"When it came to her new husband, Harry, she said 'I finally found my prince.'"
Meghan Markle only had sweet things to say following her wedding to Prince Harry.
While there were a few speeches given at the newlyweds' first reception, the more intimate speeches came at the nighttime affair hosted by Prince Charles at Frogmore House. Royal expert Katie Nicholl exclusively tells ET's Kevin Frazier that those speeches "were a little bit risque."
"The first person to get up and speak was Meghan. This was a real breach of tradition. Usually the bride doesn't talk. It is, of course, the father of the bride, but seeing there was no Thomas Markle, Meghan decided that she would speak," Nicholl says of Meghan's father, who did not attend the wedding following a heart procedure. "She is an outspoken, self proclaimed feminist and I was told she wanted to have the chance to say in person a very big thank you to the royal family, which is exactly what she did."
After profusely thanking the royal family — specifically Prince Charles for escorting her down the aisle — the 36-year-old Duchess of Sussex reportedly praised her spouse.
"When it came to her new husband, Harry, she said, 'I finally found my prince,'" Nicholl says. "It was very romantic and very sweet."
"I do know that she thanked her mother, not just for being there today, but for being there for her entire life," Nicholl continues. "And I'm not sure what she said, if anything, about Thomas Markle."
Harry also spoke and reportedly said that he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with Meghan.
"He referred to her throughout the evening as my wife, which got plenty of cheers," Nicholl adds.
A source says of 33-year-old Harry's speech, "Harry gave a tearful speech paying tribute to his own mother [Princess Diana] missing from the festivities. He also thanked Meghan’s mother [Doria Ragland] for giving him permission to marry Meghan. He talked about how they made a great team."
While the bride and groom both gave speeches, Nicholl thinks the best speech of the night came from Prince William, the best man, who was, at one point, joined onstage by two of Harry's oldest friends — Charlie van Straubenzee and Tom Inskip.
"[William] managed as best man to get the right tone between the right thing to say about his brother, while giving him a good ribbing," Nicholl says. "So no speech about Prince Harry [is] complete without teasing him mercilessly about his hair. Prince William pointed out that Prince Harry wasn't far behind him when it came to going bald."
Here's a closer look at Harry and Meghan's wedding receptions:
RELATED CONTENT:
