Meghan Markle's Best Wedding Guest Looks, Ranked
From a colour-block county-church dress to navy Givenchy at Windsor, Court & Capital ranks four documented Meghan Markle wedding guest looks, best to first.
Long before she wore a wedding gown of her own, and often since, Meghan Markle has been a guest at other people’s weddings, and every one of those appearances has become a small case study in how to dress well without stealing focus from the bride. Across nearly a decade of documented Meghan Markle wedding guest looks, four occasions stand out as the most complete, most photographed, and most revealing of her approach: a quiet Berkshire reception before the world knew her name, a colourful county church wedding on her own birthday, a Roman ceremony for one of her closest friends, and a return to the chapel where she had married months earlier.
Ranking four looks worn for entirely different occasions, at entirely different stages of Meghan’s life, is a subjective exercise by nature. But taken together, they tell a coherent story about a woman who has treated wedding-guest dressing as its own discipline, one governed by warmth, restraint, and a genuine understanding that the day belongs to someone else.
Here is how Court & Capital ranks them, counting down to the look we think tells the richest story.
How we ranked these four looks
Four criteria shaped the order below: how well documented the outfit actually is, how the choice reflected the specific relationship and occasion, the craft and thinking visible in the styling, and, because this is the part that makes fashion history rather than mere reporting, what the look reveals about Meghan herself at that particular moment. A quietly perfect dress worn at a wedding nobody photographed scores differently from a fully documented outfit worn at an occasion layered with meaning.
Three of these four weddings already have a full Court & Capital feature of their own, so rather than repeat that detail here, we have given each a concise summary with a link through to the complete story. The fourth, Charlie van Straubenzee’s wedding, has not been covered on this site before, so it gets the fuller treatment: a look at both the day and the dress.
No. 4: Pippa Middleton’s wedding, May 2017
The earliest of the four, and by far the least documented. On 20 May 2017, six months before her engagement to Prince Harry was announced, Meghan attended the evening reception for Pippa Middleton and James Matthews’s wedding at the Middleton family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, in a long black gown. A strict no-photography policy at the reception means no confirmed image of the full look has ever surfaced, and no designer credit has ever been reliably verified.
It ranks last not because the outfit was unsuccessful, but because so little of it can actually be assessed: what survives is reputation rather than record. Its real interest lies elsewhere, in what the appearance itself signalled about a six-month-old relationship being quietly, carefully absorbed into a much larger circle. The full story, including why Meghan so nearly was not invited at all, is told in What Meghan Wore to Pippa Middleton’s Wedding.
No. 3: Misha Nonoo’s wedding, September 2019
A significant step up in both glamour and documentation. On 20 September 2019, Meghan and Prince Harry sat in the front row at Villa Aurelia in Rome as Misha Nonoo, the designer widely credited with introducing Meghan to Harry, married entrepreneur Michael Hess. For the occasion, Meghan chose a sleek black tulle gown by Valentino, reportedly valued at around £10,500, a striking departure from the softer daytime palette she typically favours for official royal engagements.
It is a superb evening look, dramatic without losing elegance, and worn for a wedding thick with personal significance rather than official duty. It ranks third rather than higher chiefly because it was, by Meghan’s usual wedding-guest standard, comparatively bold: a black tulle gown is a genuine statement piece rather than the deliberately supporting role she plays elsewhere on this list. The fuller story of that friendship, and the wedding itself, is told in The Blazer Dress Meghan Made Everyone Want.
No. 2: Charlie van Straubenzee’s wedding, the day
On 4 August 2018, Meghan spent her thirty-seventh birthday at St Mary the Virgin Church in Frensham, Surrey, for the wedding of Charlie van Straubenzee to videographer Daisy Jenks. The occasion carried real weight within Harry’s own inner circle. Van Straubenzee had known Harry since their days together at Ludgrove, the Berkshire prep school both boys attended as children, and had served as an usher at Harry and Meghan’s own wedding at St George’s Chapel that May. For his own ceremony, Harry returned the favour, taking on usher duties himself. The following year, Van Straubenzee would become one of three godparents named for Prince Archie, alongside Tiggy Pettifer and Mark Dyer, a mark of just how central he had remained to Harry’s life.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank were also among the guests that day, roughly two months before their own wedding at Windsor. For Meghan, barely three months into married life and still finding her footing as a working royal, a countryside church wedding for one of Harry’s oldest friends, on her own birthday no less, was as personal an occasion as any on this list.
No. 2: the colour-block Club Monaco dress
Rather than reach for a formal European house, Meghan wore a Club Monaco “Shoanah” shirt dress in a colour-blocked mix of black, grey, white and pale pink, a short-sleeved, V-neck, pleated and belted style that fell just over the knee and retailed at the time for a comparatively accessible $328. She finished the look with a matching Philip Treacy hat, black Aquazzura slingback pumps, a black belt, and a woven Kayu clutch.
It is, on its own terms, one of the more playful outfits Meghan has worn to a wedding: a country-church occasion called for a hat and proper tailoring, but the colour-blocking and the high-street-adjacent designer choice gave the look a warmth and approachability that a more formal gown would not have carried. Ranking it second reflects both the strength of the styling and the sheer density of personal history behind the day, Harry serving as usher for the friend who had once stood up for him, on the one birthday of Meghan’s married life spent celebrating someone else’s.
No. 1: Princess Eugenie’s wedding, October 2018
The most complete story on this list, and the reason it tops the ranking. On 12 October 2018, Meghan returned to St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, the very building where she had married five months earlier, this time as a guest at Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s wedding. She wore a navy coat dress by Givenchy, the same house that had designed her own wedding gown under Clare Waight Keller, paired with a navy hat by British milliner Noel Stewart and nude heels.
What elevates the look beyond simply “well dressed” is context few watching that day could have known. Meghan and Harry were, unbeknownst to almost everyone present, quietly expecting their first child, with Kensington Palace confirming the pregnancy publicly just three days later. A navy coat dress that reads, at first glance, as a masterclass in restrained continuity becomes, in hindsight, one of the last outfits Meghan wore as a still-private expectant mother. That layered significance, alongside the sheer symbolism of returning to the same chapel as a guest rather than a bride, is why it ranks first. The complete story is told in What Meghan Wore to Princess Eugenie’s Wedding.
What the ranking reveals
Set side by side, these four looks trace a fairly consistent philosophy: dress warmly, dress appropriately for the specific occasion, and let the day’s actual subject remain the focus. Only the Misha Nonoo wedding, held among close friends rather than official royal circles, saw Meghan reach for genuine evening drama. Everywhere else, from a discreet black gown to a cheerful colour-block dress to a considered navy coat dress worn twice within one extraordinary year, restraint does most of the work. It is, perhaps, the clearest evidence that Meghan’s wedding-guest wardrobe has never really been about the clothes at all, but about knowing precisely when to let someone else’s day shine. Explore more from our Royal Style & Fashion coverage for further looks at how the royal family dresses for the occasions that matter most.
Frequently asked questions
What is Meghan Markle’s best wedding guest outfit?
By Court & Capital’s ranking, the navy Givenchy coat dress worn to Princess Eugenie’s wedding in October 2018 tops the list, both for its styling and for the private significance it carried at the time.
What did Meghan Markle wear to Charlie van Straubenzee’s wedding?
She wore a colour-blocked Club Monaco “Shoanah” shirt dress in black, grey, white and pale pink, paired with a Philip Treacy hat, black Aquazzura slingback pumps and a Kayu clutch, for the wedding on 4 August 2018, her thirty-seventh birthday.
Who is Charlie van Straubenzee to Prince Harry?
Charlie van Straubenzee is one of Prince Harry’s oldest friends, a companion since their school days at Ludgrove. He served as an usher at Harry and Meghan’s wedding in May 2018 and was later named one of Prince Archie’s three godparents.
Did Meghan Markle attend Misha Nonoo’s wedding?
Yes. Meghan and Prince Harry attended Misha Nonoo’s wedding to Michael Hess in Rome on 20 September 2019, sitting in the front row of the ceremony. Meghan wore a black tulle gown by Valentino.
What did Meghan Markle wear to Princess Eugenie’s wedding?
Meghan wore a navy coat dress by Givenchy, the same house that designed her own wedding gown, with a navy hat by Noel Stewart and nude heels, for the wedding on 12 October 2018 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
Has anyone confirmed what Meghan Markle wore to Pippa Middleton’s wedding?
Not definitively. Meghan wore a long black gown to the evening reception on 20 May 2017, but the reception’s strict no-photography policy means no verified image or confirmed designer credit for the dress has ever been published.
Why does Meghan Markle dress so simply for weddings she attends as a guest?
Royal and society wedding etiquette generally discourages guests from outshining the bride, and Meghan has followed that principle with particular consistency, favouring tailored, considered pieces over statement gowns at nearly every wedding she has attended.
Where can I see the full story behind each of these looks?
Court & Capital has dedicated features on three of the four weddings: Princess Eugenie’s wedding, Pippa Middleton’s wedding, and Misha Nonoo’s wedding and the friendship behind it.
This ranking reflects Court & Capital’s own editorial judgement based on publicly reported details, correct as of September 2026. Outfit specifics for less-documented events, particularly Pippa Middleton’s wedding, are drawn from contemporaneous fashion reporting rather than official confirmation.
