Royal wedding: Queen Elizabeth gives consent for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's marriage
LONDON -- Buckingham Palace has released an image of the handwritten document in which Queen Elizabeth II gives her consent for Prince Harry to marry Meghan Markle. The Instrument of Consent image was released Saturday -- a week before Harry is to marry the American actress at St. George's Chapel in Windsor.
The document, illuminated on vellum, features a design to the left of the text that incorporates a red dragon, the symbol of Wales. The design to the right features a rose, the national flower of the United States.
Under British law, the first six people in the line of succession to the throne must obtain the queen's permission to wed.
Harry was fifth in line when he and Markle got engaged. He was bumped to sixth with the birth of his brother's son Prince Louis last month.
Kensington Palace also announced Saturday the head of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, will give a sermon at the ceremony. He will join the dean of Windsor, the Rt. Rev. David Conner, and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who will officiate at the service. Welby baptized Markle ahead of her marriage to Harry.
Curry is the first African-American to have served as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, an offshoot of the Church of England in the United States. It is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.