A History of Royal Weddings: Victorian – Today

Royal Weddings The Victorian Era to Today Ah, weddings! A day of romance and love. A day to promise your eternal devotion to your partner before your nearest and dearest. And probably the most elaborate and expensive party you'll ever throw. But if you happen to be royal, this celebration for family and friends is magnified to a national and even global scale. Throughout history and across the world, royal weddings have been an amplification of the marriage traditions of their time and culture. But the fame of the bride and groom often meant that they set the wedding trends of the day, including photography, flowers, fashion, and even the color most western brides wear to this day. Let's explore the evolution of the royal wedding in Europe from the simple church blessing of the Middle Ages, where bride and groom might be laying eyes on each other for the first time, to the love matches of today rung in with celebrity-packed cathedrals, designer gowns, decadent feasts, and parties watched by the eyes of the world. Love Begins to Blossom And What They Wore Prior to the 19th century, royal couples were matched up by their parents or governments according to which other royal families they wanted to make a political alliance with. Newlyweds might be of considerably different ages, might have absolutely nothing in common, and whether or not they grew to love, like, or even tolerate each other was of little concern. The wedding of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was a real turning point in royal marriages. Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom at the age of 18, and while many politicians and relatives suggested politically advantageous matches for the new sovereign, she was in the unique position to make the final decision for herself. And the husband she wanted was Albert, her cousin whom she had met and hit it off with years earlier. Theirs would be one of the first genuine love matches in royal history. Victoria had to be the one to pop the question, as it would have been improper for a man to ask a monarch's hand in marriage. The couple were married on February 10, 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St. James Palace, London. Victoria's legendary gown exemplified the popular silhouette of the time, a tight corset off the shoulder sleeves and a wide skirt featuring an 18-foot train. The cream-colored satin dress was embellished with lace, specially chosen to promote the English lace industry. The color was chosen simply because it was the best option to show off the delicate lace, and to make the bride stand out, as she requested that no other ladies, except her bridesmaids, wear white. Little did she know that she would spark the now de rigueur fashion of Western brides to wear white. Before this point, brides would wear their best dress, whatever the color, and blue and black were particularly popular. But in the years since, the white wedding dress has come to symbolize purity, and even today, wearing anything but a white dress is considered a bit scandalous. The young queen was a real trendsetter. She also reintroduced and popularized the ancient tradition of wedding veils. This custom dates back to Greek and Roman times, to hide the bride from evil spirits that might want to thwart her happiness. The flower crown had also gone in and out of fashion over the centuries, but Victoria brought it back in a big way with her wreath of orange blossoms, which symbolized chastity, purity, and fertility in the very popular Victorian language of flowers. Orange blossoms, too, became a popular wedding ornament thanks to Victoria. Albert, as most royal grooms before and since, wore a military dress uniform, specifically the scarlet and white uniform of a British field marshal. He had never done any actual military service, but this was seen as a way for the German prince to ingratiate himself to his new country. He didn't spark any great fashion trends, but you have to admit, he did look rather dashing. Victoria was a private person and wanted a simple and restrained wedding, but her prime minister and mentor, Lord Melbourne, convinced her that her wedding was a great PR opportunity, so she begrudgingly acquiesced to riding to the ceremony in a gold carriage and waving to the crowds. This, too, has now become a major part of royal weddings, giving the public a chance to see and celebrate with the new couple. In order for the public to see their queen, the time of the wedding had to be changed from the traditional evening ceremony to a morning one. This meant that instead of an elaborate wedding dinner, Victoria had a wedding breakfast, and this has now become standard for the royal family. The queen described the wedding reception at Buckingham Palace as a frenzy of nodding, curtsying, beaming, and handshaking. The couple were presented with a nine-foot-wide, 300-pound cake decorated with orange blossoms and figures of the bride and groom in ancient Greek costume. Amazingly, a surviving slice of this 176-year-old cake was auctioned off in 2016 at Christie's for approximately $2,100. Cheaper mass manufacturing also meant that Victoria and Albert were the first royal couple to have their likeness plastered on commemorative plates, mugs, and other wedding memorabilia collected by the public. After the reception, the newlyweds rode to Windsor Castle, where they were cheered by crowds throughout their three-hour carriage ride. Victoria insisted that she couldn't neglect her royal duties for the traditional two-week honeymoon, so instead the couple enjoyed two days together at Windsor and shared a rather legendary wedding night, which Victoria described in her diary as the happiest day of my life, adding that they didn't sleep much. Victoria and Albert were very much in love and devoted to one another for the rest of their lives together. When it was time for their nine children to be married, they wanted to give them the chance at happiness that they had enjoyed. They encouraged their children towards partners who might fit well with their personalities, but they did require them to choose from a rather small pool of appropriately important foreign royals. Their eldest daughter, also named Victoria, married the future Kaiser Frederick III of Germany, and they were also a very contented couple. The younger Victoria continued much of the now well-ingrained wedding traditions her mother had established, though she did start two new ones of her own. She was the first royal bride to wave to the public from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, a now iconic moment in British royal weddings. Though the proper Victorian couple would not have dared to share a kiss in public, that tradition was added much later. Victoria also included a sprig of myrtle, representing love, fertility, and innocence to her wedding bouquet. The sprig was cut from a tree planted by her parents at their holiday home Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. British royal brides continue the tradition to this day by including a myrtle sprig from the same tree. When Victoria's younger brother, the future King Edward VII, married Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863, the couple were the first to pose for a photographer after the wedding. His parents, Victoria and Albert, had wedding photos taken, but they were staged years after their wedding, when the art and science of photography was better established. Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Alex of Hesse, lucked out with a legendary love match. She and the future Tsar Nikolai II of Russia fell for each other when they were in their late teens. His parents objected, as her minor German royal family was not seen as important enough. But Nikolai was adamant that Alex was the woman for him, and said that he would rather become a The parents finally agreed, and Alex came to Russia for the wedding. But Nikolai's father died shortly after her arrival, and the wedding followed the funeral by only one week. Alex wrote to her sister, Our wedding seemed to me a mere continuation of the funeral liturgy for the dead Tsar. With one difference, I wore a white dress instead of a black one. In addition to the white gown, Alex wore an imperial mantle of gold trimmed in white ermine. She donned her mother Princess Alice's wedding veil, the traditional Romanov nuptial crown, and a 475-carat diamond necklace and matching earrings that had belonged to Catherine the Great. Across her body, she wore the star and sash of the Order of Saint Andrei. When the couple were pronounced married, church bells across St. Petersburg rang and guns were fired in celebration. Because the court was still in mourning, no reception or honeymoon was held. Many Russians saw the arrival of their new Tsarina so soon after the death of the Tsar as a bad omen. She has come to us behind a coffin. She brings misfortune with her. Despite the bad portents of their wedding, Nikolai and Alexandra had a blissful and contented marriage. They were exceptionally close and enjoyed each other's company immensely. But they were the exception. Many royal couples were not as happy in their partnerships. Couples had some choice in who they wed, and a love match was all well and good if it worked out. But marrying a suitably important fellow royal from an allied nation was paramount. But all that changed after World War I. In the aftermath of the conflict, many monarchies in Europe were abolished by the people they had ruled over for centuries, including the German and Russian empires. If you want to learn more, check out my videos on the 10 remaining hereditary monarchies of Europe. With so few royals left, the remaining European royal families had to look to the lower ranks of the gentry or even commoners for marriage partners. The future King George VI of the UK fell in love with Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the daughter of a Scottish Earl. She became the first British woman to be married to a monarch in over 380 years, since Henry VIII married Catherine Parr in 1543. The couple were wed in Westminster Abbey on April 26, 1923. Elizabeth was quite a stylish woman and set many new trends. Her gown featured a dropped-waist silhouette so popular in the early 1920s, and was made of a deep ivory chiffon moire embroidered with pearls and silver thread. The dress featured two trains, one fastened at the hips and the other floating from the shoulders, as well as a strip of Brussels lace, a family heirloom which one of her female ancestors had worn to a grand ball for Bonnie Prince Charlie in the 1780s. Tiaras were beginning to come into fashion for royal weddings, but the garland of flowers was the major trend. Elizabeth combined these two looks with a diamond tiara in the shape of orange blossoms and the york rose symbolising her groom's duchy. Her wedding ring was crafted from a 22-carat nugget of Welsh gold from the Cloga St David's mine. The same nugget was later used to fashion the wedding rings of her daughters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, and then Princess Anne and Diana, Princess of Wales. After that, there was only a sliver of gold left, but in 1981, the Royal British Legion presented the Queen with a new nugget of Welsh gold which is held by the crown jewelers to be used for the royal wedding rings of the future. During her walk down the aisle, Elizabeth unexpectedly stopped to lay her wedding bouquet on the tomb of the unknown warrior, in honour of her brother Fergus who had been killed in action in World War I. This touching gesture became a tradition for royal brides ever since. The Prince's marriage to a British girl was a joy to the people still reeling from the horrors of the war. Though the newly founded BBC was denied permission to broadcast the ceremony on the radio, as it might be listened to by men in pubs wearing hats, George and Elizabeth were a happy couple. Her natural exuberance was a great asset to the In the more enlightened 20th century, royals throughout Europe were choosing partners based on love rather than dynastic politics, and they were often much happier for it. George and Elizabeth's daughter, the current Queen Elizabeth, married a dashing officer, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, in 1947. Though Philip was royal, his family had been overthrown years earlier, and many felt that he was not a suitably important groom for the future Queen. But they were very much in love, and Elizabeth insisted that he was the man for her. Elizabeth made some updates to the wedding and her dress to fit the fashion of the late 40s. Her gown was famously paid for using World War II ration coupons. But she also continued many of the now well-established royal wedding traditions. The future King Harvald of Norway fell in love with the Norwegian commoner, Sonja Haraldsson. The couple dated secretly for nine years, but Harvald's father wanted him to marry a foreign princess. The prince finally gave his father the ultimatum that if he could not marry Sonja, he would never marry and bring an end to the Norwegian royal family. The couple were wed in 1968. Similarly, King Karl XVI Gustaf of Sweden met German and Brazilian commoner Sylvia Sumerlof while attending the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. The couple fell in love and married in 1976. The night before the wedding, they attended a royal variety show at which Abba first performed their hit song, Dancing Queen, in Sylvia's honor. Royal Weddings as Public Relations In 1956, Prince Rene III of Monaco married Hollywood star Grace Kelly. Grace wore a now iconic lace-covered gown created by Hollywood costume designer Helen Rose. Her silhouette exemplified Dior's New Look, a tight waist and full skirt that swept the fashion of the 1950s. Their wedding was one of the biggest events of the decade and was watched by over 30 million people. The elaborate star-studded ceremony was produced by MGM as a documentary, which fulfilled Grace's contract to the studio. The glamorous wedding drew tourists back to the Principality of Monaco and revived its lagging economy. Ever since, royal families throughout the world see the happy event of a wedding as an opportunity to endear themselves to their people and boost their popularity. Royal weddings have become even bigger and more elaborate, taking advantage of every opportunity for the public to get involved and celebrate along with the happy couple. July 29, 1981 brought the biggest wedding of the century. Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, married Lady Diana Spencer in a spectacular ceremony that was watched on TV by 750 million people around the world. The United Kingdom had a national holiday, and events and street parties were held throughout the UK and Commonwealth to mark the occasion. Diana was already a trendsetter before she walked down the aisle at St. Paul's Cathedral in her massive Cinderella dress with huge 1980s sleeves and a 25-foot train. The ivory silk taffeta gown was decorated with lace, hand embroidery, sequins, and 10,000 pearls, and it cemented her status as the fashion icon of the decade. The ceremony and coach ride through London stuck to tradition, though the couple did add one new custom to the royal wedding canon. They were the first couple to share a kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace as they waved to the cheering crowds. At their wedding breakfast, the couple and their 120 guests enjoyed brill in lobster sauce, chicken stuffed with fine lamb mousse known as Princess of Wales chicken, and Diana's favorite dessert, strawberries in clotted cream. They also had 27 cakes. The centerpiece was a 5-foot tall, 225-pound fruitcake decorated with the Prince of Wales coat of arms and the Spencer family crest. After the big day, Charles and Diana set off on the Royal Yacht Britannia for a cruise of the Mediterranean. Three decades later, Charles and Diana's sons walked down the aisle, and their weddings were celebrated by crowds of millions and drew viewership in the billions. Prince William married British university friend Catherine Middleton, and Prince Harry married American actress Meghan Markle. Every detail of both joyous events were hotly followed by the media and did a great deal to boost the popularity of the British royal family. The weddings of other royals throughout Europe and the world also draw massive public attention and crowds of well-wishers. In 2010, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden married her personal trainer Daniel Westling. Five years later, her brother, Prince Carl Philip, married model and reality TV star Sofia Helgqvist. In 2011, Prince Albert II of Monaco, the son of Rainier III and Grace Kelly, married South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Whitstock. There are many now well-established royal wedding traditions that the cathedral ceremony, the carriage ride, and of course, the public kiss. But there is also room for the couple to include their own tastes and personal touches, and the public seems to hang on to every detail. As long as there are royals, it seems the world will continue to be enthralled with the happy events of their weddings. If you enjoyed this video, please like, subscribe, comment your thoughts, and check out my other royal history videos. 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