Wedding Gowns

Princess Diana’s Wedding Gown

July 29, 1981 was a memorable day for England. The streets from London were decorated with blue-white-red flags, also the shop windows, the joy of the people, all were remaining the great social event in the United Kingdom: the wedding of Prince Charles with Lady Diana.

The bright pictures of the bridal couple studded all over London. The curiosity of the people exceeded any limit: thousands of people came a few days earlier and slept on the tarmac of the London Buckingham Palace and of the St. Paul Cathedral; each of the people who were tormented few nights in a row had the only one purpose to occupy a better place to the famous ceremony.

The whole town wore holiday clothes. Just imagine that even the bakers made special bread, painted in the traditional colors of the Great Britain. The emotion with which the ceremony was expected was not only in the United Kingdom but they have been sent to the whole world. More than 750 millions of people from 61 countries have watched the fairytale ceremony.

The public opinion had already been sensitized in February. The Windsor house, hosted then the engagement party of the two. The promise became official; the promise of Phillip Charles Windsor and of Lady Diana Frances Spencer, whipped the spirits. To this contributed also the bride’s wardrobe which came like from old tales. The secret was kept until the last moment, however, it was known that the 20 years old princess gave up on the English tradition, her wedding dress was supposed to be made by couple of young fashion creators and not by the royal masters.

The result was a happy one. Lady Di managed to combine for her wedding gown, the tradition with modern elements. That “something new, something old and something blue” from the English tradition, became with elegance the traditional taft combined with silk. The wedding gown also had puffed sleeves and 10000 pearls handmade. The blue ribbon, narrowed, around the middle was in contrast to the extraordinary length of the train (17, 5 feet). The highlight of the contrast was the tiara; a beautiful legacy of the Spencer family.

In that historical morning of Wednesday, Prince Charles, accompanied by his brother and the Queen Elizabeth of the Buckingham Palace, started the last bachelor road. Diana’s carriage went through the decorated streets to St. Paul Cathedral, in front of everyone. She was led to the altar and given to the groom by her father. After the ritual made by the Archbishop of the Canterbury in the old English language, the two have said that “yes”, “in richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part..”

Prince Charles gave to his wife a special ring made by the Queen jeweler. The gold was brought from a mine which belonged to the royal family for over 50 years; the same gold was used for the ring of the Queen Mother (1923), the Queen (1960) and also for the ring of Princess Anne (1973). What followed the religious ceremony is hard to explain but it is certain that the bells continued to beat for 3 hours and 50 minutes because they always do every time a prince of the Windsor marries. The good news is that the women who want to become brides can wear now a wedding gown same as Princess Diana’s from the BHS stores.11