From Queen Elizabeth to Prince Harry and Megan, we’ve been enraptured by royal weddings for decades. We sit with baited breath to witness what the lucky princess will wear, do they seem genuine?
Throughout the years, the royal family has seen many changes, but many wedding traditions have remained. From orange blossoms and welsh gold to Honiton lace, royal brides are connected through age-old customs. Although times change, what stays the same is the classic beauty of these brides. Let’s take a look down royal memory lane…
Queen Victoria – 1840
Queen Victoria not only set many royal wedding traditions, her big day continues to unknowingly inspire brides throughout the word today. At the time of her wedding, brides traditionally wore colourful dresses. However, Queen Victoria wanted to be different and opted for white to stand out. She’s the reason we wear white wedding dresses today. Queen Victoria also single-handedly brought the veil trend back into style with her veil and floral headdress decorated with orange blossoms and myrtle. In the decades following, Princess Victoria, Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Beatrice have all incorporated orange blossoms into their dresses in tribute.
Following her wedding, Queen Victoria planted a myrtle shrub in her garden at the Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Since then, every British royal bride has plucked a sprig from this very bush to place in her bridal bouquet.
Grace Kelly of Monaco – 1956
Academy Award-winning actress Grace Kelly’s wedding dress has gone down in history as one of the most iconic to ever exist. Designed by close friend and double Academy winning designer, Helen Rose, the Victorian-inspired gown was made of 125-year-old Brussels lace, taffeta, and thousands of hand-sewn pearls.
It took six weeks and 30 different seamstresses to complete the dress, which featured 100 yards (91 metres) of silk net, and a veil that used 90 yards of tulle (82 metres). To keep the veil in place, Kelly opted for a Juliet cap decorated with lace, orange blossoms and seed pearls instead of a tiara. Instead of a bridal bouquet, Kelly followed the tradition of the time and carried a bible.
Queen Elizabeth – 1947
Reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth. The dress, designed by Norman Hartnell, was a simplistic yet elegant creation inspired by Botticelli’s Renaissance masterpiece Primavera, which symbolises the coming of Spring. Britain was still recovering post WWII, and Hartnell wanted the dress to follow a theme of rebirth and growth with his signature embroidery. A lace-trimmed sweetheart neckline and long sleeves flowed into a bodice and full princess-skirt decorated with 10 000 exquisite seed-pearl- and diamanté-encrusted star flowers, roses, jasmine blossoms and embroidered ears of wheat. To complete the look, the skirt trailed of in an elaborate 15-foot (4.57 metre) train.
It took a whopping 350 seamstresses seven weeks to complete this iconic piece of fashion. Interestingly, the dress was paid for with coupons! At the time, everyone – even the Queen – was under rationing measures following WWII, so she saved up clothing ration coupons and was also granted a few from the government to pay for the dress.
Princess Diana – 1981
One of the most iconic wedding dresses to ever be created was worn by the much loved Princess Diana. A tale of powerul puffed sleevs and trailing trains, Princess Diana’s dress was incredibly characteristic of 1980s fashion.
David and Elizabeth Emanuel designed this iconic dress that featured a fitted and boned bodice with panels embroidered with lace that one belonged to Queen Mary, romantic puffed sleeves and a full skirt of ivory silk taffeta and hand embroidery in tiny mother-of-pearl sequins and pearls, centering on a heart motif. Her dress was completed with a dramatic 25-foot (7.62 metre) train. Her 153 yard (139 metre) ivory silk tulle veil, spangled with mother-of-pearl sequins, was held by the Spencer family’s diamond tiara.
Kate Middleton – 2011
The marriage of a prince and a commoner made news around the world, causing millions of eager eyes to tune in to a never-before-seen royal affair. Kate Middleton stunned in a Victorian-inspired princess-cut gown with lace sleeves highly reminiscent of Grace Kelly’s iconic gown.
The dress, designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, featured an ivory satin bodice with floral motifs cut from machine-made lace. Individual flowers were hand-cut from lace and hand-engineered onto ivory silk tulle to create a design which incorporates the rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock. The skirt’s soft pleats were designed to echo an opening flower. The back of the gown was lined with 58 buttons of gazar and organza, which fasten by means of Rouleau loops, and ended with a two-metre train.
Megan Markle – 2018
Megan Markle wed Prince Harry in a stunning boatneck sheath dress designed by Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy. Timeless and elegant, the gown was made from double bonded silk cady. A true standout, however, was the veil that was designed to represent the distinctive flora of each Commonwealth country united in one spectacular floral composition. The national flowers of all 53 commonwealth countries were intricately embroidered into the lining of the veil. The veil is five meters long and made from silk tulle with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers in silk threads and organza. Atop her head sat the Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau tiara, which was lent to Her Royal Highness by The Queen.
Princess Eugenie – 2018
Designed by Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos, the gown features a folded neckline that ends in a low back that drapes into a flowing full length train. Symbolic meaning was woven into the dress such as the Thistle for Scotland to acknowledge the couple’s fondness for Balmoral, a Shamrock for Ireland as a nod to the Bride’s Ferguson family, the York Rose and ivy representing the couple’s home. These were reinterpreted in a garland of rope like motifs, woven into a jacquard of silk, cotton and viscose blend. She completed the look with the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara, lent to her by Her Majesty The Queen.
Feature image: Instagram / Kensington Royal
