The most beautiful royal wedding dresses of all time
By 9Honey Style|
Who doesn't love a royal wedding – or a royal wedding dress?!
From Grace Kelly to Princess Diana to Crown Princess Mary, dozens of royal brides have captivated the world with stunning style choices on their big day.
Let's take a look back at the bridal gowns we've seen in years gone by.
Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton
Dress: Alexander McQueen
From the moment Kate appeared on the steps of Westminster Abbey, it was clear the royal family was in the beginnings of a style resurgence.
She wore an Alexander McQueen gown that was crafted out of hand-cut English and Chantilly lace.
The back of Kate's dress was held together by 58 organza-covered buttons and Rouleau loops. Her train was approximately 2.7 metres long and sat on top of silk tulle that made up the underskirt.
However, the gown wasn't without controversy.
Five years after the wedding, in 2016, UK-based bridal designer Christine Kendall sued fashion house Alexander McQueen. Kendall claimed the label's creative director Sarah Burton "copied" her ideas for Kate's wedding gown.
Kendall says she sent the palace some sketches for the Duchess of Cambridge to consider at the time of the royal wedding.
She claims she then received a letter from a royal official in January 2011 thanking her for the sketches and mentioning the bride-to-be was "interested" in her work.
Kendall believes these sketches served as inspiration for Burton's final product, which Kate wore down the aisle on April 29, 2011 as she married Prince William at Westminster Abbey in London.
A spokesperson for the duchess told The Sunday Times the royal never saw the designs, while the house of Alexander McQueen called the claims "ridiculous".
Princess Beatrice
Dress: Norman Hartnell, on loan from Her Majesty The Queen
In 2020, Princess Beatrice surprised the world by marrying Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a small, secret ceremony at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor.
READ MORE: A closer look at Princess Beatrice's stunning vintage wedding gown
The history-making royal moment was a fashionable feast thanks to her stunning vintage gown by Norman Hartnell. The dress was on loan from Her Majesty The Queen.
In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, the dress was made from Peau De Soie taffeta in shades of ivory, trimmed with ivory Duchess satin and featured organza sleeves. It was also encrusted with diamanté.
Beatrice matched her gown with Queen Mary diamond fringe tiara, which was also on loan from Her Majesty The Queen who wore the exact tiara on her wedding day in 1947.
IN PHOTOS: Click below to see the most incredible historic wedding dresses of all time.
Lady Gabriella Windsor
Dress: Luisa Beccaria
Lady Gabriella Windsor, the daughter of The Queen's cousin Prince Michael Of Kent, married Thomas Kingston at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in 2019.
Not to be outdone by her other royal guests, Gabriella commanded the spotlight wearing a lace gown created by Italian designer Luisa Beccaria.
The dress, which fanned out into a long train, had flowers and embellishments embroidered on the lace.
It also featured a light tulle corset sleeves made from transparent lace, according to Town and Country magazine.
The colour of the dress, which was a shade of blush, was sourced from different layers of tulle and organza that made up the body of the gown.
There's no denying Gabriella looked amazing as she entered the chapel to marry her fiancé and her recent nuptials have cemented her wedding day style in royal history.
Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle
Dress: Givenchy
Of course Meghan Markle's wedding gown is on the list of most-stylish royal bridal gowns. Her sleek, simple-but-still-so-stylish Givenchy dress designed by British designer Claire Waight-Keller was the perfect choice for the American-born bride.
READ MORE: Meghan Markle's wedding dress designer reflects on working with the bride
According to Harper's Bazaar, the five-metre silk tulle veil took longer to complete than the dress with almost 500 hours meticulously spent creating each flower with silk threads and organza before it was sewn onto the veil.
"It was so delicate, the workers (who included a former Royal School of Needlework student) had to wash their hands every 30 minutes to keep the tulle and threads clean."
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark
Dress: Uffe Frank
There's no better love story than that of Tasmanian real estate agent Mary Donaldson and Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik.
The couple met in a Sydney bar during the 2000 Olympics and the rest is history, including her gown designed by Danish designer Uffe Frank.
Made from ivory duchesse satin, the skirt achieved its voluminous look thanks to the 31-metres of tulle the skirt was lined with.
Princess Eugenie
Dress: Peter Pilotto
Princess Eugenie had big bridal shoes to follow, marrying wine merchant Jack Brooksbank a few months after Prince Harry and Meghan's world-stopping nuptials.
Princess Eugenie worked closely with Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos to design her gown.
It featured a plunging backline that perfectly showed off her scars from surgery she had when she was 12 to correct her scoliosis.
Eugenie paired the dress with the Queen's Greville Emerald Kokoshnik, that was made in 1919 and featured brilliant and rose-cut diamonds and 12 emeralds, according to the Royal Family.
Queen Letizia of Spain
Dress: Manuel Pertegaz
Every time Queen Letizia steps out, she does so in a way only style icons can. Mixing high-low fashion like a pro it's only natural she'd do the same on her wedding day.
In 2004, she walked down the aisle in a gown that proves to be a timeless creation by Spanish designer Manuel Pertegaz, who has also worked closely with Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and Ava Garden.
The impressive ivory gown was embroidered with real gold and featured a four-metre long train.
Princess Margaret
Dress: Norman Hartnell
With her relatively simple silk organza Norman Hartnell gown, Princess Margaret drew attention to her pocket-rocket proportions.
Helping achieve the clean lines was 30 metres of fabric in the skirt.
Princess Diana
Dress: Emanuel
Still the go-to fairytale gown with its 7.62-metre train and 10,000 pearls, the Emanuel gown worn by Lady Di represented '80s excess and created a trend for voluminous wedding dresses for the Dynasty decade.
Princess Grace of Monaco
Dress: Helen Rose of MGM
Kelly’s close friend, costume designer Edith Head, was reportedly devastated when the Oscar-winning actress tapped MGM's head of costume Helen Rose to create her wedding gown.
Thirty seamstresses worked with 125-year-old Brussels lace to create the gown that had three petticoats, including a smoothing petticoat, a ruffled petticoat and a foundation petticoat.
"On her wedding day, Grace Kelly gave new meaning to the word icon," the late designer Oscar de la Renta said.
"Her whole look, from the regal veil to the feminine lace details and the conservative gown, made her an ageless bride."
Princess Caroline of Monaco
Dress: Christian Dior
Caroline's 1978 wedding to playboy Philippe Junot didn't last very long but the images of her slightly boho bride endure. The dress was from Marc Bohan for Christian Dior.
''My choice of Marc Bohan seemed perfectly natural," Princess Grace, the bride's mother and a Dior customer, told People magazine at the time.
"After all, it was he who designed Princess Caroline's first ball gown. His designs are very feminine and well balanced. I like their simplicity and elegance."
Beatrice Borromeo
Dress: Armani Privé
Italian aristocrat Beatrice Borromeo wore five gowns to her two weddings to Princess Caroline's son Pierre Casiraghi.
The winner was a contemporary Armani Privé design with Grecian touches and a plunging (well for a royal wedding) neckline.
Princess Anne
Dress: Maureen Baker
The horse-mad Princess Royal is in some ways better-known for her thriftiness than her style, but for her 1973 wedding to Captain Mark Phillips, Anne drew admiration with her Tudor-style gown.
Little-known designer Maureen Baker drew inspiration from costumes worn by Glenda Jackson in a popular television series at the time on Elizabeth I.
Trim and tailored with on-trend sweeping sleeves, this dress continues to impress.
Lady Helen Taylor
Dress: Catherine Walker
The fashionable daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent tapped Princess Diana-favourite Catherine Walker on the shoulder to design the dress for her 1992 wedding to art dealer Tim Taylor.
The sweeping neckline was inspired by the architecture of St George's Chapel, the same venue as Princess Eugenie and Meghan Markle's weddings.
