Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, whose wedding veil had the wild flowers of all 53 Commonwealth nations embroidered in it. Photo / AP
On the day of Harry and Meghan's wedding, the royal press corps only got details of the bride's dress moments before she arrived.
The Duchess of Sussex's veil was embroidered with the wild flowers of all 53 Commonwealth nations.
"Their inclusion was very classy on her part," says Robert Hardman,
for a quarter of a century a leading member of what he refers to as the "royal anoraks". "It was a surprise for Harry, and for the Queen. Though Her Majesty may not have spotted them immediately, she is probably the only person in the world who could name all 53 Commonwealth wild flowers."
In the first of Hardman's two-part series, Queen of the World, aired on ITV in the UK, he charts Elizabeth II's bond with the Commonwealth.
On the death of her father, George VI, in 1952, the post-colonial "family of nations" was in its infancy. The Queen's coronation robe the following year contained emblems of its then just eight members.
