SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - On a sunny day in 1981, I watched Diana Spencer marry Prince Charles. Their son Prince Harry was also blessed with a sunny wedding day. There the similarities ended. Thirty-seven years have passed, and times sure have changed.

Little boys when I last saw them, bridegroom Harry and brother William now parade balding Windsor pates. Two of William’s children were among bride Meghan Markle’s junior attendants. Kate Middleton’s middle-class family exuded more allure than their royal in-laws and celebrity wedding guests garnered more attention than anyone. Even the nuptial soprano claimed meeting George Clooney was the best part of her day.

With a showbiz bride at the altar, Hollywood did indeed meet Holyrood. But what really defined this event was an unapologetic decree that multi-culturalism rules in a marriage that represents the state of Britain’s Commonwealth. Stunning in Givenchy, a mixed-race bride strode the aisle alone. She was not property to be given away. She took her father-in-law’s arm for a few final steps, allowing the stunning symbolism of a future king’s blessing. The word “obey” was absent from her vows.

You begin as you mean to continue. This wedding indicates a non-negotiable path for a modern duke and duchess and an apparently accepting royal family.

Meghan’s path to a splendid marriage was strewn with carpet tacks rather than rose petals. She hails from a crisis-prone clan. She’s American and divorced. If this was enough to rule out Wallace Simpson as a royal bride in 1936, family baggage is now more common than coronets among Windsor ranks. She might be an actress but the happiness she has brought to the Queen’s once-troubled grandson is no act – Harry’s wedding day tears were real. Moreover, the bride promises to be a stunning weapon for Windsor popularity. The arcane tradition of divine right survives only through adaptability and the new duke and duchess will help make royalty relevant to millions.  As an actress, Meghan will smile and charm her way through a life-sentence of tedium; as humanitarians who bring attention and energy to good causes, she and her besotted husband will be fantastic ambassadors for the Windsor “Firm.”

Thirty-seven years ago, no one could have told me Elizabeth II would hear a pulpit-thumping sermon steal her Archbishop of Canterbury’s thunder; that her grandson would exit his wedding to gospel anthems and ululations from Middle Eastern fans. But she is wise to endure Meg and Harry’s conquest. She accepts that millions will embrace the cosmopolitan couple like rock stars. Their children will endear royalty to future generations of her multicultural Commonwealth. Best yet, the Sussexes are too distant to the throne to threaten succession!

So, Meaghan may borrow Queen Mary’s tiara any time she likes. The Windsors will bend over en arrière to avoid mistakes that alienated a previous people’s princess. In his address, Episcopalian Bishop Michael Curry contended love was a fire – if harnessed – that could change the world. If the Sussex marriage is good, Meghan and Harry’s love might just do that. Wish them well.