Princess Diana’s wedding dress is now on display at Kensington Palace
The dress worn by Princess Diana at her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981 has gone on display at Kensington Palace.
The wedding gown was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel and has a fitted bodice covered in panels of antique Carrickmacross lace originally belonging to Prince Charles’ great grandmother Queen Mary. It also features a 25-foot long train - the longest in royal history.
The dress is part of a new fashion exhibition called “Royal Style in the Making” at the palace and has been loaned by Diana’s sons Prince William and Harry. It will be the first time the dress has been on display at Kensington Palace in 25 years.
In addition to Diana’s wedding dress, the exhibit also includes other garments worn by the Princess of Wales, as well as items belonging to the Queen and the Queen Mother.
The items have been borrowed from the archives of some of the royal family’s fashion designers, including David Emanuel, Norman Hartnell and David Sassoon.
Among some of the garments include incredibly rare pieces, such as a surviving toile - a linen cloth - used in the coronation gown for the Queen Mother in 1937.
In addition, some of the original sketches for garments, fabric swatches and previously unseen photographs from the royal ceremonial dress collection will be on display.
Matthew Storey, the curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said: “Royal Style in the Making offers visitors the chance to discover some of the greatest talents of British design, whose work has helped shape the visual identity of the royal family across the twentieth century.
“While one of the highlights will undoubtedly be Diana, Princess of Wales’s showstopping Emanuel designed wedding dress, - which will be reunited at Kensington Palace with her going away outfit for the first time in 25 years – for me one of the true stars of the show has to be the gown created by legendary stage designer Oliver Messel, which provides a fitting finale for this dazzling display of royal style.”
The garments worn by the three women will be on display in the Kensington Palace Orangery. The exhibition runs from Thursday 3 June to 2 January 2022.
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