Meghan Markle celebrated seven years of wedded bliss with a tribute to her marriage, complete with her baby bump, rare family snaps on the beach, and never-before-seen wedding pictures.
But some fans felt she forgot a key component in her marriage—her actual husband, Prince Harry.
Years after their picture-perfect wedding on May 19, 2018, the Duchess of Sussex shared a pinboard of family photos on Instagram to celebrate her 7th anniversary.
Highlights
- The internet found Meghan Markle's anniversary post “strange” and “bizarre.”
- The Duchess of Sussex shared rare photos of her early romance with Prince Harry.
- “In every photo she is the centre of focus, while he is just … well … there,” one commenter said.
- Her “our love story” pinboard also included rare snaps with her two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Meghan Markle shared an anniversary post that some netizens found “strange” and “bizarre”
Image credits: The Drew Barrymore Show
The pinboard, shared days after Prince Harry said he “would love a reconciliation” with his family, did not include any pictures of other British royals.
Each picture reflected the romance and family life of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 3.
“Seven years of marriage. A lifetime of stories,” Meghan wrote in the caption.
Image credits: BBC
“Thanks to all of you (whether by our side, or from afar) who have loved and supported us throughout our love story - we appreciate you,” she continued. “Happy anniversary!”
Netizens took notice of how it was a celebration of seven years of marriage and a lifetime of stories, but with zero mention of Prince Harry.
“Is she wishing happy anniversary to herself?” one asked, while another wrote, “Happy Anniversary to me! No mention of my husband. He can be in the photos with ME!”
“In every photo she is the centre of focus, while he is just … well … there,” one netizen said
Image credits: meghan
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“It's such a strange post, as though she is wishing everyone happy anniversary because she doesn't want to say Harry's name, just bizarre,” said another.
One went as far as to say, “BS! He's unhappy because he knows that every1 knows she's leading him around by the short hairs.”
Image credits: meghan
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“Poor Harry. his marriage is failing, and his native country is also failing … ” one claimed in the comments.
“Never seen a woman so obsessed with herself, and there's zero mention of Harry in her post. Things are spiraling downwards, it seems,” speculated another.
Each of the rare photos on the board had a story to tell about the couple's romance and private family life
Image credits: The Royal Family
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The board offered viewers glimpses of the love story between Prince Harry and Meghan.
The top-left corner of the board captured early memories of the couple from 2016, the year they went public with their relationship.
The couple first spoke to each other online and later had their very first date in July 2016.
Prince Harry said he arrived “red-cheeked, puffing, sweaty [and] half an hour late” to their first date in London.
Pictures on the top-left corner included moments from a holiday in Botswana, where they “camped out with each other under the stars”
Image credits: meghan
“I apologized. Profusely. I couldn't imagine many people had been late for this woman,” who was “heart-attack beautiful,” the Duke of Sussex wrote in his memoir Spare.
Another picture on Meghan’s “our love story” board included a picture of the couple watching an elephant in Botswana.
Prince Harry previously said in an interview that he “managed to persuade her to join” him in Botswana after their first couple of dates in London.
“We camped out with each other under the stars,” he said.
“Spend your life with me? Make me the happiest guy on the planet?” the Duke said as he proposed to her
Image credits: meghan
Another group of photos on the top right of the board was labeled “engagement photos,” believed to be in Meghan’s cursive handwriting.
Prince Harry popped the question to her in 2017 with his knee planted on a blanket outside Kensington Palace.
“In the North garden, being overlooked by the staff flats, I got 15 of those electric candles,” he said in the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan. “Of course I got down on one knee. Of course I did.”
The Duke wrote in his memoir that Meghan interrupted him before he even finished his proposal.
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“Spend your life with me? Make me the happiest guy on the planet?” he said while down on one knee.
“Can I say yes? Can I say yes?” she said before he presented her with the two-and-a-half-carat ring, according to his memoir.
“He’s down on one knee, and I was just like, ‘Yes!’” Meghan said in the Netflix docuseries. “We were so joyful and excited. I was like, ‘Ah, we’re doing this!’”
Their engagement was officially announced to the world in November 2017, about a month after the proposal.
Prince Harry wrote in his memoir Spare about the moment the former actress walked down the aisle towards him
Image credits: BBC
Next to the “engagement photos” on the pinboard were tributes to their wedding in St George's Chapel, Windsor, in 2018.
“I stood at the altar … watched Meg floating towards me,” he wrote in Spare.
Meghan had walked down the aisle with hundreds of guests watching from within the chapel and another two billion watching from across the globe.
Although tensions had flared up behind the scenes, Prince Harry said Meghan was “moved” that King Charles walked her “down the last part of the aisle.”
“Amazing that I could even hear the music over the sound of my own heartbeat as Meg stepped up, took my hand,” he wrote.
Image credits: AmbientCorner
On the top right corner of Meghan's board, a handwritten note included the lyrics of Stand by Me by Ben E. King.
The couple had rejected ten different versions of the song before finally choosing one rendition that was performed at their 2018 nuptials.
The board included a handwritten note of the lyrics to Stand by Me, which was performed at their wedding
Image credits: BBC
“Harry and Meghan knew what they wanted, we needed to get it perfect,” conductor Karen Gibson told Notebook magazine.
Karen said the couple initially turned down six versions of the song, after which they suggested having a meeting in Kensington Palace.
“When they walked in, it was surreal. But they were lovely, smiley, warm, welcoming and very much in love,” added the conductor.
They rejected a few more versions before finally settling on one.
A black-and-white picture captured the couple kissing at their previous royal address in the UK
Image credits: meghan
Another picture pinned on Meghan’s board was a black-and-white photo of the couple sharing a kiss in the kitchen of Frogmore Cottage, where they lived after tying the knot in 2018.
The couple stayed at the royal address in the Windsor estate until their move to the US after stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family.
The board also included rare moments of the couple spending time with their children, Archie and Lilibet.
Image credits: meghan
A rare photo from 2022 showed Archie sweetly sharing a Christmas kiss with his little sister.
Another picture captured the family of four enjoying some arts and crafts in what appeared to be the backyard of their Montecito mansion in California.
Meghan’s lifestyle brand As Ever shared a post in honor of their wedding anniversary
In honor of their 7th wedding anniversary, Meghan’s lifestyle brand As Ever shared a picture of them, taken by photographer Jake Rosenberg.
The photo captured a pair of palm trees within their Montecito property.
Image credits: meghan
Meghan once spoke about the trees during a 2022 interview with The Cut.
“One of the first things my husband saw when we walked around the house was those two palm trees. See how they’re connected at the bottom? He goes, ‘My love, it’s us,’” she told the magazine.
She added that Archie would go every day and say, “Hi, Momma. Hi, Papa.”
Netizens had plenty to say after the Suits alum shared the pinboard of rare photos
