Meghan Markle Is Marrying, Are Other Black Women Finding Their Prince?

The Royal Wedding of Britain’s Prince Harry and America’s Meghan Markle is less than 72 hours from starting, and brides all over the world are preparing to take notes, including Leslie Marshall whose nuptials are set for July. The 25-year-old like so many others is feasting on a virtual buffet of videos, pictures, and articles about the couple.

“I catch the blogs so I will be watching the wedding,” Marshall says. “Every wedding video and music I’m into it to see what I can take from theirs and put into mine.”

The bi-racial actress who stole the formerly rambunctious prince’s heart is at the center of a wedding Brand Finance, a British consultancy, expects to possibly net Britain close to a billion dollars in souvenir sales and related consumption. It’s a love story that rivals even Hollywood’s imagination complete with a father who allegedly staged wedding activity photos for sale to the paparazzi at the urging of the bride’s half-sister only to experience health problems that will prevent him from attending the wedding to walk his daughter down the aisle. Ask most couples, and there’s typically some drama attached to their wedding, provided there is one given the statistics for marriage rates of couples who are black.

Marshall says, “We don’t get enough credit. We are marrying.”

Studies confirm that marriages are occurring less frequently among millennials of all races. And, besides age, education is also a factor. The Brookings Institute reports that white women who graduate with a college degree are almost as likely to be married today as they were 50 years ago. Not so for black women. Marriage rates are decreasing for black women across the educational spectrum. A black woman with an undergraduate degree between 35 and 45 years old is 15 percentage points less likely to be married than a white woman who does not have an undergraduate degree. Research indicates the racial disparity in marriage rates for women without a college degree is stable with both black and white women experiencing roughly the same declines.

Marshall, a family services consultant, and her fiancé, Xavier Broughton, an elementary school music teacher, attended the same high school. They “met in band” she explains. But, they did not date until their paths crossed at a college homecoming game.

She recalls, “We spoke, but there were no sparks.” They were Facebook friends. One day Marshall posted a tongue-in-cheek status that read: “Now taking spouse applications.”

Broughton replied, “Where do I apply?” Marshall directed him to her inbox, and the romance began. Less than a year later, Broughton proposed.

“We fell in love, and we have known since October or November,” Marshall states.

As for the Royal pageantry across the pond, Marshall celebrates Markle’s grand event. “I think it’s fantastic,” she says. “It’s your big day so go big or go home.”