestor who was a subject of the Crown or in other words, have a British lineage. Fortunately for them, The Mail on Sunday did some investigating and found that Meghan and Harry are in fact very distant cousins related by a 15^th century ancestor of which reportedly worked in Windsor Castle – not too closely related, thankfully!

An Illustrated Family Tree (Daily Mail)

Similarly, back in 2011 prior to her marriage to Prince William, Kate’s father was honoured with his coat of arms just days before her wedding. The personalised family crest gift featured three acorns, which represented the family’s children — Kate, Pippa, and James, and a gold chevron that served as a tribute to Kate’s mother, Carole, whose maiden name is Goldsmith. A couple of years on, Kate and Wills were granted a conjugal coat of arms, bringing together both family crests that show the separate shields of a husband and wife, side by side but jointly supported by the Royal Lion and Unicorn. Once Harry and Meghan are husband and wife, it is assumed the couple will also get their own conjugal coat of arms which will require a Royal Warrant from The Queen, although going by how long Kate and William waited for theirs, it’s likely they won’t receive their coat of arms for another couple of years.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s (aka. William and Kate) Conjugal Coat of Arms

With the Royal Wedding approaching, we imagine Harry and Meghan would have already thought about the post wedding thank you gifts for their guests. Although the couple have reportedly requested their guests do not buy them wedding presents but instead give to charities, it is often common place for the newlywed couple to reward their loved ones for being there on their big day with thoughtful and memorable gifts. Traditionally, a small slice of the royal wedding cake is mailed out to every guest after the event as a “thank you” gift. The cake arrives in a commemorative tin that is personalised with the couple’s monogram, along with a thank you card. What an unusual idea for personalised thank you gifts! However, we wonder if they’ve considered incorporating their family crests within their wedding giftings.  

Left: The Queen enjoying a glass of champagne/Right: Personalised Family Crest Champagne Flute

Sending a bottle of personalised champagne (only the best for the ‘rents!) with a family crest label would be a fantastic gift to send to both Mr Markle and Prince Phillip as a way of honouring both family’s history and heritage. Personalised champagne flutes engraved with each family’s individual coat of arms or family crests, would make wonderful mementos to the guests of the bride and groom’s big day as something to keep and look back on for years to come; a gift we imagine would go down a treat with the Queen as she is known to sip a flute of champagne every evening before bed.

Do you know your family crest? Would you consider giving family crest gifts as wedding thank you’s?