WEDDING FLOWERS: Royal Brides
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Showing posts with label Royal Brides. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Royal Brides. Show all posts

5 September Royal Brides

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Princess Claire of Luxembourg was a September royal bride
(photo Grand Court Ducale/ Guy Wolff)

September isn't the most popular month for royal weddings. Summer holidays are still coming to an end and everyone's getting back into the swing of the royal agenda. That's not to say the month is a marriage free zone and to prove it here are five September royal brides.






Claire Margareta Lademacher, September 17th and 21st 2013


Claire Lademacher was a royal bride twice over in September 2013 when she married the second in line to the throne of Luxembourg, Prince Felix. The couple wed in a civil ceremony in Germany on September 17th and again in a religious ceremony in Saint-Maximilien-La-Sainte-Baume in France four days later. Princess Claire has worked in bioethics and carries out occasional royal engagements. Felix and Claire have a two year old daughter, Amalia, with this royal bride expecting her second baby in October 2016.



Sophie Lara Winkleman, September 12th 2009


Sophie Winkleman was known as a TV actress before her royal romance with Lord Frederick Windsor became public. The Cambridge graduate announced her engagement to Frederick, son of the Queen's cousin Prince Michael of Kent, on Valentine's Day 2009 and the couple married on September 12th that year at Hampton Court Palace. Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor have two daughters, Maud who is now three, and Isabella, who was born in January this year.



Tessy Antony, September 29th 2006


Tessy Antony was a controversial royal bride when she said 'I do' to the third son of the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg on September 29th 2006. She was just twenty, the groom had just turned twenty one and they had had a son together six months earlier. Tessy had met her husband, Prince Louis of Luxembourg, while serving in the country's army and their royal romance made headlines around the world. Their marriage in Gilsdorf in Luxembourg got plenty of global attention. However, there was no fairytale ending. The couple, who welcomed a second son in 2007, divorced in 2017. 


  


Princess Astrid Josephine-Charlotte Charlotte Fabrizia Elisabeth Paola Marie of Belgium, September 22nd 1984


Princess Astrid of Belgium, second child and only daughter of the then Prince and Princess of Liege, married Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este on September 22nd 1984 in Brussels. Her marriage gave her the title of Imperial and Royal Highness and seven years later she became the daughter of a monarch when her father became King Albert II of the Belgians. A change in the succession law gave her rights to the throne of Belgium for the first time soon after her father's reign began. Astrid and Lorenz went on to have five children and in May 2016, this royal bride became a grandmother for the first time with the arrival of Anna Astrid, the daughter of her elder son, Amadeo.

Embed from Getty Images

Princess Anne-Marie Dagmar Ingrid of Denmark, September 18th 1964

Anne-Marie of Denmark became Queen of Greece on her wedding day, September 18th 1964, but while her road to her royal wedding was bumpy, life afterwards would prove even more turbulent. Her groom was King Constantine II of Greece who had inherited a tricky throne from his father, King Paul, in early 1964. By then he had made it clear he wanted to marry Anne-Marie, youngest daughter of King Frederick IX of Denmark, who he had met when she was thirteen and he was accompanying his parents on a state visit to her home country. They announced their engagement in July 1964 and on September 18th that year, at the age of eighteen, Anne-Marie married Constantine in Athens. They would go on to have five children together but much of their married life was lived in exile after the Greek monarchy fell. The couple now have a home again in Greece and have welcomed nine grandchildren to their family.

Two royal brides for August

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August might be a popular time for brides across Europe but for royal brides, it's not that hot a date. What with all those regal relatives heading off to their summer palaces for a bit of a break, getting all the royal guests in one place for an August wedding can be hard work. But in one country, they don't let that get in their way of holding a royal wedding. Norway loves an August marriage and in the last fifty years, it's given us two of the continent's biggest royal weddings in that month. Here's a look back at two royal August brides....




Sonja Haraldsen married Harald of Norway on August 29th 1968 in Oslo


This was a controversial royal wedding at the time but it's produced one of the most successful regal partnerships of the last century. When Harald, then Crown Prince of Norway, fell in love with a merchant's daughter called Sonja Haraldsen there were more than a few raised eyebrows. Harald, the only person in Norway with succession rights to his country's throne, was supposed to marry royalty and his declaration that he'd remain single rather than wed anyone other than Sonja put his monarchy in a tricky situation. No marriage meant no heirs which meant a constitutional crisis. Harald got his way and as a sign of the royal approval his match had won, his father King Olav walked the bride to the altar of Oslo Domkirke on Augus 29th 1968 - her own father had passed away nine years earlier. Harald and Sonja have been notoriously happy and hugely successful - just after their silver jubilee in January 2016, they had approval ratings of 90%. The couple went on to have two children and now have a whole bevy of grandchildren to keep them busy. Their joint 80th birthday celebrations earlier this year attracted a huge show of popular support. This is one love match that has lasted and then some.



Mette-Marit Tjessem Hjoiby married Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway
on August 25th 2001 in Oslo


Another August wedding in Oslo, another controversial love match. Harald and Sonja's son, Haakon Magnus, followed in his parents' footsteps by causing all kinds of debate with his choice of partner. The Crown Prince fell in love with Mette-Marit Tjessem Hjoiby who already had a son from a previous relationship and who had been involved in a party set that raised eyebrows. Haakon held firm and his parents backed him with the resulting royal wedding, the first major match of the 21st century, turning into a regal celebration like no other. There was a glittering guest list, a very loved up bride and groom and one of the best royal wedding dresses ever. No one was surprised when Haakon and Mette-Marit turned into a super romantic married pair. Sixteen years and two more children on, they're still starry eyed about one another. Norway's August royal brides are winners all the way.


Royal Wedding Dresses: Lady Diana Spencer

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It's about as famous as royal wedding dresses come. The Emanuel design worn by Lady Diana Spencer as she married the Prince of Wales on July 29th 1981 remains an icon of modern royal fashion. We know the bows, the frills and the creases like the backs of our own hands but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy them one more time. Thirty six years on from the wedding of the century, here's a look back at Diana's wedding dress.







The commission for the dress everyone wanted to make was given to designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel who had been favourites of Diana before her engagement was announced. They became overnight superstars and the dress was world famous before it was even made.



The final design has been called romantic more times than any of us have had hot dinners. It really was the stuff of which fairytales were made with huge sleeves, huge skirt and a huge bow surrounded by endless sparkles and lace trims. Diana was already the subject of endless projections before she had even said 'I do' and this dress is one of them. She was the perfect princess in the making and was dressed as everyone expected a princess to look.



Ask anyone about Diana's wedding dress and perhaps the first thing they will say is that it was creased. As the bride got out of the Glass Coach at St Paul's Cathedral that huge skirt made a protest at having been crammed into a vintage carriage and came out crumpled. It came into its own as Diana walked down the aisle but that creased first look is the stuff of royal legend.


 
Let's get down to basics. The dress was made of silk, taffeta and antique lace and featured over 10,000 pearls and sequins. Every royal wedding dress needs a train and the frock at the marriage of the century didn't disappoint. Just the twenty five feet of fabric followed Diana up the aisle attached at the waist of the dress. The train features a scalloped edge and was completely covered by her light veil.


Diana's wedding dress was an instant icon and was copied the world over. For years after her marriage, puff sleeves and huge skirts were popular choices for brides. The gown itself has been displayed several times but now belongs to Prince William and Prince Harry - they inherited it when they both reached the age of 30. Whether the dress will be seen in public again isn't known. But this royal wedding gown has a place in history all of its own as the stuff of which royal fairytales were (briefly) made.

Royal Wedding Album: Charles and Diana

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It remains the most famous royal wedding of all. The ending may not have been the fairytale everyone hoped for on that July day in 1981 but the event itself was a modern royal event like no other. In the intervening 36 years we have had many other royal weddings but none has really come close to matching the moment when Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer were married at St Paul's Cathedral, London on July 29th 1981. Here are ten legendary images of Charles and Diana's marriage.

1. The kiss

One of the most famous royal photos ever taken was that of the unexpected kiss shared by the newlyweds on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Until then, royal romances were sealed with a kiss behind closed doors but the world wanted a smacker to savour and the bride and groom obliged. The Queen pretended not to look, the page boys pretended not to laugh and everyone else sighed. It is an iconic image of royalty that will be celebrated forever.


2. Inside the Glass Coach


The first glimpse of the bride was a confection in a coach. Lady Diana Spencer left Clarence House in the Glass Coach accompanied by her father and surrounded by the acres of veil and train that would soon be revealed to the world. It was impossibly pretty and the fairytale began...


   

3. The dress of the century 

OK, it was crinkled. OK, it was huge. But it was a dress of fairytale proportions and the sight of Diana climbing the steps of St Paul's in that cream Emmanual frock was a moment of history. She walked in the footsteps of just a handful of women who had come to the altar to marry a Prince of Wales. And she looked just like a princess from a story book walking towards her destiny.

 
   

 4. The proudest possible father 

 Even the hardest heart melted at the sight of Diana's dad, the Earl Spencer, taking his daughter's arm and walking her up the aisle. Recovering from illness, he stood tall and he couldn't have looked more proud. His delight in his daughter just increased as they made that famous journey to the altar of St Paul's to the strains of the Trumpet Voluntary. It was one of the most emotional moments of the whole day.

 
   

 5. And the guest wore white... 

 There was emotion of another kind for one guest. Camilla Parker-Bowles was at the wedding and wore white - no one really noticed at the time but the photo of her watching Diana walk past in her bridal gown is now one of the most well known royal images of all time.

6.  Man and wife
Hindsight is a useful thing. In the years since they emerged into the July sunshine as husband and wife plenty have suggested that Charles looks reticent on the steps of St Paul's while Diana looks worried and nervous. With another ending, perhaps those layers of messages would never have been placed on the photo of the new Prince and Princess of Wales. 


   

 7. A triumphal ride home 

 Now man and wife, the royal couple travelled through the streets of London to a rapturous response and Diana relaxed visibly as she made her way back to a palace, now a princess. The crowds were huge and they all wanted to see the bride - it was the beginning of a stellar royal career.




 

8. Now one family 

 The group shot at this royal wedding takes some beating. With the ladies lined up in the front row and crowned heads packing out the middle, this was a portrait of royalty in the 20th century at the most famous royal event for decades.

 
   

 9. A beautiful bride 

 Whatever your thoughts on the dress, there's no doubt that Diana was a beautiful bride and the official portraits showed a young and very happy woman. The image of the royal couple with their attendants that day had a personal touch that made it stand out from the others.

 

10. One more kiss 

 Before THAT kiss there was the chivalrous moment Charles kissed his new wife's hand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Given that full on smackers wouldn't become a tradition until these newlyweds started the trend moments later, this peck on the knuckles was romantic and racy all at the same time. But it underlined the romance of the day. We know how it ended but these images, and those that will be auctioned soon, show that there was happiness there when Charles wed Diana.



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