Two dresses and two bouquets: unexpected facts about Diana’s wedding to Prince Charles

Diana had a hard time choosing shoes for her wedding dress. The fact is that Prince Charles was only a few centimeters taller than her and it was necessary to maintain appearances and not make the bride taller. This was done by the eminent designer Clive Shilton.

The specialist and Diana battled over the design of the shoes for several months. And the result was definitely worth it! The shoes were decorated with 500 sequins and a hundred small pearls.

An interesting story happened with the bouquet. At the current Queen’s wedding in 1947, the bride’s bouquet was lost in the middle of the ceremony. At an ordinary wedding, anyone would have given up, but Elizabeth’s guests made a special gathering on a different day for a photo shoot! Since then, two bouquets are prepared at the same time at all royal weddings.

Diana had a beautiful bouquet of lilies, orchids and gardenias. More precisely, two bouquets, but the second one did not suit me.

Let’s start by saying that two dresses were prepared for the wedding instead of one. No, Diana was not going to change her clothes in the middle of the ceremony or use other clothes in any other way. Designers Elizabeth and David Emanuel were very worried that something would happen to the main dress and prepared a replacement. It wasn’t nearly as chic – what’s more, the princess didn’t even see it and didn’t try it!

The second dress was also needed so that no one would get photos of the real one – and that was a surprise to everyone. It is known that the replacement outfit was not completed – the authors simply did not have enough time. But since the dress didn’t fit in the end, that’s okay.

Following a well-known wedding tradition in Europe, Diana on her big day wore something old (Queen Mary’s lace on her veil), something new (silk on her dress), something borrowed (the Spencer family tiara from the 18th century) and something blue (a small blue bow sewn to clothes).

Diana tried on the dress about 15 times before the wedding. In that time, her waist has shrunk by almost 14 centimeters! The designers were forced to call her Debra so that no one would guess who she was talking about.

The hemline of the princess dress looked breathtaking – and it still takes your breath away to look at! Before this wedding, the maximum length of the train was less than seven meters. The train of Diana’s dress is over 8 meters long! The designers were very afraid of not being able to finish the decorations, because thousands of pearls had to be sewn onto the fabric, but of course they managed it.

Where did the dress go after the wedding? Diana’s brother Charles Spencer is known to have held it for a number of years. Twice a year he showed it to the family property.

But Diana had a different destiny for the dress. She asked to pass it on to her sons William and Harry when the youngest turned 30. After September 15, 2014, the dress became part of their personal collection and was never shown again.