Meghan Markle’s evening wedding gown was the last moment for her to reflect her joy and personality before joining the “serious” Royal family, the designer Stella McCartney has suggested.

McCartney, who created the second wedding dress for Ms Markle, now the Duchess of Sussex, said she was “very proud” to have worked with the bride to tread the “delicate line” of appropriate attire.

The dress, described by Kensington Palace on the day as a “bespoke lily-white, high neck gown made of silk crepe”, was seen around the world as the newlywed Duchess and her husband drove to their evening reception.

McCartney, who has undertaken a series of interviews as she promotes her new flagship store on Old Bond Street, said it was the " last moment that she [Ms Markle] could reflect sort of the other side to her: the joy and the human within her".

The British designer also dressed high-profile guests including Amal Clooney and Oprah Winfrey for the reception, saying she was surprised and “thrilled, obviously” by the positive response she had received on the day.