Picture via Instagram

 

The royal wedding today was a beautiful mix of the modern and the traditional. There were many nods to the past - from Meghan Markle's veil embroidered with Commonwealth countries' flowers to the historic setting - but also breaks from tradition.

 

Prince Harry, now the Duke of Sussex as well, did something that many of us would take for granted, but that's rare for men in the royal family: he received and wore a wedding band.

 

It's a custom that his older brother, William, has stuck with, but Harry is ever the maverick. The 33-year-old isn't alone in eschewing tradition, either, as his father Prince Charles chooses to wear his wedding ring.

 

 

In general, though, the royal family has never fully adopted the custom of wedding bands for men. Prince Philip, like William, chooses not to wear one. This is the norm for British aristocracy.

 

"It is not unusual at all for men from the upper sets in Britain to shun wearing a wedding band," etiquette expert William Hanson told Harper's Bazaar

 

"This is not because of any intentions that they may wish to play away from home once married, but because it was traditionally not the done thing for gentlemen to wear jewellery.

 

Picture via Instagram

 

"Years ago, this even included watches, but even hardened snobs have relaxed on that front."

 

Funnily enough, the history of male wedding rings doesn't go back that far, only to World War II, when soldiers wore them as reminders of their home life. Women's wedding bands, though, originate from Egyptian times.

 

As for the Duke of Sussex, he's going for modern custom, wearing a platinum wedding band with a textured finish. Meghan's ring was fashioned from a piece of Welsh Gold, gifted by Queen Elizabeth.

 

We love seeing the newly married couple pave their own way.

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