Royal Wedding :: Charles, Prince of Whales & Lady Diana Spencer

In honor of the upcoming royal wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle, I'm featuring some of the wedding photos of royal weddings past! This one is Prince Harry's parents, Prince Charles & Princess Diana.

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The wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer took place on Wednesday 29 July 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral, London, United Kingdom. The ceremony was a traditional Church of England wedding service. Notable figures in attendance included many members of royal families from across the world, republican heads of state, and members of the bride's and groom's families. Their marriage was widely billed as a "fairytale wedding" and the "wedding of the century". It was watched by an estimated global TV audience of 750 million people. The United Kingdom had a national holiday on that day to mark the wedding.

Lady Diana arrived at the cathedral in the Glass Coach with her father, John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer; she was escorted by six mounted Metropolitan Police officers. She arrived almost on time for the 11:20 BST ceremony. The carriage was too small to hold the two of them comfortably due to her voluminous dress and train. She made the three-and-a-half minute walk up the red-carpeted aisle with the sumptuous 25 ft (8 m) train of gown behind her.

Diana accidentally changed the order of Charles's names during her vows, saying "Philip Charles Arthur George" instead of the correct "Charles Philip Arthur George". Charles also made an error. He said he would offer her "thy goods" instead of "my worldly goods". She did not promise to "obey" him as part of the traditional vows. That word was eliminated at the couple's request, which caused a sensation at the time.

Diana's wedding dress was valued at £9000 (equivalent to £31,658 in 2016). The dress was made of ivory silk taffeta, decorated with lace, hand embroidery, sequins, and 10,000 pearls. It was designed by Elizabeth and David Emanuel and had a 25-foot train of ivory taffeta and antique lace. Charles wore his full dress naval commander uniform.

The bride wore her Spencer family's heirloom tiara. According to her brother, Charles Spencer, Diana was unused to wearing a tiara and it gave her a headache. Diana was reported to have spilled perfume all over her wedding dress. The official parfumeur of the royal wedding was the House of Houbigant, the oldest French fragrance company.

- Wikipedia