Tag Archives: Westminster Abbey

A British Royal Wedding – Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth

Posted on by

This post will continue an ongoing series of British Royal Weddings; the first post was about the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.  This  post will be about the wedding of her great- grandson Prince Albert George and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later to become King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother), they were the parents of the current Queen Elizabeth II.

Wedding of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth
Date and location: April 26, 1923 at Westminster Abbey in London, England

In July 1920, Prince Albert George (the second son of King George V and Queen Mary) reacquainted himself with Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (the youngest daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore).  They had known each other since childhood and had a memorable meeting (at least for Prince Albert) at the Royal Air Force Ball which took place at the Ritz Hotel in London.  At that time, the Prince became instantly smitten with the vivacious Lady Elizabeth.  He proposed in 1921 but she respectfully declined because she was reluctant to marry the Prince because she felt it would be too restrictive to her carefree lifestyle.  Lady Elizabeth was the daughter of an English nobleman having grown up at Glamis Castle in Scotland and was currently spending time living in London and weekends at her parent’s country home in Hertfordshire.  In February 1922 the Prince proposed again after the wedding of his sister, Princess Mary, Lady Elizabeth had been a bridesmaid. She still had no interest in becoming a member of the royal family but the Prince was very persistent in his quest.

In January 1923 Prince Albert proposed for a third time while on a theater and dinner date at the Claridge’s.  A few days later, Lady Elizabeth finally accepted and the engagement was formally announced. She selected a platinum engagement ring with a large Kashmir sapphire that featured two diamonds on either side.  After the engagement, the people of Wales gave the Royal couple a large nugget of Welsh gold from which Lady Elizabeth’s wedding ring would be made.  Special Note: The same piece of Welsh gold had been traditionally used to make the wedding rings for several other British Royal brides; including the couple’s two daughters – Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) in 1947 and Princess Margaret in 1960, also for Princess Diana who married Prince Charles (their grandson) in 1981 and most recently for Catherine Middleton who married Prince William (their great-grandson) in 2011.

Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth at the time of their engagement

Until this time British Royal weddings were considered strictly private events in which the bridal party would occasionally be seen by the public either coming or going from the ceremony or reception sites.  An exception to this rule happened in 1922 when Princess Mary and her husband, Viscount Lascelles became the first royal couple to make an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony to acknowledge the crowds that had gathered on the occasion of their wedding. So, it was unusual that the wedding of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth would be considered a public event to be held at Westminster Abbey instead one of the royal chapels, this decision was made to boost the morale of the country after World War I.  In addition, a request was made by the new British Broadcasting Company (BBC) to broadcast the wedding live on the radio which was declined by the couple and the Archbishop of Canterbury had been concerned about a sacred religious ceremony being listened to in public houses or pubs with men drinking.  The wedding was ultimately filmed and portions of the footage were shown later in theaters throughout the country which proved to be very popular with the general public.

    

Westminster Abbey – exterior and interior

On the morning of the wedding, Lady Elizabeth departed from the Bowes-Lyon family home located on Burton Street near Berkeley Square in London.  An enthusiastic crowd had gathered to get a glimpse of the bride and she emerged from the house wearing not a typical 1920s style but an unusual medieval style dress designed by Madame Handley Seymour.  The ivory chiffon moiré dress featured a square neckline with a bodice decorated with horizontal silver lame panels embroidered with silver thread and accented with pearl beads.  Lady Elizabeth wore an antique ivory veil made of Flanders lace and secured to her head with a wreath of myrtle leaves, white heather and white York roses; the veil was a gift from Queen Mary.  (For more detailed information about Lady Elizabeth’s wedding dress and other items worn on her wedding day, please click on the link to A Royal Bride – Lady Elizabeth)

Due to the inclement weather, the bride wore a fur coat trimmed with ermine to walk a few short steps to the maroon and gold State landau which would be pulled by four matched grey horses to take her to the Abbey.  As Lady Elizabeth, who was accompanied by her father the Earl of Strathmore, arrived at the site of the wedding ceremony, the sky magically cleared and the sun came out to beautifully shine its light through the Abbey’s lovely stained-glass windows.

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon leaving her family’s London home

Meanwhile, the wedding guests in attendence at Westminster Abbey included members of the Royal family; such as the groom’s sister Princess Mary and her husband Viscount Lascelles and the groom’s grandmother Queen Alexandra accompanied by her sister Marie, the Dowager Empress of Russia.  By precedence the last to arrive, aside from the bridal party, were the groom’s parents King George V and Queen Mary (he was dressed in an admiral uniform for him and she was dressed in a lovely silver and aquamarine gown).

Next, Prince Albert arrived with his brothers, Prince Edward and Prince Henry.  The groom wore his Royal Air Force Captain uniform while Prince Edward wore a Welsh Guard uniform and Prince Henry wore a Hussar uniform.  As the groom and his brothers reached the altar area, Queen Alexandra rose from her seat to embrace all three of her grandsons.

Finally, Lady Elizabeth and her father arrived at the Abbey and entered through the Great West Door.  As the bride and her eight bridesmaids assembled for the processional there was a slight delay.  In those few minutes, to honor her brother Fergus who had died in World War I, Lady Elizabeth spontaneously laid her bridal bouquet on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The wedding service started with the bridal processional as the Abbey’s boy choir sang “Lead Us, Heavenly Father”.  Upon the bride reaching the altar to join the groom, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York preceded with the wedding ceremony.  After the vows, the choir sang another musical selection, “Beloved, Let Us Love One Another”, which had originally been composed for the wedding of Princess Mary the year before.  Then, at the conclusion of the service the bridal couple moved down the long aisle of the Abbey to sounds Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March”.

Following the wedding ceremony, Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth returned to Buckingham Palace where formal wedding photographs were taken in the Throne Room.  Shown below are a series of photographs featuring Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth in the first one, the bridal couple with their parents in the second and then the couple with their  bridesmaids.

    

At Buckingham Palace, the invited guests attended a multi-course wedding breakfast at Buckingham Palace.  Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth  had fourteen wedding cakes for the wedding celebration and the main one featured a four-tier cake which reached almost 10 feet in height and weighted over 700 pounds, the cake was made by McVitie and Price with ingredients supplied by the Girls Guide of Australia.

The main wedding cake of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth

After the wedding reception, the bridal couple appeared briefly on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with the King and Queen as well as other members of the Royal family.  Afterwards, the new Duke and Duchess of York changed from their wedding clothes for traveling to their honeymoon destination.  The Duchess wore another Madame Handley Seymour designed dress and matching embroidered coat of grey crepe which she accessorized with a fur stole and a small brown hat.   The couple left London by train to spend a few days in Surrey at Polesden Lacey, the home of Mrs. Ronald Greville.  Then the couple moved on to Scotland to stay at the ancestral home of the Strathmore family, Glamis Castle.  Unfortunately while there the Duchess came down with whooping cough.  After she recuperated the couple concluded their honeymoon at Frogmore House at Windsor.

A British Royal Wedding – Prince William and Catherine Middleton

Posted on by

To continue the ongoing British Royal Wedding series, in this post I will feature the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton that took place on April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, England. I will discuss details about the wedding ceremony and reception while also including a description of the bridal dress and accessories.

Prince William was born on June 21, 1982; he is the eldest son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. At present, he is the second in line of succession to the British throne after his father. Although he was given all the privileges and advantages that were granted to him with his Royal birth, his mother made a conscious effort to give both Prince William and his brother, Prince Harry, the experiences of a normal childhood.

Prince William with his parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana

When Prince William was a teenager, several events happened in his young life that would affect him for years to come. In 1996, after many years of an unhappy marriage, his parents divorced and then in 1997 Princess Diana was tragically killed in a car accident in Paris, France. A few years later his father remarried and the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles took place in 2005.

In 2001, Prince William went on to attend the University of St. Andrews located in Scotland where he met Catherine Middleton, known as Kate to her family and friends. Kate was born on January 9, 1982 to Michael and Carole Middleton, she has two younger siblings. Although Kate was defined as a “commoner” by birth, her parents owned a successful and lucrative business positioning the family within the wealthy upper middle class. Prince William and Kate’s friendship soon turned to romance and it has been reported that the couple began dating in 2004.

After the couple graduated from St. Andrews, Prince William started his military career by attending the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. After service in the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, Prince William would train as a helicopter pilot working with the RAF Search and Rescue and he later took on a full time position with the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

Then, while on a holiday in Kenya in October 2010, Prince William proposed to Kate and their engagement was officially announced on November 16, 2010. In a very sentimental gesture, Prince William presented Kate with the large sapphire and diamond engagement ring that had once belonged to his mother, Princess Diana. (For more information regarding the engagement ring, please click on the link to British Royal Engagement and Wedding Rings – Part Two)

Prince William and Catherine Middleton at the time of their engagement

Catherine Middleton wearing the sapphire and diamond engagement ring

So, in befitting Prince William’s Royal status, a grand wedding ceremony and two receptions were planned with a date set for the following year. A list of approximately 1,900 people would be invited to attend the ceremony, about 600 people would be invited to a luncheon reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth (the groom’s grandmother) at Buckingham Palace and about 300 were invited to a more private dinner reception hosted by Prince Charles later that in the evening which would also take place at the Palace. (Special Note: Ultimately the wedding would be viewed by tens of millions of people around the world with seemingly endless television coverage which would rival Prince William’s parents wedding which took place 30 years before in 1981)

After months of preparation, on April 29, 2011 the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place in Westminster Abbey in London, England. Westminster Abbey has been the site of British Royal coronations since 1066, the most recent was the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. In regards to British Royal weddings, prior to 1918, most took place privately in places such as the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace and St. George’s Chapel at Windsor. When Royal weddings changed to large public events filled with British pomp and circumstance, Westminster Abbey was frequently used for Royal weddings, including Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 1947. Sadly, Westminster Abbey was also the location of Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997.

For the wedding of Prince William and Catherine, the inside of Westminster Abbey was decorated with large arrangements of traditional English flowers. The couple had stipulated that the flowers needed to be in season at the time of the wedding and that the flowers and the plants had to be grown in England, preferably on one of the Royal estates. Eight 20 foot high English field maple trees were arranged on either side of the main aisle and, at the special request of the couple, after the wedding the trees would be taken to Prince Charles’ Highgrove Estate in Tetbury in Gloucestershire and planted in the garden as a lasting memorial.  (For more information on the Wedding Flowers of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, please click on the link)

On the morning of the wedding day the guests, including governors and prime ministers of the Commonwealth, foreign diplomats and other invited guests were the first to arrive at the Abbey. Then, Prince William accompanied by Prince Harry (the groom’s best man) left Clarence House proceeding along the route in a Bentley State Limousine. The next to arrive were Carole Middleton accompanied by her son, James, and then members of the British Royal Family, including Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, were traditionally the last members of the Royal Family to arrive at the Abbey.

Prince William arriving at the Abbey with his brother, Prince Harry

Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall
followed by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip arriving for the wedding

The bridal party, including Pippa (the bride’s sister), four young bridesmaids and two page boys arrived just before the bride. Catherine traveled to the Abbey accompanied by her father riding in the State Rolls-Royce Phantom VI; they had left the Goring Hotel where the Middleton family had stayed in the days before the wedding.  (Special Note: If the bride had been a Royal instead of a commoner she would have traveled to the Abbey in one of the Royal carriages)

Catherine arriving at the Abbey with her father, Michael Middleton

With the arrival of the bride, the choir was cued to begin the processional song, “I Was Glad”, which was originally written by Sir Hubert Parry for the coronation of King Edward VI in 1902. It would take the bride and her father over three minutes to proceed through the Abbey’s Nave through the Quire and to the Sanctuary to meet Prince William.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has traditionally been the senior officiate presiding over the wedding of English monarchs (and in this case a future monarch) and he was assisted by the Dean of Westminster. The wedding vows were followed by the ring exchange in which Catherine would receive a wedding ring that has been traditionally made from Welsh gold since 1923 for Royal brides; Prince William had chosen not to wear a wedding ring. (For more information about the Welsh gold used to make Royal wedding rings, please click on the link to Royal Engagement and Wedding Rings – Part One)

After a reading from the Epistle to the Romans by James Middleton (the bride’s brother), a sermon was given by the Bishop of London. Then, during a musical interlude, Prince William and Catherine moved into an area adjacent to the Sanctuary to sign the wedding register accompanied by Prince Harry and Pippa to sign the wedding registry in private. Upon returning, the couple paused to bow and curtsy to Queen Elizabeth. Then, with a great fanfare the recessional music started, “Crown Imperial” by William Walton written for the coronation of King George VI and this orchestral march had also been performed at the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana. Prince William and Catherine, now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, began the long walk through the Abbey and were followed by the bridal party and the parents of the groom and bride.

Upon exiting the Abbey, Prince William and Catherine were greeted with cheers from the crowds waiting outside on the streets of London. The couple then traveled in the 1902 State Landau from the Abbey along the Mall passing Horse Guards Arch and Whitehall before ending their procession at Buckingham Palace. After arriving, Prince William and Catherine made the traditional Royal appearance on the balcony and the cheering crowds were rewarded with not one but two kisses!

As previously mentioned, the Queen hosted a luncheon reception at Buckingham Palace.  The wedding cake served was created by Fiona Cairns and it was a beautiful multi-tiered traditional fruit cake covered with white fondant with beautiful piping and scrollwork that incorporated many historical and symbolic decorations. There were the traditional gum paste flowers including the rose for England, the thistle for Scotland, daffodils for Wales and shamrocks for Ireland. As a special touch the Sweet William flowers, symbolizing gallantry, were also used to honor the groom. (For more detailed information about the Wedding Cake of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, please click on the link.  Also for information about other British Royal Wedding Cakes throughout the years, please click on the link)

Later, that evening the Prince of Wales hosted a private elegant dinner reception at Buckingham Palace. After dinner Ellie Goulding performed her rendition of “Your Song” for the couple’s first dance. The evening’s wedding reception continued with more dancing and ended with a spectacular fireworks display.

With Prince William’s work commitment as a search and rescue pilot, the couple celebrated a delayed honeymoon on a private island in the Seychelles. Upon their return to England, the couple would soon leave on their first official tour to Canada and the United States.

For more information about Catherine – An British Royal Bride, Wedding Flowers of Prince William and Catherine Middleton or the Wedding Cake of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, please click on the links.