Royal Wedding – Number One London

MORE ROYAL WEDDING GOWNS

by Victoria Hinshaw

Originally posted in February, 2011

This is really just a collection of pretty wedding pictures and gorgeous dresses. But, since it’s on our minds, these days, why not? Some of these brides are related to the U.K. royals, others from European families. At right is Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden with her husband, Daniel Wrestling. They were married in Stockholm in June, 2010.

The dress is elegantly simple and looks perfect on Princess Victoria. Only the tiara — though it looks more like a crown — is elaborately decorated.

Crown Princess Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée was in 1977. She will become Queen of Sweden upon the death of her father, King Carl XIV Gustav. through her father, Victoria is related to the British royals and actually occupies a position in the line of U.K. royal succession. Now known as HRH Prince Daniel, Duke of Vastergotland, Victoria’s husband is her former personal trainer and ran a company owning several gyms.

Another Scandinavian royal wedding was in Copenhagen Denmark on May 14, 2005, when HRH Crown Prince Frederik married Mary Donaldson, an Australian. They recently had twins, in January, 2011, a boy and a girl. Their older siblings are Prince Christian, born in 2005, and Princess Isabella, born in 2007.

Crown Princess Mary made a beautiful bride and her dress was picture perfect. The overskirt draping makes graceful detailing near the hem, rather an unusual but pleasing feature.

Hollywood royalty was united with royalty from the tiny but rich principality of Monaco when film star Grace Kelly married Prince Rainer in 1956.

The very nigh neckline of the gown amused many observers who were well aware of Kelly’s reputation for behaving entirely contrary to her look of a perfectly-proper ice queen. Princess Grace, mother of three royal children, died in a car crash in 1982. The Prince died in 2005.

David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley, married Hon. Serena Stanhope in October of 1993 at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. He runs a thriving furniture business with a showroom in Pimlico which is quite fun to visit. Fashion observers noted how the gown, by Bruce Bobbins, resembled the neckline design of Princess Margaret’s gown from 1960. The Viscount is Margaret’s eldest child. The Linleys have two children, Charles, born 1999, and Margarita, born 2002.

The very next year, Princess Margaret’s daughter Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones married actor Daniel Chatto at St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London on July 14, 1994. Her gown by Jasper Conran is elegantly traditional, though the venue for the ceremony was unusual for a member of the royal family. The Chattos have two sons, born in 1996 and 1999.

The last of Queen Elizabeth II’s sons to wed was Prince Edward. He married Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999 at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, below. They are titled the Earl and Countess of Wessex. The gown was designed by Samantha Shaw. The Wessexes have two children, Lady Louise, born 2003, and James, Viscount Severn, born in 2007.

The Queen’s eldest grandchild, Peter Phillips, married Canadian Autumn Kelly at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on May 17, 2008. The strapless dress was certainly au courant with its lace shrug, or bolero, if you wish. It was designed by Sassi Holford, one of the leading bridal gown providers in Britain. The tiara worn by Autumn was the “something borrowed” — from Anne, Princess Royal, Autumn’s new mother-in-law.

The Queen’s first great grandchild was born to Autumn and Peter on December 29, 2010, named Savannah.

Lady Rose Windsor, daughter of the Duke of Gloucester (cousin of Queen Elizabeth II), was married to George Gilman, on July 19, 2008 at the Queen’s Chapel, St. James Palace. The gown is lovely and the tiara one loaned from the royal collection, but finding the name of the dress designer was impossible — all the press reports focused on what Kate Middleton was wearing.

In addition to the wedding of Kate and Prince William, 2011 also saw the wedding of Zara Phillips, daughter of Anne, Princess Royal, and rugby star Mike Tindall on July 30.

ROYAL WEDDING GOWNS

by Victoria Hinshaw

Originally posted on February 12, 2011, ahead of the other wedding of the decade, that of William and Katherine.

As I write this, there is no word on the designer Kate Middleton has chosen to create her wedding gown, though I have heard many breathless accounts of who is and who is not in the running. So let’s indulge our royal wedding mania by looking at some of the gowns worn in the past.

Above is the dress worn by Princess Charlotte of Wales at her May 2, 1816, wedding to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, as exhibited in the Museum of London here.

The Lady’s Magazine of May, 1816, described the gown: White silk net embroidered in silver strip with a spotted ground and borders. The wedding dress, composed of a most magnificent silver lama on net, over a rich silver tissue slip, with a superb border of silver lama embroidery at the bottom, forming shells and bouquets above the border; a most elegant fullness tastefully designed, in festoons of rich silver lama, and finished with a very brilliant rollio of lama; the body and sleeves to correspond, trimmed with a most beautiful point Brussels lace, in a peculiar elegant style.

The manteau of rich silver tissue lined with white satin, trimmed round with a most superb silver lama border, in shells to correspond with the dress, and fastened in front with a most brilliant and costly ornament of diamonds. The whole dress surpassed all conception in the brilliancy and richness of its effects. Head dress, a wreath of rose buds and leaves, composed of the most superb brilliants.” At right, an engraving of Charlotte and Leopold at their wedding in Carlton House.

The portrait of Queen Victoria, at left, is by Winterhalter. It shows a rather wistful young bride at the time of her wedding to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg (nephew of the above-mentioned Leopold) on February 10, 1840 in the Chapel Royal of St. James Palace.

It was this gown and veil that supposedly has inspired generations of brides ever since to wear white for their ceremonies, though many brides had previously dressed in fashionable white as well as in a variety of other hues.

At right, an image of Queen Victoria’s dress on a mannequin in the collection of Kensington Palace.

Left, the wedding gown of Alexandra of Denmark, who married Victoria’s son, eventually King Edward VII, on March 10, 1863 in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. She was Princess of Wales for almost forty years before becoming Queen in 1901. After her husband’s death in 1910, she was known as the Queen Mother until she died in 1925.

Like Charlotte’s mother, Caroline, Princess of Wales, and like the first wife of the present Prince of Wales, Diana (see below), Alexandra had to endure the infidelity of her husband. But unlike the other two, she stuck with him to the end. We’ve all heard the possibly-apocryphal story about how Alexandra invited one of his mistresses, Alice Keppel, to comfort Edward VII on his deathbed.

Princess Mary of Teck wed Prince George, Duke of York on 6 July, 1893 in the Chapel Royal of St. James Palace. She had been engaged to Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of the Prince of Wales in 1891, but Albert Victor died in the great influenza epidemic of 1891-92. Mary and George fell in love and were married with the approval of Queen Victoria as well as Edward and Alexandra, Prince and Princess of Wales. George succeeded his father as George V in 1910. Queen Mary, who was a godchild of Queen Victoria, had five sons and one daughter.
Her eldest son, known to all as David, was more than a disappointment. After inheriting the throne as Eward VIII in 1936, he abdicated less than a year later to marry Wallis Simpson.

After her husband’s death, Queen Mary chose to be addressed as Her Majesty, Queen Mary, rather than as Queen Mother. She was very supportive of her second son, who became King George VI after his brother’s departure from the throne. According to several sources, she was the first dowager queen of Great Britain to ever attended the coronation ceremony of her husband’s successor.

As Duke of York, the second son of George V and Mary grew up in the shadow of his dashing older brother. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on 26 April 1923 in Westminster Abbey. At the time of the wedding, it was not expected that “Bertie” would take the throne. Lady Elizabeth’s gown, perhaps for that reason, was not as elaborate as some of her predecessors. It was certainly in the style of the day, a rather loose gown, slightly less than floor length. Below is the dress on a mannequin in a Kensington Palace exhibition of several years ago, along with a detail of the veil and bodice.

On 20 November, 1947, Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) married Prince Philip of Greece (later Duke of Edinburgh) in Westminster Abbey. The designer was Norman Hartnell and the fabric is silk spun at Lullingstone Castle in Kent. She wore a diamond and pearl tiara and a filmy veil. The long train was decorated with traditional symbols, such as Tudor roses and wheat. All the details of the royal romance, the wedding, the gown and the ceremony were eagerly read around the world. It is said the happy event was like a tonic to the war-weary Britons still enduring shortages of goods and rationing.

The Gown on a mannequin

Princess Margaret, second daughter of King George VI, married Antony Armstrong-Jones (later Earl of Snowdon) on May 6, 1960, at Westminster Abbey. Television cameras covered the event and the broadcast was seen worldwide. Like her sister, Margaret chose Norman Hartnell to design her bridal gown.The couple had two children: David, Viscount Linley in 1961 and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones in 1964. The Snowdons were divorced in 1978 and Princess Margaret died in 2002.

14 November 1973 – Anne, Princess Royal, married Captain Mark Phillips in Westminster Abbey. Born in 1950, she is Queen Elizabeth II’s only daughter. Anne and Phillips have two children, Peter Phillips born in 1977 and Zara Phillips born in 1981. After divorcing Phillips in 1992, Anne married Timothy Laurence, in Scotland on December 12, 1992.

On 29 July 1981, Lady Diana Spencer and Charles, Prince of Wales, were married in St Paul’s Cathedral. Her dress was controversial — and still is. The designers, David and Elizabeth Emmanuel, immediately shot to the top echelon of British fashion. Like many of Diana’s fashions, the gown (or a replica) travels around the world for popular exhibition.

Charles and Diana had two sons, Prince William, born in 1982, and Prince Harry, born in 1984, before separating
in the late 1980s, the Prince living in Highgrove and the Princess at Kensington Palace. Formal separation came in 1992 and the marriage of Charles and Diana ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. On 31 August 1997, a year after the Prince and Princess divorced, Diana died in a car crash in Paris.

Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, married at Westminster Abbey on 23 July 1986. The Duke and Duchess of York had two children during their marriage: Princess Beatrice of York (born 1988) and Princess Eugenie of York (born 1990). They separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, though they are often together for vacations and family events.

Of all the gowns shown above, I think I like Sarah’s best, as designed by Lindka Cierach. It is beautiful, flattering to her and has no gimmicks. Princess Elizabeth’s was lovely too, but I like Sarah’s veil better. All in all this one is the winner in the gown category, if perhaps not in the list of “most suitable royal brides.”

If like us, you can’t get enough of this wedding stuff, here is a wonderful exhibition from the Royal Collection you will enjoy.

THE ROYAL WEDDING

If you were reading this blog back in 2011, you may remember our coverage of the marriage of William and Kate on 29 April, 2011. Number One London certainly got into the spirit of things, bringing you all the news and speculation in posts during the months leading up to the wedding on subjects including wedding plans, the order of ceremony, the dress, wedding guests, photos, etc.

In fact, some of our posts regarding the Royal Wedding were among the most viewed on this blog and you can be sure we’ll be repeating the effort in the lead up to the wedding of Harry and Meghan on 19 May.

To see what’s in store, click here to see a round-up of our coverage of William and Kate’s wedding.

And click here to see our round-up of the wedding day itself. Scroll down to see the comments received in response to our commentary.

Once again, we’ll be posting weekly with all the news surrounding the upcoming wedding and we will again be posting in real time on the day, this time using Facebook as our platform.

We hope you’re as thrilled as we are about the upcoming nuptials and we can’t wait to share it all with you – again. It’s going to be another fun ride – Our first “Royal Wedding: Harry and Meghan” post will appear soon!

HOW TO SCORE THE MARKLE SPARKLE

Meghan Markle made her first official appearance along with fiance Prince Harry in Nottingham on 1 December and her coat (Mackage ‘Elodie’ Navy Wool Coat US$790) and boots (KG by Kurt Geiger Violet Black Suede Over the Knee Boots £229) sold out on the same day. How did everyone find out what pieces she was wearing, so fast? Kensington Palace’s newest fashion icon has us mere mortals wanting to shop pieces, but how do we get the 411 about what they are and where to buy them? I mean before they sell out?

Well, it seems that Meghan has been a trendsetter since at least November 2016, when the website Meghan’s Fashion debuted. Loaded with photos of Meghan’s outfits and the required links to shopping those looks, this site should be bookmarked by all Royal watching fashionistas. Can’t decide between Meghan’s outfit or Katherine’s? No problem, there’s a Kate’s Closet site, as well.

And another similar site Princess Charlotte Style for all your tiny princess buying needs.

Then there’s Meghan’s Mirror, a site similar to those above, but which also features Meghan’s best looks, her favourites, her fashion rules and even what’s on her reading list.

Want to see Meghan’s airport look? No problem!

And here’s Meghan’s yoga style

Even more exciting, Meghan has designed her very own dress line, The Meghan Markle Collection, available online at Canadian retailer Reitman on 27 April, in store 28 April. There’s no way to guess whether Ms. Markle will be able to continue selling her line beyond this season and after marrying into the Royal family, so this may be our only chance to get one of the gorgeous dresses below – all selling for under $100. Mark your calendars!

You can find photos of the full line here.

Of course, the one MM fashion item we’re all eagerly awaiting is her wedding dress. Trust Number One London to bring you all the speculation, guesses and possible winners as soon as we can.

The Royal Wedding in Milwaukee

Kilbourn Avenue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Michigan, became a little slice of Britain on Friday, April 29, 2011. Members of the Woman’s Club of Wisconsin, est. 1876, gathered at the elegant clubhouse to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Kir Royales were approriate for the many toasts to the happy couple . . .

Everyone is always eager for an excuse to wear her favorite hat — though some opted for fascinators.

The printed Menu Card was cleverly contrived to include a picture of “The Kiss” above the words “William and Kate Forever.” Thanks to the tech-savvy staff members who managed the feat!