Though it seemed like a perfect wedding, these secrets will assure you the Royals are humans too.
On July 29, 1981, the world watched as Prince Charles exchanged vows with Lady Diana Spencer at the St Paul's Cathedral in London. Nearly 11 months after the wedding, the Prince and Princess of Wales became parents to Prince William. Three years later, Prince Harry was born. Though the couple tried their best to stay married, due to a lot of irreconcilable differences, including infidelity, they called it quits in 1992. In 1996, they officially got a divorce. A year later, in 1997, Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris.
Despite a not-so-happy ending, the day of the wedding was declared a public holiday in the UK, reports BBC. Overall, the event, which was one of the most-watched programs, took place without a lot of hiccups, but there were a bunch of small incidents that didn't make it to the public at the time.
Here are seven secrets from the Royal Wedding that not many people may have known.
Princess Diana had lost a notable amount of weight since the first time she visited designer Elizabeth Emanuel so she could be measured for her wedding gown. While it wasn't that unusual for brides to lose weight before their wedding, no one really thought much of it. Only later did Diana herself reveal she was struggling with bulimia at the time of her wedding.
Thought it wasn't really visible in the wedding photos, Princess Diana had a "diamond-studded horseshoe sewn in the waistband for good luck," per Vanity Fair. The designer had also sewn in a blue bow for some added luck!
On the day of the wedding, Diana opted to wear a gown that had a 25-foot-long train. Knowing it wouldn't be so easy to deal with it, she told Prince Charles' goddaughter, India Hicks, and Diana's niece Sarah Armstrong-Jone—who were in charge of guiding the train down the aisle—to do their best.
Pre-wedding jitters are always expected, and the Princess of Wales was no exception. At the altar, with so many eyes on her, Diana messed up her future husband's name. She accidentally referred to him as "Philip Charles" rather than "Charles Philip." To be fair, his full name is Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, and anyone can get confused.
When Queen Elizabeth got married, she lost her bouquet, so since then, she's made it a rule to always have two identical bouquets just so it doesn't happen again. “Now, it’s the tradition to make two bouquets so that doesn’t happen again," said David Longman, owner of Longmans Florist, states Express.
When Diana was trying to get some of her favorite perfume —Quelques Fleurs— on her wrists shortly before the festivities, she spilled it all over her world-famous wedding gown. So, while walking down the aisle, she held on to that one spot the perfume left in her dress, making it seem like she was just lifting up her gown to walk.
Despite the history shared between the groom and Camilla, she was still a part of the crowd witnessing the wedding from within the church. Though she was present due to her then-husband Andrew Parker Bowles' role as the Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, it still would have been awkward for them all.
References:
https://people.com/royals/princess-diana-prince-charles-wedding-secrets/?slide=5855233#5855233
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Steve Wood / Stringer
