This was the music that was sung when Meghan Markle entered the church and walked down the aisle prior to marrying Prince Harry. It was sung by Welsh Soprano Elin Manahan-Thomas. The video I’ve attached below was also sung by her.
The piece was composed by Handel for Queen Anne’s birthday (February 1665-August 1714) but the entire piece was not sung by Manahan-Thomas on the day of the Royal wedding last Saturday. The only section that was sung was the following:
“Eternal source of light divine
With double warmth thy beams display
And with distinguish’d glory shine
To add a lustre to this day.”
How beautiful an entry to experience for the bride prior to the ceremony! The music was accompanied by the orchestra and with the trumpet played by David Blackadder.
I’ve attached a video below of Meghan Markle’s entry into the chapel when this piece was sung but the quality of the audio isn’t as great as the first video I’ve included.
This is a really short post because I’ve already spoken a lot about the Royal wedding in my recent post titled ‘Royal Wedding’ and also in another about three cello pieces that were performed on the day in ‘Kanneh-Mason’s performance at the Royal wedding’. The cello pieces and the entry music were my favourites of the classical music selection so I really wanted to give these all a mention in my writing!
For those who really loved watching the wedding may just find that watching the video above makes your eyes well up again as it did mine! What an occasion and to think that it’ll be a long stretch of years before we experience another Royal wedding of such grandeur!
I hope that you enjoy the beauty of this piece if you haven’t heard it before and that, coupled with an understanding of the lyrics, you’ll appreciate it all the more!
CLASSICALISTA 