In less than two months Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will exchange vows before an audience of a couple thousand guests and millions of TV viewers.
Royal marriages are no longer the result of political alliances or arrangements made by the previous generation, but that doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to last.
It’s not something that anyone wants to dwell on in the heady buildup to a Meghan and Harry’s lavish wedding, but royal divorces are not unheard of.
And obviously, when two people with titles call it quits, there’s more at stake than who gets custody of the Keurig.
It’s enough to make us peasants wonder – when someone marries into the royal family, what sort of precautions do both sides take to make sure a fight about liking an Instagram photo doesn’t devolve into World War III?
The answer it seems, is absolutely there absolutely no such safeguards in place. At all.
In recent weeks, many have wondered if Harry and Meg had any sort of prenuptial agreement in place.
According to one royal expert, such a document would be an affront to centuries of history, as royal marriages rarely end badly, and when they do, the matter is decided not by a mediator, but by the swift blade of a guillotine.
Still too soon for Anne Boleyn jokes?
“Historically, members of the royal family have not had them,” royal expert Ingrid Seward tells People magazine when asked about prenups.
“They are more popular in the United States —it’s just not a British thing.”
When Seward says prenups are “not a British thing,” it’s more than her simply turning her nose up at the sky-high divorce rate in the colonies.
(Though there’s certainly an element of that, if we’re not mistaken.)
While judges in the UK might consider a prenup during a divorce hearing, the matter is entirely at they’re discretion.
Such arrangements aren’t considered legally binding, as they are in the US.
But we wouldn’t worry about Meghan in the event that things don’t work out with Harry.
She spent seven seasons on Suits, and while no one has ever watched a full episode, we’re pretty confident that it’s about lawyers, and not Men’s Wearhouse employees.
Regardless, Harry’s gonna like the way she looks on her wedding day. We guarantee it.
