WEDDING FLOWERS: Queen's Wedding Anniversary
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Showing posts with label Queen's Wedding Anniversary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Queen's Wedding Anniversary. Show all posts

Queen's 70th Wedding Anniversary: the wedding breakfast


Let's talk cake. The 70th wedding anniversary of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh is being celebrated with a private dinner for family and friends at Windsor Castle tonight but while they feast, we'll just get happy with a look back at what the rather substantial guest list tucked into at the royal wedding breakfast all those decades ago. We've got fish, game, fruit and a cake that is beyond legend. Hope you're hungry, here comes the royal wedding food list...


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The House of Windsor does like to add a personal touch to the wedding breakfast menu. The Queen's parents had enjoyed Prince Albert lamb and Duchess Elizabeth strawberries after their nuptials and their first born followed in their footsteps. Her wedding breakfast, served in the Ballroom at Buckingham Palace, was a three course menu named after her and her new hubby. Appropriately for seafaring man, the starter was a fish dish named after the groom. Quite what Filet de Sole Mountbatten actually is remains lost to the mists of time but there's only so much you can do with a sole fillet and being as rationing was still in place, the guests no doubt hoovered the delicacy up without worrying too much about whether the recipe suited the namesake.



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The main course was partridge (plentiful on royal estates) cooked in a casserole which was no doubt more sophisticated than it sounds but perfect for warming everyone up on a cold November day. The dessert was Bombe Glacee Princesse Elizabeth, a strawberry pud, just to keep the family tradition really going. After all that, the newlyweds needed some fresh air and hopped out on to the balcony for a spot of waving (no kissing, this is the 1940s, thank you).




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After that brief respite, there was also the mighty wedding cake to contend with. Made by McVitie and Price, it was nine feet tall and consisted of four tiers. Four very big tiers. Ingredients were sent from around the world  - after all, rationing was still in place - and the finished product was nicknamed the 10,000 mile cake. It was covered in intricate royal icing and featured the couple's respective coats of arms as well as representations of their interests. King George VI had given his new son-in-law a sword as a wedding present and Philip wasted no time putting it to good use - the couple sliced into the cake with it.



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So there you go. Fish, partridge, strawberries and cake. In post war Britain it was a treat of a meal and then some. Seventy years on, it still sounds delicious. And a glass of champagne to toast the anniversary wouldn't hurt either. Here's to more happy years to come.

Queen's 70th Wedding Anniversary: the bridal party


The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary today. They are marking the event privately, with a dinner at Windsor Castle, and one of the reasons for the lack of public celebration hinted at is that the couple feel it would remind them too much of all those they have lost. The passing of time and the fading of friends is perhaps best seen in the official photo with their wedding party. For of the eight bridesmaids who attended the Queen, just two are still alive while only one of her two cheeky pageboys is still here to celebrate with the couple he attended seventy years ago. The Duke of Edinburgh's best man, David, Marquess of Milford Haven, has also sadly passed away. The official photo of the wedding party is a reminder of those who were so loved and so important. On this special anniversary, here's a look back at the bridal party of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh....



The bridesmaids



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The eight bridesmaids who attended the Queen at her royal wedding all had a special place in her life. All brides want their sister at their side and heading the list of attendants was seventeen year old Princess Margaret, then second in line to the throne.



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The Queen also chose several cousins as bridesmaids. Ten year old Princess Alexandra of Kent was the daughter of George VI's brother, the late Duke of Kent, and his wife, Princess Marina of Greece. Another cousin, Diana Bowes Lyon, then 24, was also in attendance - her father, John, was a brother of the bride's mother. Margaret Elphinstone was the 22 year old daughter of Mary, a sister of Queen Elizabeth, later Queen Mother, and another bridesmaid. In later years, she was better known as Margaret Rhodes.



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One of the bride's second cousins was also included as a bridesmaid. Lady Mary Cambridge was 23 years old at the time of the wedding and related to Princess Elizabeth through Queen Mary. Another more distant relation to perform the role of attendant was Lady Caroline Montagu-Douglas-Scott. The 20 year old was the daughter of Walter Montagu-Douglas-Scott whose sister, Alice, was married to the bride's paternal uncle, Henry, Duke of Gloucester.





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The groom's first cousin, Pamela Mountbatten, was also in the bridal party. The eighteen year old had been living in India with her parents, the Earl and Countess of Mountbatten. The final bridesmaid was 23 year old Lady Elizabeth Lambart whose father, the Earl of Cavan, had been Chief of the Imperial Staff.


The bridesmaids' outfits


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Like the bride, her mother and grandmother, the bridesmaids were dressed by Norman Hartnell. The British designer took inspiration from some of the paintings on display at Buckingham Palace by Winterhalter, Sit George Hayter and Tuxen. They were made of ivory silk tulle with fitted waists and skirts embroidered with a star design similar to that on the bride's dress. The eight bridesmaids wore wreaths in their hair but these were fake rather than real flowers. The creation of Jac Ltd, they consister of silver lame and white satin lilies, white sheaves and London Pride. Their bouquets contained flowers including white orchids, lily of the valley and white roses and they were made by Moyses Stevens.



The pageboys

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 There were two pageboys, both cousins of the bride. Prince William of Gloucester, the elder son of the Duke of Gloucester, was approaching his sixth birthday when he took on the role of pageboy and train bearer. He was accompanied by Prince Michael of Kent who had just turned five. Big cousin Lillibet did what all relations should do to the cute kids they ask to be pageboy - she stuck them in outfits they clearly didn't want to wear. Enter young princes in frilly shirts and Royal Stewart tartan kilts. That's a bride on form.




The best man


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Forget all that talk about the Duke of Cambridge breaking with royal tradition and naming brother, Prince Harry, as his best man rather than supporter. The Duke of Edinburgh had a best man and he picked him in the way many a groom does, falling back on the help of an old friend who had already seen him through thick and thin. There was a family connection, too. David Mountbatten, Marquess of Milford Haven was also Philip's cousin and the two men attended Dartmouth Naval College together. 
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Seventy years on, those bright and beautiful faces stare back at us from history but most of them are gone. Two had died before the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh's Silver Wedding Anniversary. Best man David, Marquess of Milford Haven, died in 1970 at the age of just 50. Pageboy Prince William of Gloucester died in August 1972 in a plane crash. He was 30 years old. Bridesmaid Diana Bowes-Lyon died in 1986 aged 62 while Lady Mary Cambridge passed away in 1999 at the age of 75. The Queen lost her sister, Princess Margaret, in 2002. 
In 2004, Caroline Montagu Douglas Scott died aged 76. Last year, the Queen lost two of her bridesmaids with Margaret Rhodes passing away at the age of 91, Lady Elizabeth Lambart died at the end of 2016 aged 92.
Just three of the wedding party remain. Princess Alexandra will be 81 on Christmas Day this year while her little brother, Prince Michael of Kent, turned 75 this summer. Pamela Mountbatten is the last of her glamourous family remaining. She was 88 earlier this year. The three may well be among those invited to celebrate the 70th wedding anniversary at Windsor today. After all, being part of a wedding party is a special honour and a bond that lasts forever.

Queen's 70th Wedding Anniversary: the Queen's wedding dress


What happens when you put together ration books, a row about silk worms and a 15th century Italian masterpiece? Why, one of the most famous royal wedding dresses of all, that's what. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary today. Seven decades may have passed since the world first got a glimpse of that gown but it still retains its power to wow. On this special day, here's a look back at the Queen's wedding dress....


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It was, of course, designed by Norman Hartnell, the British couturier who has been mentioned so often in recent weeks he might just be the most talked about fashionista of 2017 despite passing away almost forty years ago. The Streatham boy made good was already a firm royal favourite when he got the commission everyone wanted in 1947 but if you think this frock was an easy win for him then think again.


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First of all, Hartnell had to submit several designs to the Palace for approval. We all know that brides, particularly royal brides, want a big say in how they look but despite all his confidence, his royal warrant and his reputation as one of the designers of the day, Hartnell had a queen consort, a queen dowager and a queen regnant in waiting all casting their eye over his ideas. The one the Royal Family picked was inspired by Boticelli's Primavera, the rebirth of spring. Remember, those great PR brains, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, were involved in this. They knew how much this wedding meant to a country trying to get back on its feet after the long, hard years of war. Their bride, Princess Elizabeth, wasn't just to look regal. She was a symbol of hope and the frock had to fit.




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Having got that box ticked, Hartnell then had to make the dress and being as his royal clients only gave him the go ahead in August 1947 for the November 20th wedding, there was no time to lose. So far, so nerve wracking. But then the famous row broke out about where the silk had come from. Just two years after the end of World War Two there was much anxiety and a paper furore when it was suggested that the worms making the material might have links to Japan, an enemy in the conflict. A public announcement that Chinese silkworms based at Lullingstone Castle in Kent were busy doing whatever it is they need to do to make the fabric led to widespread relief. Meanwhile, the weavers at Winterthur Silks near Dunfermiline were turning it into the material that would shimmer into the Abbey.


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 As all that was going on, women around Britain were trying to do their bit to help the princess who had to contend with rationing. At the time, fabric was still limited and Elizabeth had to save up her coupons like everyone else. However, she received a flood of ration coupons to help her obtain the fabric she needed from generous women who wanted to help her look her best. The only problem was that giving someone your ration coupons was against the law. They all had to be returned to sender although the government intervened and gave the future queen a few extra clothing coupons to help make a fitting frock.

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She needed them. The gown itself featured a heart shaped neckline, fitted waist with a dropped V shape and panelled skirt. Attached to the shoulders was a fifteen foot court train made of tulle and embroidered with flowers. There was also a tulle veil. Hartnell had it decorated with crystals and 10,000 seed pearls which were imported from the USA.

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The result was kept under lock and key at his design studio until the day before the wedding when it was taken to Buckingham Palace. Rumour has it that Hartnell even had a member of staff sleep at his offices to stop anyone breaking in and getting so much as a glimpse of the design. It was worth the wait. The dress was an instant hit and credited with inspiring a change in bridal fashions. It was displayed around the UK and has been on exhibition several times since. The Queen has worn many outfits in her record breaking reign but her wedding dress remains one of the most special. As she celebrates her Platinum Wedding Anniversary, it still appears as magical as it did on November 20th 1947.

Royal Platinum Wedding: Congratulations to the Queen and Prince Philip on 70 Years of Marriage


''In all essentials, exactly the same as it would have been for any cottager who might be married this afternoon''.. That's what the Archbishop of York said to Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten about their marriage as they wed on November 20th 1947 at Westminster Abbey. Plenty raised an eyebrow at that sentiment then and since. But in many ways, Cyril Garbet was right. For any marriage will always come down to the two people who enter into it. It might start in splendour but it relies on the hard work and unending hope of those saying 'I do' if it is to continue in glory. The Queen and Prince Philip, seven decades on, have proved that love really does conquer all.



Today, Elizabeth II, the longest reigning monarch in British history, and Prince Philip, the longest serving consort, will celebrate and be celebrated for what is a pretty phenomenal achievement. Few couples get to the milestone that is 70 years of marriage. Yes, good health and good care have helped a lot but so has this couple's determination to make their marriage work. They are clearly just as happy in one another's company as they were on that cold November day when they became husband and wife. Their affection for one another and rock solid bond is a huge part of the modern Monarchy's success. It has been a constant in the evolution of the House of Windsor and a solid foundation that has kept it stable even when crises began to threaten it.




Royal marriages don't have to succeed. It's perhaps the greatest irony of Elizabeth and Philip's long and successful marriage that their children have, sometimes, struggled so hard to find matrimonial happiness themselves. There is an assumption that once a monarch or sovereign in waiting has said 'I do' they are bound to their spouse for all time. We know that isn't true, Regal marriages fall apart. For one to succeed in the way that this one has is a true achievement.


The marriage that began on November 20th 1947 has allowed both partners to follow the paths they believe to be right. The Queen has made no secret of the support she takes from her husband, calling him famously ''quite simply my strength and my stay all these years''. Philip, in turn, has been a perfect consort, always one step behind but with enough ideas and energy to make a difference in the areas that matter. Elizabeth and Philip haven't just smiled and waved all these years. The Duke of Edinburgh has become renowned for work that has supported young people, helped the environment and promoted arts and culture. The Queen has transformed herself from an unexpected heiress to the very model of a modern monarch. Neither could have been what they are without the other.


Their marriage also clearly brings them great personal joy. The delight they take in each other, the pride they feel for one another is clear for all to see. Despite their sometimes frosty reputations, they also clearly adore their children, grand children and great grandchildren. They have shaped a royal family for the 21st century and continue to be its mainstay even now.



Their marriage has clearly brought joy to them and to those that they love. It has provided inspiration to many who only watch from afar. And, despite being a dynastic necessity and a public property in some ways, it is still clearly first and foremost the promise made between two people in Westminster Abbey all those years ago. Cottagers is a word from another time. The world has moved on - it is bound to, seven decades have passed. But the reality of life remains the same. Like every other couple marrying that day they have faced joy and sadness and learned to support one another through it all. For marriage is growing comfortable with one another, learning to walk away from the annoyances, loving when it is the hardest thing to do.  The Archbishop of York was right about this one and the couple he said it to have shown that and then some. Congratulations to them, now and always. Their marriage is a celebration we should all treasure. 

Photo credit: Royal Family Twitter and Matt Holyoak/ Camera Press.

Royal Platinum Wedding: the look of love as the Queen and Prince Philip celebrate 70 years of marriage


He looks like he can't believe his luck and she looks like she's pretending to ignore him. It was probably the same seventy years ago when the first decided to get married. In a new set of photos to mark their 70th wedding anniversary, the Queen and Prince Philip look like any couple in love. Which is why their wedding anniversary and all it celebrates is just really rather marvellous all round.



The new pictures were taken by Matt Holyoak of Camera Press and they're a very modern take on a very traditional story. The Queen and Prince Philip have become masters of the completely at ease with one another and what are you looking at official portrait and they've given us another set to mark their special day.



This is a couple so happy with one another that the camera just can't lie. The portraits, taken at Windsor Castle, celebrate a marriage that began on November 20th 1947 and has broken every royal  record going. It was said that Elizabeth and Philip regard ''People Will Say We're in Love'' as their song. Well... these pictures certainly tell on them..... people will say they're in love.

Photo credit: Matt Holyoak/ Camera Press.

Royal Platinum Wedding: the Queen's engagement ring


On a platinum anniversary, you need a platinum ring. With just hours to go until the 70th wedding anniversary of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, it's time to look back to the piece of jewellery being worn by the bride on the eve of her wedding. Her engagement ring was filled with sentiment, history and sparkle and has proved a royal classic in its own right. As the anniversary approaches, here's a look back at the Queen's engagement ring....





The then Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten announced their engagement on July 10th 1947 although it's understood they had been betrothed privately for some time ahead of that. The ring summed up their relationship in many ways. For while it was made to suit the very royal role that had become Elizabeth's, Philip's energy and imagination played a large part in its creation.  The result is a single three carat diamond with two settings of smaller diamonds on the shoulders of the ring. And the stones had a very special link to the groom.



Philip might have been marrying into the House of Windsor but the engagement ring he gave to his queen in waiting had plenty of his own royal family history about it. The diamonds in this ring came from a tiara belonging to Philip's mother, Princess Alice - she herself had received the diadem as a wedding present almost forty five years earlier.



This is a very 1940s ring, made by the jewellery firm Philip Antrobus, which had enough sparkle to sit on the finger of a future monarch without being completely over the top. Elizabeth and Philip got engaged just two years after the end of World War Two and the bride had to use clothing rations to get the material for her dress (the government stepped in with an extra 200 to help out). Anything too over the top in the sparkle stakes wouldn't have been a popular move.



But the ring, like the royals in this relationship, got it just right. The sparkler was shown off in a very jolly and relaxed press conference while the Queen still wears this special piece of jewellery every day. Seventy years on, it's a piece of history all on its own. A platinum ring that deserves plenty of attention on this platinum anniversary.

Royal Platinum Wedding: the mother of the bride


All eyes might be on the bride on her big day but there's one other person feeling the style pressure. The mother of the bride. Not only is she seeing her little girl begin a whole new chapter of her life, she's got to have a hat that could stop traffic or no one is going home truly happy. That was never going to be a problem at the Queen's wedding on November 20th 1947. We all know how her mum loved a hat. And on the day her dynasty made more history, this Queen Elizabeth was more than ready for her close up.


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The mother of the bride was, of course, another queen called Elizabeth - better known to us as the Queen Mother but at the time, Her Majesty The Queen. Consort to King George VI, she was about as well loved as a royal gets - her role in boosting wartime morale is now legendary and it had made her a truly popular figure. And she made every one love her just a little bit more by attending her daughter's wedding dressed like a dream.



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The task of dressing a queen for her daughter's marriage went to Norman Hartnell who was also crating the bride's gown. And the bridesmaids. And the frock for the bride's granny (more on that tomorrow). Hartnell had been dressing the Windsor women since the 1930s and had become a firm favourite of Queen Elizabeth just before World War Two started. Their bond had lasted ever since so it was no surprise that when the then Princess Elizabeth announced her engagement, her mother commissioned Hartnell to make the bride's gown and her own outfit.




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The result was a golden peachy pink full length gown with a fitted waist, slim skirt and half sleeves. It has a soft V shaped neck which isn't just flattering, it leaves plenty of room for all the diamonds that the mother of the bride brought out to play. All mothers of the bride need a hat and the one chosen for this historic wedding is ever so slightly fabulous. It's not only huge and has feathers, it's has an open crown to give it a proper gala feel.


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 Seeing your first daughter marry is always going to be a major moment. When you are the Queen of England and hosting the biggest royal gathering in decades while overseeing a wedding that has become a beacon of hope for millions still recovering from war, it goes into a different realm. If anyone was going to rise to the challenge it was this queen called Elizabeth - a mother of the bride like no other with the outfit to match.

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