Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed

Prince Harry and US TV star Meghan Markle were married in Windsor Castle on Saturday in a star-studded and emotional ceremony watched live by cheering crowds and beamed into homes around the world. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, declared the couple husband and wife after they exchanged vows and rings.

Harry and Meghan wedding
AFP

The couple will be known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after their wedding.

"The Queen has today been pleased to confer a dukedom on Prince Henry of Wales. His titles will be Duke of Sussex, Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel," Buckingham Palace said in a statement earlier.

"Prince Harry thus becomes His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex, and Ms. Meghan Markle on marriage will become Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex."

A dukedom is the highest rank in the British peerage. It is traditional to give royal sons titles reflecting the three historic realms -- England, Scotland and Ireland -- that made up the United Kingdom.

Hours before his wedding in 2011, Prince William, Harry's brother and best man, became the Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus.

Sussex is a historic county on the southeast English coast, with a population of around 1.6 million. The name derives from the South Saxons. Its main city is the hip seaside resort city of Brighton. 

It was the scene of the Battle of Hastings and the 1066 Norman invasion of England that brought William the Conqueror to the throne.

A landscape of rolling South Downs chalk hills and seaside towns, its main gateway to the world is London Gatwick Airport.

Dumbarton is on the north bank of the River Clyde in Scotland and Kilkeel is a small fishing town in Northern Ireland's County Down.

When in Scotland, the couple will be referred to as the Earl and Countess of Dumbarton.

There have been earls of Sussex since 1141, and it became a dukedom in 1801, when prince Augustus Frederick, the sixth son of king George III, was given the title.

Queen Victoria's third son prince Arthur was made earl of Sussex in 1874 but the title became extinct upon the death of his grandson in 1943.

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