Why the Duchess of Cambridge wasn’t given a role at the royal wedding

MEGHAN MARKLE will not have a maid of honour.

There was much speculation that the Duchess of Cambridge would fill the role but that was never a realistic possibility.

For one thing, the bride hardly knows her but there are other more traditional reasons why Kate won’t be in the wedding party.

Her status as a married woman rules her out of being both a bridesmaid and maid of honour, both roles that are traditionally filled by single ladies.

But the main reason is that she’s married to Prince William.

In other words she’s the future Queen when and if William takes to the throne after his father, and it would therefore be against royal protocol for her to attend another royal bride.

Meghan’s decision not to have a maid of honour – all of her bridesmaids will be children, probably including Princess Charlotte – was based on her reluctance to pick just one of her close-knit group of pals, all of whom have helped plan her big day.

The group includes her “best friend”, fellow actress and author Lindsay Roth.

The two have known each other since their days at Northwestern University and have been “BFFs” – that’s “Best Friends Forever” for those of you who don’t speak youth lingo – and Meghan was a bridesmaid at Lindsay’s wedding last summer.

Another bosom buddy is stylist Jessica Mulroney, again one of her closest friends for many years.

The pals grew close when Meghan was in Toronto filming her TV series Suits and the pair holidayed in Italy together in 2016.

Mulroney is the daughter of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and is stylist to PM Justin Trudeau’s wife.

It’s also been speculated that Jessica’s four-year-old daughter will be a flower girl at the nuptials.

Also Millie Mackintosh, who appeared in the TV show Made In Chelsea and who met Meghan just before she was introduced to Prince Harry in the summer of 2016, is said to have become “invaluable” to her in planning the wedding.