Who could forget the sight of Princess Diana walking down the aisle in 1981, or Kate Middleton in her beautiful lace gown? This weekend we have the pleasure of watching Prince Harry marry the princess of his dreams. With no cost being spared for the royal ceremonies, you would think everything would go off without a glitch… but you’d be wrong.
There have been royal wedding disasters over the years, even though most would be none the wiser.
Here are seven of our favourites:
1. Prince William barely had any sleep the night before his wedding because of the noise from his supportive and noisy well-wishers. The Prince said they were singing and cheering all night long, so the excitement of that, plus his nervousness kept him up the entire night.
2. When Princess Diana gracefully made her way down the aisle in her iconic wedding dress, most didn’t know that it was stained. Diana had spilled her favourite perfume, Quelques Fleurs, on the gown and nothing could be done to remove it. As she walked, she clutched at the gown, making it seem as though she was holding it, all the while she was covering the stain.
3. Prim and proper Queen Elizabeth II also had to deal with wedding days woes when her tiara broke. The Fringe Tiara, given to Queen Elizabeth on her wedding day, broke when the hairdresser mishandled it. Police escorted the broken heirloom to a royal jeweler where it was promptly fixed and sent back to the queen to wear down the aisle.
4. Driving past crowds after their wedding ceremony, Prince William and Kate Middleton had car trouble, but thanks to the loud cheers and applause no one could hear the roar of the vintage sports car they were in. Turns out Prince William had forgotten to release the handbrake which caused the awful sound, but no one was the wiser.
5. Marie Antoinette’s wedding dress looked like a work of art on the day of her vows. In actual fact it was a monstrous mishap. The gown was made with the wrong measurements so it was too small to fit her and there was no time to fix it. They huffed and puffed and tried to close the gown, but it wouldn’t budge. Eventually, they used fabric to cover the gap – and she still used the dress.
6. Maybe their marriage was doomed from the start. On the day Prince Charles and Princess Diana exchanged vows, he vowed to share “all my goods” instead of “all my worldly goods”. And in return she messed up his name by referring to him as “Philip Charles Arthur George” instead of “Charles Philip”.
7. Seventeen-year-old Augusta of Saxe-Gotha was clearly not ready to be a bride at her age. But, back in 1736 most royals didn’t have much of a choice. On her wedding day to Frederick Prince of Wales she was so nervous about her nuptials she vomited on her new mother-in-law. And nothing could be worse than that!