Outspoken U.S. bishop caps a delightfully unorthodox royal wedding

Open this photo in gallery:

As Prince Harry and Meghan Markle begin their new life as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Britain is still abuzz over the couple’s unconventional wedding ceremony and the American bishop who stole the show.

The couple have decided to forgo their honeymoon for now and they’ll make their first public appearance as Duke and Duchess on Tuesday at an event in London to honour Prince Charles’s charitable work. And if Saturday’s wedding service is anything to go by, they plan to put their own stamp on the royal household.

The hour-long service at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle caused gasps across the country at times, but also won rave reviews for challenging royal conventions and drawing attention to issues such as race relations, poverty and the Church of England’s position on same-sex marriage. The sermon by Most Rev. Michael Curry, the head of the Episcopal Church in the United States, has been cited as a particular highlight, winning widespread praise and causing a social-media sensation.

Royal wedding highlights: Meghan’s dresses, the celebrity guests, a surprising sermon and more

The couple had already ignored many other royal traditions before Saturday’s wedding service. They’d chosen a weekend for the ceremony instead of following royal protocol by marrying on a weekday. They also eschewed politicians and world leaders, preferring to invite representatives from charities across Britain, along with family and friends. Ms. Markle was also the first royal bride to walk partway down the aisle on her own, after her father bowed out of the ceremony last week because of health concerns. While it had been expected that her mother, Doria Ragland, would fill in, Ms. Markle decided to walk halfway on her own before being accompanied by Charles the rest of the way.

Now, as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Ms. Markle are expected to take up a host of charitable causes aimed mainly at working with young people. During the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London last month, Harry was named “Commonwealth Youth Ambassador” and he told the summit that Ms. Markle would be joining him in his work. Indeed, on Saturday her wedding dress included a five-metre-long silk veil that featured a distinctive flora from each of the 53 Commonwealth countries.

Canada was represented by a bunchberry (cornus canadensis), a flowering plant found on forest floors that some consider to be Canada’s unofficial national flower.

Bishop Curry’s passionate message drew 40,000 tweets a minute, making it by far the most talked-about moment of the service on social media. It also caused a stir among the tens of thousands of people who watched the wedding on giant television screens set up in a park outside Windsor Castle.

“To me it was just so not what you would expect a royal wedding service to be. It was just fantastic,” said Gabrielle Furze who, along with her 12-year-old daughter, Jorja, was among the 2,640 people invited inside the castle grounds for the service. “I loved [Bishop Curry], he was fantastic. I was really surprised by his sermon because I wasn’t expecting it. I actually had a few chuckles to myself because I could see some of the older royals not being too impressed by it.”

Victoria Dunn, who also watched from outside the castle, said she was taken aback by Bishop Curry’s dynamic speaking style, adding: “It was lovely, really emotional.”

Bishop Curry’s comments about the power of love “in any form or experience of it” appeared aimed at the Church of England’s ban on gay marriage. The Episcopal Church is part of the global Anglican Communion and it falls under the titular leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Rev. Justin Welby, who directs the Church of England. Bishop Curry has been a strong advocate of LGBT rights and the U.S. church has been sanctioned by the Communion for blessing same-sex marriages. As an African-American, Bishop Curry has often drawn comparisons between the mistreatment of black people and the bigotry experienced by much of the LGBT community. “What I believe about human equality and dignity is grounded in what I believe about the love of God,” he told The New York Times in 2016.

During Saturday’s service, he also touched on poverty and inequality, quoting from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and telling the 600 guests inside the chapel: “When love is the way, we actually treat each other, well, like we are actual family.”

The sermon appeared to catch many members of the royal family off-guard and some could be seen visibly squirming as they listened. The Queen, who is the “Defender of the Faith and the Supreme Governor of the Church of England,” had little reaction, but others inside the chapel looked surprised, while some smiled and laughed along with the bishop. Outside the church, social media lit up with comments. “Rev. Michael Curry could almost make me a believer,” former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, a noted atheist, said on Twitter. Added BBC anchor Jeremy Vine in a tweet: “The preacher is doing 50 in a 30 zone and it’s brilliant.”

Archbishop Welby, who has been trying to bridge the church’s divide over gay marriage, is reported to have suggested Bishop Curry to Harry and Ms. Markle. After the service, he had high praise for the sermon. Bishop Curry “just blew the place open,” said the archbishop, who presided over the vows during the service. “It was fantastic. You could see people caught up in it and excited by it. … It was unconventional by royal wedding standards in some ways, but it had passion and if you don’t have passion at a wedding, when will you have passion?”

Bishop Curry told the media afterward that the wedding was “a real joyful thing because there was a sense in which you had the fullness of the church represented in many respects.” Bringing everybody together “happened today, in different ways, different songs, different perspectives, different worlds and all of it came together and gave God thanks,” he added.

Open this photo in gallery: