Meghan Markle‘s bouquet had a very special touch: a few flowers handpicked by her husband.
On Friday, before heading to Windsor ahead of their wedding, Prince Harry picked several flowers from the couple’s private garden at their home at Kensington Palace. He gave them to florist Philippa Craddock to be added to her bespoke bridal bouquet.
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Her beautiful bouquet also had a tribute to Princess Diana, Harry’s mother: the inclusion of Forget-Me-Nots, Diana’s favorite flowers. According to the palace, the use of the Forget-Me-Nots was intentional to honor Diana’s memory on the couple’s wedding day.
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The wedding bouquet was done in the “gentle, ethereal, relaxed” style, according to a statement from the palace. A variety of flowers were included: scented sweet peas, lily of the valley, astilbe, jasmine and astrantia, and sprigs of myrtle all bound with a naturally dyed, raw silk ribbon.
The sprigs of myrtle are a royal tradition. They come from stems in the gardens at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, first planted by Queen Victoria in 1845. The sprigs in Meghan’s bouquet come are from a plant grown from the same myrtle used in Queen Elizabeth’s wedding bouquet in 1947.
The royal tradition of placing myrtle in a bridal bouquet dates back to Queen Victoria’s reign. Prince Albert’s grandmother gave Victoria a nosegay containing myrtle. That same year, Victoria purchased Osborne House and planted a spring on the grounds.
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Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, was the first to carry a spring of myrtle in her bouquet.
