(England Twitter)-Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Stillwood Frances Spencer took place on Wednesday, 29 July 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral, London, United Kingdom. Their marriage was widely billed as a "fairytale wedding" and the "wedding of the century". It was watched by a global television audience of 750 million. The United Kingdom had a national holiday on that day to mark the wedding. The couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
Engagement
Prince Charles, who had known Diana for several years, took a serious interest in her as a potential bride during the summer of 1980, when they were guests at a country weekend, where she watched him play polo. The relationship developed as he invited her for a sailing weekend to Cowes aboard the royal yacht Britannia, followed by an invitation to Balmoral Castle, the Windsor family's Scottish home, to meet his family. Diana was well received at Balmoral by Queen Elizabeth II, by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the Queen Mother. The couple then had several dates in London. Diana and Charles had been seeing each other for about six months when he proposed on 3 February 1981 at a dinner for two at Buckingham Palace. He knew she planned a holiday for the next week, and hoped she would use the time to consider her answer. Diana accepted, but their engagement was kept secret for the next few weeks.
Their engagement became official on 24 February 1981, after Diana selected a large £30,000 ring consisting of 14 diamonds surrounding a blue sapphire which was previously gifted to Queen Elizabeth II by the president of Sri Lanka, J. R. Jayewardene. Diana's first son, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge gave Diana's ring to Kate Middleton as an engagement ring. Many copies of the ring have been made in both well-established jewellery shops and high-street fashion chains.
Wedding
There were 3,500 people in the congregation at St Paul's Cathedral. It was held at St Paul's rather than Westminster Abbey because St Paul's offered more seating and permits a longer procession through the streets of London. The service was a traditional Church of England wedding service, presided over by the Most Reverend Robert Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Very Reverend Alan Webster, the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. Another 750 million people watched the ceremony worldwide, making it the most popular programme ever broadcast, and this figure rose to a billion when the radio audience is added in.Two million spectators lined the route of Diana's procession from Clarence House, with 4,000 police and 2,200 military officers to manage the crowds.
Regiments from the Commonwealth realms participated in the procession, including the Royal Regiment of Canada.
Lady Diana arrived at the cathedral in the Glass Coach with her father, John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, escorted by five mounted military police officers. She arrived almost on time for the 11:20 BST ceremony. The carriage was too small to comfortably hold the two of them in her 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.
Clothing
Diana's wedding dress, valued at £9000 (£25,713 as of 2011), was a puff ball meringue wedding dress, with huge puffed sleeves and a frilly neckline. The dress was made of 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.
Attendants
They had seven bridal attendants: Lord Nicholas Windsor (aged 11) (son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent) and Edward van Cutsem (aged 8) (both godsons of the Prince of Wales) were pageboys; the bridesmaids were Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (age 17), the Earl of Snowdon and Princess Margaret's daughter; India Hicks (aged 13) granddaughter of the Earl Mountbatten of Burma and daughter of David and Lady Pamela Hicks; Catherine Cameron (aged 6), daughter of Donald and Lady Cecil Cameron, granddaughter of the Marquess of Lothian; Sarah-Jane Gaselee (aged 11), daughter of Nick Gaselee and his wife; and Clementine Hambro (aged 5), daughter of Rupert Hambro and the Hon Mrs Hambro (now The Countess Peel), granddaughter of Lord and Lady Soames and great-granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill. HRH The Prince Andrew (aged 21) and HRH The Prince Edward (aged 17) were the Prince of Wales' supporters (the equivalent of "best man" for a royal wedding).
Royal guests
TH The Aga Khan IV and Begum Salimah (Aga Khan IV and Princess Salimah Aga Khan)
TGDH Prince Ludwig and Princess Marianne of Baden (Ludwig, husband of Marianne, is the son of Berthold, Margrave of Baden)
TM The King and Queen of the Belgians (Baudouin of Belgium and Fabiola of Belgium)
TM The King & Queen of the Bulgarians (in exile - Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela)
HM The Queen & HRH Prince Henrik of Denmark (Margrethe II of Denmark and Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark)
HH Prince Georg of Denmark (Prince George Valdemar of Denmark)
HM The King of the Hellenes (in exile - Constantine II of Greece
HRH The Crown Prince of Greece (Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece)
HRH Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark (Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark)
HRH Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark (Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark)
TRH Prince Georg Wilhelm and Princess Sofia of Hanover (Prince George William of Hanover and Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark)
HRH Prince Georg of Hanover (Prince Georg of Hanover)
TH Prince Karl and Princess Yvonne of Hesse
HH Princess Christina of Hesse and Mr. Robert van Eyck
HH Princess Dorothea of Hesse and HSH Prince Friedrich Karl zu Windisch-Grätz
HSH Princess Marina zu Windisch-Grätz
HRH The Princess of Hesse and by Rhine
TSH Prince Kraft and Princess Charlotte zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Kraft, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg)
TSH Prince Andreas and Princess Luise zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg
TSH Prince Albrecht and Princess Maria-Hildegard zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg
HSH Princess Beatrix zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg
TIH The Crown Prince & Crown Princess of Japan (Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko)
TRH The Crown Prince & Crown Princess of Jordan (Prince Hassan of Jordan and Princess Sarvath El Hassan)
HM The Queen Mother of Lesotho (mother of Moshoshoe II)
TSH The Prince & Princess of Liechtenstein (Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein and Countess Georgina von Wilczek)
TRH The Grand Duke & Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium)
HSH The Princess of Monaco (Grace Kelly)
HSH The Hereditary Prince of Monaco (Albert II, Prince of Monaco)
TRH Prince Gyanendra & Princess Komal of Nepal (Gyanendra of Nepal and Queen Komal of Nepal)
HM The Queen & HRH Prince Claus of the Netherlands (Beatrix of the Netherlands and Prince Claus of the Netherlands)
HM The King of Norway (Olav V of Norway)
TRH The Crown Prince & Crown Princess of Norway (Harald V of Norway and Queen Sonja of Norway)
TM The King & Queen of Romania (in exile - Michael of Romania and Queen Anne of Romania)
TM The King & Queen of Sweden (Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Queen Silvia of Sweden)
Princess Margaretha & Mr. John Ambler (Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler)
HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand (Sirindhorn)
TM The King & Queen of Tonga (Taufa'ahau Tupou IV)
HH The Malietoa of Western Samoa (Malietoa Tanumafili II)
HRH The Crown Prince of Yugoslavia (in exile - Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia)
TRH Prince Tomislav and Princess Margarita of Yugoslavia (Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia and Princess Margarita of Baden)
HRH Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia (Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia)
HRH Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia (daughter of Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia)
HRH Prince Hristifor of Yugoslavia (son of Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia}
HRH Princess Marija Tatjana of Yugoslavia (daughter of Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia)
HRH Princess Olga of Yugoslavia (Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark - widow of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia)
TRH Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and his second wife Princess Barbara of Liechtenstein
HRH Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia
