With less than a day until the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the final touches are being put on the wedding cake and Kensington Palace has announced who will walk her down the aisle.

Here is a digest of Friday’s wedding news:

Royal well-wishers prepare to bed down for the night in Windsor on May 18, 2018, the eve of Britain’s Prince Harry’s royal wedding to US actress Meghan Markle.
Britain’s Prince Harry and US actress Meghan Markle will marry on May 19 at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. / AFP PHOTO /

Speculation is in overdrive on the design of Meghan’s dress, which palace officials are determined to keep under wraps until she arrives at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle for the ceremony.

But those without an interest in fashion have become fixated on the details of the wedding cake — which will also be unveiled on the big day.

On Friday tabloid The Sun reported cake-makers Violet Bakery saying it would have a “non-traditional layout”, fuelling further speculation over the confection.

It is suspected that former American actress Meghan will bring a Hollywood twist to both the dress and cake, traditionally conservative elements of past royal weddings.

It is already known that ingredients for the cake include 200 Amalfi lemons, 500 eggs and 10 bottles of elderflower cordial.

– The bridal party arrives –

Meghan announced on Thursday that her father Thomas Markle would not fly from Mexico to walk her down the aisle owing to health problems.

But on Friday tabloid paper The Sun reported that Meghan’s actress friends had begun to arrive in London to support her on the day.

The paper printed images of Sarah Rafferty, who acted alongside Meghan in US legal drama Suits, in the British capital.

Friend Jessica Mulroney, from Toronto, was also photographed in west London by the paper along with her daughter Ivy who will be one of Meghan’s six bridesmaids on Saturday’s ceremony.

On Friday Kensington Palace confirmed that Harry’s father Prince Charles would walk Meghan down the aisle, bucking speculation that her mother Doria Ragland would step into the role.

– Travel chaos? –

One hundred thousand wedding spectators are expected to descend on Windsor, a town of 30,000 inhabitants, 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of London.

But London mayor Sadiq Khan has been criticised for the decision to shut down parts of the capital’s underground and overground transport network for maintainance work on the day, The Daily Mail reported Friday.

It is feared the decision will cause delays in well-wishers travelling from the capital.

“It is very short-sighted of the mayor to allow these engineering works to take place. They should have planned for this weeks ago,” Conservative MP Steve Double told the paper.

– Foreign interest –

Britain’s 2011 royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was shown on Russian state TV, but doubts circled over whether this weekend’s ceremony would be aired as relations sour between the two countries.

On Thursday tabloid The Express reported that both Channel One and Russia 24 would decline to show the ceremony “for political reasons” in the fallout of the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

But Russians will in fact be able to view the ceremony, AFP discovered on Friday.

It will be broadcast on the Pyatnitsa cable channel, usually reserved for family reality TV and reruns of blockbuster movies.

– The forecast –

With just one day to go, weathermen are honing in on the conditions likely to make or break the wedding for the thousands of spectators lining the outdoors procession route.

On Friday BBC weather reported that clear blue skies and sunshine were expected to last throughout the day, with highs of 21 degrees Celsius (70 Fahrenheit) in the late afternoon.

Those camping out the night before, however, will be forced to endure temperatures plunging to 7 degrees Celsius, and tents have been banned for security reasons according to UK media.