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Meghan Markle being walked down the aisle by King Charles III after falling out with her father went viral on TikTok after the monarch was diagnosed with cancer.
The Duchess of Sussex was supposed to be given away at her wedding by Thomas Markle who was preparing to fly from his home in Rosarito, Mexico, to Britain for the May 19, 2018, ceremony.
However, he was then outed by U.K. tabloid The Mail on Sunday as having staged paparazzi pictures for money, despite telling Harry and Meghan the allegations were false.
When CCTV images of him colluding with a photographer were published it shattered their relationship and they have not spoken again since.
That left Meghan with a problem as she needed someone new to walk her down the aisle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
And that is where Charles stepped in to fill the gap in a touching gesture to his daughter-in-law years before the royal rift would leave royal relations fraught with conflict.
@thetvandmoviequeen Get well King Charles ???? #kingcharles #princeharry #meghanmarkle #harryandmeghan #fypシ #foryou
♬ original sound - Andrew DeVitre
A clip of the moment was viewed almost 900,000 times and liked more than 54,000 times when it was posted on TikTok in the aftermath of the king's cancer diagnosis, announced by Buckingham Palace on Monday, February 5.
Doctors who performed a procedure on an enlarged prostate discovered a second issue and investigation showed it to be cancer, spelling a period out from royal duties for Charles.
The TikTok video was posted with the message "Get well King Charles" and an on screen caption reading: "With the devastating news about King Charles being diagnosed with cancer, I will always have SO much respect for him walking Meghan Markle down the aisle at her wedding with her dad being absent."
In addition to footage of Charles walking Meghan down the aisle, it included a clip of Meghan from the couple's Netflix series Harry & Meghan.
The duchess said: "Harry's dad is very charming. And I said to him, like, 'I've lost my dad in this.'
"So him, as my father-in-law, was really important to me. So I asked him to walk me down the aisle and he said 'yes.' The whole thing was surreal. It was at that moment I could see H."
Harry added that "my father helped us choose an orchestra, which made all the difference" and said when he saw Meghan walking towards he thought: "Look at me. Look what I got. Look what I found.
"The world was watching us, but when we were at the altar, as far as I was concerned, it was just the two of us."
Meghan added: "I knew that when I got to the actual castle—how funny is that to say 'When we got to the castle for my wedding'—that there would be tons of people.
"What I didn't know is people would be lining both sides of the street. I mean, this was a 15-minute drive."
Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more