Kate Middleton, Meghan Allowed To Marry William, Harry Thanks To ‘Open-Minded’ Royal

Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle were allowed to marry Prince William and Prince Harry due to a significant change that an “open-minded” royal made.

The Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Sussex have successfully joined the British royal family after marrying Prince William and Prince Harry, respectively. However, decades ago, it wasn’t that easy for commoners to marry a royal.

According to royal expert Marlene Koenig this could be due to the significant change that Queen Victoria started nearly two centuries ago. She was reportedly very open-minded and welcomed people, even those who didn’t share her royal status.

“She encouraged, she was much more tolerant of people. She was much more open in terms of accepting people who were not like her,” Koenig said.

“She was also embracing the fact her family, even though she married several of her children into European royal houses, she also did not discourage marriage with the aristocracy. Or even with a morganatic, with an unequal branch like the Battenbergs. Generations earlier that would have been unequal.”

Queen Victoria allowed her youngest daughter Princess Beatrice to marry Prince Henry of Battenberg, who was a descendant of a minor house and Prince Philip’s great-uncle.

“She in some ways was controlling of her children to be able to prevent the marriage but she was also open-minded on the other hand, and allowing marriages,” the royal author added. “That was the idea of seeing grandchildren married off to Europe and that was an accomplishment.”

Due to the changes that Queen Victoria started a number of royals have gone on marrying someone who didn’t share their status. Queen Elizabeth II’s sister Princess Margaret married titleless Antony Armstrong-Jones. Princess Anne also married gold-medallist Marke Philips. Prince Andrew and Prince Edward’s wives Sarah Ferguson and Sophie Rhys-Jones also lacked royal titles.

Prince William and Prince Harry’s spouses Middleton and Markle were also considered commoners. According to a previous report, Camilla Parker Bowles found Middleton “pretty, but rather dim” and “too lowly” to marry a royal. She reportedly wanted Prince William and Middleton to split.

However, even Camilla considered herself a commoner before she married Prince Charles. The Duchess of Cornwall reportedly dismissed the presumption that Middleton would be the first commoner queen by saying, “That’ll be me.”