For centuries, royal weddings have changed world history: territories were joined, empires were expanded, and wars were ended. Royal marriages were serious diplomatic deals and had very little to do with romance. Nowadays, members of royal families are free in choosing a life partner.
Modern royal weddings are still popular events in the country (sometimes even in the world) and arouse the curiosity not only among the citizens but also among fashion lovers. Bride's wedding dresses are the reason. Let's remember the best wedding dresses worn by European royal brides, in chronological order.
25.08.2001. Crown Princess of Norway Mette-Marit, a former waitress and single mother, went down the aisle accompanied by her future husband, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway. Her son Marius was a page during the ceremony. The bride wore a classic, laconic silk white dress with a two-meter train, created by the Norwegian designer Ove Harder Finseth. Her head was crowned with an Edwardian-style bandeau tiara given to her by King Harald and Queen Sonya and a six-meter veil.
02.02.2002. The wedding dress for Maxima, the current Queen of the Netherlands, was designed by Valentino Garavani. An ivory mikado silk dress with an open collar and a five-meter silk lace train adorned with a diamond tiara from the family collection of the Dutch royal family.
14.05.2004. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark met her future husband, Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. During the wedding, the bride wore an ivory gown with a flared skirt with unusual draperies, created by Danish designer Uffe Frank. The train length was 6 meters. The bride wore an Irish lace veil, worn by all Danish royal brides since 1905, and a diamond tiara.
22.05.2004. The current Queen of Spain Letizia, a former television journalist, on her wedding day wore an original dress by Spanish designer Manuel Pertegaz with a collar and a train of 4.5 meters. The collar, cuffs, and hem of the train were decorated with hand-made gold and silver embroidery of lilies and ears of wheat.
On her head was the diamond Spanish royal family tiara worn by her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia, on her wedding day in 1962.
25.05.2008. Marie, Princess of Denmark, wore a traditional white dress of French lace and tulle with a three-meter train. The dress was created by Spanish designers - David Arasa and Claudio Morelli for Arasa Morelli fashion house. The bride's head was adorned with a veil, and a diamond floral tiara belonged to Princess Dagmar of Denmark.
19.06.2010. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden was married on the 34th wedding anniversary of her parents, King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen of Sweden Silvia. The groom Daniel Westling was her trainer. After the wedding, he became the Prince of Sweden and the Duke of Västergötland. The bride wore a satin dress with a six-meter train, created by Swedish designer Pär Engsheden.
On her head was a lace veil, which her mother also wore on her wedding day, and the famous Chaumet tiara with cameos and sea pearls. The tiara was made in 1809 for Empress Josephine.
29.04.2011. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, had two wedding dresses. For the religious ceremony, the bride wore a white A-line V-neck dress designed by Sara Burton for Alexander McQueen. The lace on the bodice involved cutting out rose detailing (symbolizing England), thistles (Scotland), daffodils (Wales), and shamrocks (Ireland). Catherine wore the Cartier Halo tiara, which was lent by the Queen.
The second dress for Catherine was also created by Sara Burton: an ivory A-line satin dress with diamond detailing around the waistline. She paired this dress with a cream furry cropped cardigan.
01.07.2011. Princess Charlene of Monaco, a former South African swimmer, wore a sky blue pantsuit by Karl Lagerfeld for the civil wedding ceremony.
For the religious ceremony, Charlene chose a straight-cut dress designed by Giorgio Armani. The dress had two trains: a five-meter silk tulle and a 20-meter satin.
The entire dress was embroidered with Swarovski crystals and pearls in the form of a floral ornament, which was repeated on the bride's hairpin.
For the evening celebration, Charlene chose an Armani Privé dress. Her look was completed with the diamond tiara Egret.
08.06.2013. Princess Madeleine of Sweden on her wedding day appeared in front of the guests in a snow-white organza dress with a cut-out at the back. The dress was designed by Valentino. Madeleine wore a diamond tiara decorated with orange blossoms, to which was attached a six-meter lace veil.
21.09.2013. Claire, Princess of Luxembourg, on her wedding day wore a luxurious silk dress with lace patterns, pearls, beads, crystals and a three-meter train by Elie Saab. Her look was completed by a three-meter lace veil, embroidered with floral motifs, and an elegant diamond tiara Grape Leaves, that was made in the 19th century and adorning at different times the heads of four more royal brides.
13.06.2015. For Sofia, Duchess of Värmland, a former model and reality TV star, Swedish designer Ida Sjöstedt created a wedding dress with a V-neck, corset, long sleeves of lace, and a two-meter train. The dress was covered with handmade lace organza by José María Ruiz. The bride's look was completed by a tiara made of diamonds and emeralds, a gift from the groom's parents.
25.07.2015.-01.08.2015. The wedding of Beatrice Borromeo with the grandson of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace of Monaco was celebrated for two whole weekends. The bride had 4 dresses.
For the religious ceremony, she chose an ivory lace silk dress by Armani Privé.
The second a Greek-style dress with V-neckline and a long train was also by Armani Privé.
Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino fashion house created the third tea rose colour dress with golden lace. The bride's head was decorated with a wreath with fresh flowers.
At the pre-wedding party, the bride wore a white long 1970s style dress by Alberta Ferretti.
19.05.2018. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, had two wedding dresses. During the religious ceremony, Meghan wore a laconic white silk dress with open bateau neckline and slim three-quarter sleeves. The dress was designed by Claire Waight Keller, who was the creative director of Givenchy at that time.
The dress was decorated with a five-meter veil with hand-embroidered flowers from fifty-three countries of the Commonwealth. And Megan chose two additional flowers for herself: the wintersweet, which grows in the garden near Kensington Palace (where she and Harry lived before the wedding), and the California poppy, the State flower of California, where the bride was born. It took 500 hours of handcrafting to create this incredible veil.
The bride's look was completed by a tiara-bando, which Garrard created in 1932 for Queen Mary of Teck, the grandmother of Elizabeth II.
I saw the dress and the jewels in July 2019 at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, at the exhibition A Royal Wedding:The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
12.10.2018. Princess Eugenia chose a dress with a flared skirt and long sleeves made of thick jacquard, created by Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos. The dress had a V-neck at the back - the princess didn't want to hide the scars from the scoliosis surgery she had when she was 12 years old. The princess wore a Boucheron kokoshnik tiara with emeralds and pink diamonds, created in 1919.
At the evening gala, she wore a fitted silk peach-pink dress by Zac Posen, also with a cutout at the back.
01.06.2019. Charlotte, the granddaughter of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Princess Grace of Monaco, was also not limited to one wedding dress.
For the official ceremony, the bride chose a steel-colored mini-dress with bows by Saint Laurent. For the evening celebration, Charlotte chose a white satin elegant off-the-shoulder dress by Chanel. The look was completed by wave styling and a diamond necklace that belonged to Princess Grace.
A month later, the couple had another ceremony. This time the bride wore a bohemian lace dress by Giambattista Valli.
17.07.2020.
This year Princess Beatrice's wedding, which was scheduled for the 29th of May has been postponed due to COVID-19, and on the 17th of July, the information that the wedding had already taken place in a narrow family circle appeared.
The bride was wearing an ivory vintage dress designed by Norman Hartnell. He was the official designer of the British royal court and created many dresses for Queen Elizabeth II, including wedding and coronation dresses.
Princess Beatrice's head was adorned with a diamond fringe tiara that belonged to Queen Mary of Teck. This tiara was also worn by Queen Elizabeth II in 1947 and Princess Anne in 1973 during their weddings.
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