Here's How Many People Actually Attended The Royal Wedding & Spoiler Alert, It's A Lot
IDC what you have to say — the royal wedding was seriously the biggest event of the year. That's my word and I'm sticking to it. (Sorry, Coachella and Met Gala.) Aside from the fact that the two lovebirds Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have finally exchanged their vows (!!!), it was a star-studded occasion, with more than a dozen celebrities attending the wedding to watch their faves tie the knot. But in addition to that, members of the public from around the United Kingdom were also invited to the grounds of Windsor Castle to watch the wedding, which has me wondering just how many people attended the royal wedding. Let me just say: The answer will likely shock you.
According to The Telegraph, 600 guests were invited to the royal wedding service, including people like Prince William and Kate Middleton (obviously), Serena Williams, Oprah Winfrey, and Priyanka Chopra. If we add that to the 2,640 members of the public who were invited to the Windsor Castle grounds, we'll arrive at nearly 3,300 guests. Wow — see why I said it was the biggest event of the year?
(I also counted myself in this number, because I was there in spirit.)
Bustle notes that the ceremony was actually split into three parts, which makes the overall number of attendees even larger: There was the wedding ceremony in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Palace, the reception at St. George's Hall, and and a smaller, more intimate affair at the Frogmore House. According to the Kensington Palace, 200 guests are expected to attend the smaller gathering, so we can toss that in, as well.
The numbers aren't extremely surprising, though, because when Prince Harry and Markle announced their engagement back in 2017, the two promised to keep the members of the public involved as much as they could — in addition to their massive guest lists. According to a statement released by Kensington Palace on March 2, the royal couple wanted the public to "feel part of the celebrations too." The statement continued, "This wedding, like all weddings, will be a moment of fun and joy that will reflect the characters and values of the Bride and Groom."
Translation: It was about to go down.
The statement went on to say that 2,640 people would be permitted onto the wedding grounds to watch the two exchange their vows, and they would be able to check out the carriage procession as it departs from the castle. Ugh, I'll never get over not being there.
The same day, the Kensington Palace also gave the stipulations on how members of the public could score an invite to the wedding through its Twitter page. The message read,
1,200 members of the public from every corner of the United Kingdom will be nominated to attend by nine regional Lord Lieutenant offices. The couple has asked that the people chosen are from a broad range of backgrounds and ages, including young people who have shown strong leadership, and those who have served their communities.
Others that were permitted to attend the ceremony included "200 people from a range of charities and organisations which Prince Harry and Ms. Markle have a close association with," as well as "100 pupils from two local schools."
Lastly, there were also invites for "610 Windsor Castle community members," and "530 Members of The Royal Households and Crown Estate."
This is really like Christmas in May. Wow.
Though I unfortunately wasn't able to attend the wedding, I'm hoping I'll at least score an invite to their 5-year wedding anniversary. Definitely keeping my fingers crossed on that one.
