Here's how Meghan Markle's wedding dress was actually a tribute to the Queen

meghan markle's make up artist
(Image credit: Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock)

Last night, the first episode of Queen of the World aired on ITV, and with it we caught quite a glimpse of the workings of the royal family. The first episode also saw Meghan Markle's reunited with her wedding dress for the first time, where she revealed the romantic detail she had sewn into it as a nod to Prince Harry.

But another sartorial secret was revealed during the show, which makes the wedding dress even more special - if that's possible.

Because the Duchess' intricate wedding veil embroidered with 53 flora to represent each Commonwealth country, is actually a tribute to the Queen.

Queen Elizabeth style

Queen Elizabeth II, 1953

'Few will have been more touched to see it than the Queen, for this was a poignant echo of the gown she wore herself on her Coronation day,' the voiceover says.

You see HRH also had symbolic flora added to the Coronation gown she had designed by Norman Hartnell in 1953. He actually designed eight versions of the dress, and the Queen preferred the last one, which was embellished with gold tissue and floral emblems of Great Britain and the Commonwealth.

The couturier then created one last version with those details, but also incorporating a four-leave shamrock for luck, with other flora including a Tudor rose, the Welsh leek, Lotus flower of Ceylon and the Scottish thistle.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.