The Ladies Who Stood With Lady Di

Princess Diana had five bridesmaids at her wedding to Prince Charles: Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, Clementine Hambro, India Hicks, Sarah-Jane Gaselee, and Catherine Cameron. The bridesmaids were mostly children, with ages ranging from five to 17. Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, the oldest bridesmaid at 17, was also the chief bridesmaid and held Diana's bouquet during the ceremony.

Diana's bridesmaids' dresses

Princess Diana's bridesmaids wore dresses designed by Emanuel, a couture label designed by Welsh-born David Emanuel and his wife Elizabeth. The dresses were scalloped with yellow sashes and were accessorised with baskets of yellow roses and wildflowers. Fashion editor Suzy Menkes wrote in The Times that the bridesmaids "looked like they could have been plucked from a Victorian child's scrapbook".

India Hicks, one of Diana's bridesmaids, recalled that the dresses were "super poofy and flouncy". She admitted that she was "a little alarmed" to be asked to wear such a frilly dress, but now realises that the style was "befitting to the era". The bridesmaids' dresses were certainly in keeping with Princess Diana's own voluminous wedding dress, which featured a 25-foot train.

The dresses were designed by the same label that created Princess Diana's wedding dress. The Emanuels code-named their client "Deborah" and hired two guards to help keep the design a secret. However, paparazzi swarmed their Mayfair studio, trying to catch a glimpse of the dress before the big day.

The bridesmaids' roles

Princess Diana had five bridesmaids at her wedding to Prince Charles: Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, India Hicks, Catherine Cameron, Sarah-Jane Gaselee, and Clementine Hambro. The bridesmaids were aged between five and 17 and wore scalloped dresses with yellow sashes, designed by Emanuel, and carried baskets of yellow roses and wildflowers.

The chief bridesmaid, 17-year-old Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, was the daughter of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, and the Queen's niece. She was responsible for holding Diana's bouquet and helping to manage her 25-foot veil, along with India Hicks. In addition to her duties on the day, Lady Sarah was also one of Prince Harry's godparents.

India Hicks, the 13-year-old daughter of Lady Pamela Hicks and David Nightingale Hicks, was Prince Charles's goddaughter and second cousin. She and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones were responsible for arranging Diana's record-breaking 25-foot-long train as she walked down the aisle.

The other three bridesmaids, 11-year-old Sarah-Jane Gaselee, six-year-old Catherine Cameron, and five-year-old Clementine Hambro, were chosen for their personal connections to the bride and groom. Gaselee's father had taught Charles to be a jump jockey, Cameron was a descendant of a Scottish nobleman, and Hambro was Diana's favourite student when she was a nursery teacher.

After the wedding, Diana gifted each of her bridesmaids a Halcyon Days china box containing silkworms that had spun the silk for her wedding dress, as well as a thank-you note and a paperweight with a rose from her bouquet.

The royal wedding ceremony

The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer was a grand affair, often referred to as the "wedding of the century". The ceremony took place on 29 July 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral in London, UK, and was presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral. The UK declared a public holiday to mark the occasion, and the ceremony was watched by an estimated global television audience of 750 million people, with the radio audience bringing that figure to a billion.

The ceremony was a traditional Church of England wedding service. The bride broke with tradition by excluding the word "obey" from her vows, instead promising to "love, comfort, honour and keep" her husband. Diana also accidentally changed the order of Charles's names during the vows, and Charles made an error, offering his "thy goods" instead of "my worldly goods". The couple's wedding rings were crafted from Welsh gold, continuing a tradition that dates back to 1923.

The music for the service was provided by three choirs, three orchestras, and a fanfare ensemble. The choirs were conducted by Barry Rose, while the cathedral's organists, Christopher Dearnley and John Scott, played the organ. The orchestras were conducted by Sir David Willcocks, Richard Popplewell, and Sir Colin Davis. The music included the "Prince of Denmark's March", "I Vow to Thee, My Country", "Pomp and Circumstance No.4", and the British National Anthem, "God Save the Queen".

The royal couple had seven bridal attendants, including five bridesmaids: Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, daughter of Princess Margaret; India Hicks, daughter of Lady Pamela Hicks and granddaughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten; Catherine Cameron, daughter of Lady Cecil Cameron and granddaughter of the Marquess of Lothian; Sarah-Jane Gaselee, daughter of racehorse trainer Nick Gaselee; and Clementine Hambro, daughter of Rupert Hambro and granddaughter of Winston Churchill. The bridesmaids wore scalloped dresses with yellow sashes, designed by Emanuel, and carried baskets of yellow roses and wildflowers.

The ceremony was followed by a reception at Buckingham Palace, where the couple posed for photographs with their families and the wedding party. They then made the traditional appearance on the palace balcony, delighting the crowd with a kiss.

Diana's wedding dress

Princess Diana's wedding dress, designed by husband-and-wife team David and Elizabeth Emanuel, was an ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown, valued at the time at £9,000 (equivalent to $43,573 in 2023). The dress was intricately embroidered with sequins, frilled lace, and 10,000 pearls, and was considered one of the most closely guarded secrets in fashion history. The gown featured a 25-foot train and a 153-yard tulle veil, which was longer than her train. The dress was designed according to Diana's wishes, who wanted it to have the longest train in royal wedding history.

The bridal gown was decorated with hand embroidery, sequins, and 10,000 pearls, centring on a heart motif. An 18-karat gold horseshoe was stitched into the petticoats as a sign of good fortune. The lace used to trim the gown was antique and hand-made, and a square of Carrickmacross lace that once belonged to Queen Mary was attached to the dress. A petite blue bow was also sewn into the interior of the gown's waistband as her "something blue". Diana stuck with tradition and wore something old, new, borrowed, and blue. Her "something old" was an antique lace gown made with fabric specially spun at a British silk farm. For her "something borrowed", she wore the Spencer family tiara, an 18th-century heirloom.

The dress was a complete mystery until its dramatic unveiling on Princess Diana's wedding day and remains one of the most iconic royal looks. The designers went to great lengths to keep the details a secret, even installing a safe to keep designs and fabric swatches. The dress set wedding fashion trends, with large puffed sleeves, full skirts, and "soft touch fabrics" becoming popular requests. Copies by other dressmakers were available within hours of the wedding. Today, the dress is known as one of the most influential and recognisable bridal pieces of all time.

The wedding reception

The wedding ceremony was followed by a reception at Buckingham Palace, where the couple and 120 guests enjoyed a wedding breakfast. The newlyweds then made their traditional appearance on the palace balcony, delighting the crowd with a kiss. Over the night, fireworks were displayed above Hyde Park, and 100 beacons were lit across the country to celebrate the royal wedding.

The wedding breakfast was served to 120 guests in the palace's Throne Room. The menu included brill in lobster sauce, chicken breasts stuffed with lamb mousse, and strawberries with Cornish cream. The couple had 27 wedding cakes, including the official cake made by the Naval Armed Forces. The five-foot-tall cake featured the prince's coat of arms, Diana's family crest, an ornamental "C" and "D", and was topped with roses, lilies of the valley, and orchids.

After the cake-cutting ceremony, Diana changed into her going-away outfit, a pink ensemble designed by Belville Sassoon. The newlyweds then departed for their honeymoon in an open carriage, with a ""Just Married" sign and silver and blue balloons attached by Princes Andrew and Edward. The couple travelled to Broadlands, where they spent three days before flying to Gibraltar and boarding the Royal Yacht Britannia for an 11-day cruise of the Mediterranean.

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