After fanfare of royal wedding, a major clean-up begins in Windsor

As the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex began married life, a major clean-up operation was under way in Windsor after a wedding that wove royal tradition and African-American heritage into a modern spectacle, winning praise from many quarters.

Barriers were being taken down and trucks and lorries lined the streets of the Berkshire town as international TV networks packed up and rubbish collectors moved in.

An estimated 100,000 people had descended on the town for the ceremony to catch a glimpse of the new duchess in her Givenchy wedding gown with five-metre train and veil held firmly by the Queen Mary diamond tiara, as she and Harry rode by open top landau through the streets to Windsor Castle.

Inside the 15th-century St George’s Chapel, A-List celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, and George and Amal Clooney sat alongside senior royals, including the Queen and Prince Philip. The bride’s mother, Doria Ragland, 61, a yoga instructor and social worker from Los Angeles, was her sole relative present.

The service, one undoubted highlight of which was the rousing address by the Most Rev Michael Curry, the first black presiding bishop of the US Episcopal Church, was watched by a TV audience of hundreds of millions across the globe.

The 600 guests enjoyed a lunchtime reception, hosted by the Queen at Windsor Castle, at which Sir Elton John performed.

The bride and groom – she now in Stella McCartney and he in black tie – later drove in a silver blue classic convertible E-type Jaguar loaned by Prince Charles to an evening reception at nearby Frogmore House. The car’s registration E190518 reflected their wedding date. In memory of Harry’s mother, the bride was wearing an emerald cut aquamarine ring once owned by Diana, Princess of Wales.

Fireworks lit up the skies of Windsor late at night following the exclusive dinner hosted by Prince Charles for 200 guests. TV host James Corden was said to have compered the evening, and DJ Sam Totolee was said to have performed.

Many of the guests arrived by double-decker bus for the celebration, understood to have included a dinner, a “drinks of the world” themed bar and candy floss and “dirty burgers” as midnight snacks.

As normality returned to Windsor on Sunday morning, Naziq Hussain, manager of Esquires Coffee house, told the Press Association: “Yesterday you couldn’t move here, but this morning it seems like a pretty average Sunday, except for the TV crews.

“There was an articulated lorry taking the barriers away when I got into work at 7am. They were all taken down overnight. Really today you wouldn’t think anything happened. The clean-up operation began very soon afterwards. It’s very well planned and executed.”

The bride’s father, Thomas Markle Snr, 73, was unable to attend due to ill health, leading to days of uncertainty before it was finally announced by Kensington Palace that Prince Charles would step in to walk her the final few steps to the altar. Watching on TV in Mexico, where the retired lighting director lives, he was said to be very emotional. “I wish I were there. I wish them all my love and happiness,” he reportedly told US celebrity website TMZ.

“My baby is a duchess and I love her so much. When you watch your child get married, every thought goes through your mind, every memory from the first day she was born, the first time I held her. I will always regret not being able to be there and not being able to hold my daughter’s hand.”

None of the duchess’s other relatives were invited, including her half-siblings Samantha Markle, 53, and Thomas Markle Jnr, 51, both of whom had been vocal in their criticism of their sister ahead of the ceremony. Referring to them, her father reportedly added: “I now pray Harry and Meghan can go on a nice honeymoon and rest and relax, and that all of my relatives will just shut up about everything.”