Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Daniel Leal-Olivas – WPA Pool/Getty Images; Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
The royal seal of approval! Queen Elizabeth II has given her formal consent for Prince Harry to wed his fiancée, Meghan Markle.
“I declare my consent to a contract of matrimony between my most dearly beloved grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales and Rachel Meghan Markle, which I consent I am causing to be signified under the Great Seal and to be entered in the books of the Privy Council,” the Queen, 91, said in a statement after a meeting at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, March 14.
For hundreds of years, the Royal Marriages Act 1772 required descendants of King George II to receive consent from the sovereign before tying the knot. The law was repealed through the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which was created so that succession to the crown does not depend on gender.
“A person who (when the person marries) is one of the six persons next in line of succession to the crown must obtain the consent of Her Majesty before marrying,” the Parliament act reads.
Harry, 33, is fifth in line for the throne, behind father Prince Charles, brother Prince William, nephew Prince George and niece Princess Charlotte.
The royal is set to marry the Suits alum at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19.
The Queen made her first public appearance with Markle, 36, at a Commonwealth Day event in London on Monday, March 12. They were joined by Harry, William and Duchess Kate. After the spouses-to-be announced in November that they were engaged, Harry told the BBC that the former actress had already met the Queen “a couple of times.”