The ‘wedding of the century’ breaks broadcasting records
29 JULY 1981
An estimated global television audience of 750 million watched as Lady Diana Spencer emerged from the Glass Coach in front of St Paul’s Cathedral in central London. Resplendent in an ivory silk taffeta gown, the young bride dazzled cheering well-wishers as she ascended the steps on the arm of her father, Earl Spencer.
Five months earlier, Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Diana had announced their engagement to the world. Charles had proposed after receiving a letter from his father urging him to settle down and either marry Diana or move on.
As photographers had jostled to get a close-up of Diana’s engagement ring, Charles had raised eyebrows when he replied to a journalist’s query about their feelings with the comment “whatever ‘in love’ means”.
Aged just 20 when she processed down the aisle, Diana was the first English woman to marry an heir to the throne in more than 300 years. Her dress, shrouded in secrecy for months, had been designed by husband-and-wife duo David and Elizabeth Emanuel. It glistened with 10,000 mother-of-pearl sequins and pearls, and sported a record-breaking 25-foot-long train.
Both the bride and groom slightly muddled their vows. Diana’s nerves showed briefly when she mixed up her betrothed’s multiple names, calling him “Philip Charles Arthur George”. Charles, meanwhile, said “thy goods” instead of “my worldly goods”.
Conducting the nuptials, the archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, observed: “Here is the stuff of which fairy tales are made – the prince and princess on their wedding day.”
