Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s royal wedding was full of stunning flowers, from Meghan’s bouquet, to the blooming floral arches both in front and inside of Windsor Castle; but it turns out that the displays didn’t go to waste after the big day, as the royal couple put the flowers to very good use with a sweet gesture. According to People , the flowers that adorned Windsor Castle during the couple’s wedding on May 19 were taken down following the ceremony and made into bouquets which were then donated to a local hospice.
The site is reporting that some of the flowers used in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding were bundled up and donated to the residents of St. Joseph’s Hospice in London, just a few miles away from Windsor, where the couple tied the knot over the weekend.
St. Joseph’s Hospice confirmed that they’d been given the gift from the royal couple on Facebook, sharing a sweet photo of one of the residents enjoying the bouquet that was sent to her from the royal couple and their wedding florist, Philippa Craddock.
“Today we got a very special delivery. Beautiful bouquets made from the #royalwedding flowers which we gave to our patients,” the hospice wrote in a post on Facebook on May 20, one day after the royal wedding took place.
https://www.facebook.com/StJoHospice/photos/a.575830002492937.1073741839.133850090024266/1671617819580811/?type=3&theater
“A big thank you to Harry and Meghan and florist Philippa Craddock,” they continued in the post shared over the weekend, which showed an elderly resident holding a bouquet from the Markle and her new husband’s floral selection. “Our hospice smells and looks gorgeous. Such a lovely gesture.”
Kensington Palace confirmed back in March that Harry and Meghan’s wedding flowers would be donated to local charities following the ceremony and also revealed at the time that the flowers used on the day would include branches of beech, birch, and hornbeam, as well as white garden roses, peonies, and foxgloves.
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Making things even more personal for the couple, Town and Country recently reported that Prince Harry had handpicked some of the flowers for Markle’s bouquet from a private garden at Kensington Palace, including some that were a favorite of his late mother, Princess Diana, in order to incorporate her into the big day.
“The spring blooms include Forget-Me-Nots which were Diana, Princess of Wales’ favourite flower,” a statement from the palace read. “The couple specifically chose them to be included in Ms. Markle’s bouquet to honour the memory of the late Princess on this special day.”
Speaking earlier this year, Craddock said in a statement that she had worked closely with Harry and Meghan to choose the flowers they wanted for their wedding.
She noted that both the prince and Markle had a lot of input in the process of choosing which flowers that would adorn both the inside and the outside of Windsor Castle.
“I am excited and honoured to have been chosen by Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle to design and create their wedding flowers. Working with them has been an absolute pleasure,” she said in a statement of her involvement with Meghan and Harry’s royal wedding.
She then continued that, “the process has been highly collaborative, free-flowing, creative and fun. The final designs will represent them as a couple, which I always aim to achieve in my work, with local sourcing, seasonality and sustainability being at the forefront.”
