A ROYAL WEDDING: THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF SUSSEX EXHIBITION
AT WINDSOR CASTLE FROM 26 OCTOBER 2018
From 26 October 2018 to 17 February 2019, A Royal Wedding: The Duke & Duchess of Sussex will form part of your visit to Windsor Castle. This special exhibition will feature the wedding outfits worn by the couple at their wedding in May 2018.
The Duchess of Sussex’s wedding dress was created by the British designer Clare Waight Keller, Artistic Director at the historic French fashion house Givenchy. The Duchess chose Ms Waight Keller for her timeless & elegant aesthetic, & for the impeccable tailoring of her creations. The Duchess & Ms Waight Keller worked closely together on the design.
The Duke of Sussex's wedding outfit was the frockcoat uniform of the Household Cavalry (the 'Blues & Royals'), made by tailors at Dege & Skinner on Savile Row. As the uniform specially commissioned for the occasion is required for use by His Royal Highness, an identical uniform made for The Duke by Dege & Skinner a few years earlier will be displayed.
The Diamond and platinum bandeau tiara 1932
This diamond & platinum bandeau tiara, lent to the Duchess by Her Majesty The Queen, held the veil in place. On public display for the first time, the tiara is formed as a flexible band of eleven sections, pavé set with large & small brilliant diamonds in a geometric design. The centre is set with a detachable brooch of ten brilliant diamonds. The bandeau was made in 1932 for Her Majesty's grandmother, Queen Mary, & specifically designed to accommodate the centre brooch. This brooch was given to the then Princess Mary in 1893 by the County of Lincoln on her marriage to Prince George, Duke of York (the future King George V). The bandeau & the brooch were bequeathed to Her Majesty by Queen Mary in 1953.
The Wedding Dress
The dress is made from an exclusive double-bonded silk cady, developed by Ms Waight Keller following extensive research in fabric mills throughout Europe. True to the heritage of the House of Givenchy, the graceful lines of the dress were achieved using six meticulously placed seams. These extend towards the back of the dress, where the train flows in soft round folds cushioned by an underskirt in triple silk organza. One of the main features of the dress is the boat neckline bodice.
The Veil
The five-metre-long veil is made from silk tulle & embroidered with the flora of the 53 countries of the Commonwealth, a reference to an important part of The Duke & Duchess of Sussex's official work following His Royal Highness’s appointment as Commonwealth Youth Ambassador.
The Duchess added two of her favourite flowers to the embroidered decoration: Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox), which grows in the grounds of Kensington Palace in front of Nottingham Cottage, and the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), the State flower of The Duchess's place of birth, California. Embroidered ears of wheat, symbolising love and charity, are symmetrically placed at the front of the veil, which is edged with embroidered organza flowers.
Dates & prices
Friday, 26 Oct 2018 - Sunday, 17 February 2019
Adult £21.20 Over 60 / Student (with valid ID) £19.30 Under 17 / Disabled £12.30 Under 5 Free Family £54.70 (2 adults and 3 under 17s)
Adults, Groups (15+ people)
To buy tickets go to: https://tickets.royalcollection.org.uk/windsor-castle/windsor-castle/2018
The Wedding Day
The wedding of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle took place on Saturday, 19 May 2018, at St George's Chapel, Windsor. The chapel had previously been the venue for the weddings of Prince Harry's uncle, the Earl of Wessex, as well as that of his cousin, Peter Phillips, and for the blessing of the marriage of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, Harry's stepmother.
On the morning of the wedding, Prince Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, conferred upon him the titles of Duke of Sussex, Earl of Dumbarton & Baron Kilkeel.
On her marriage, Markle became Duchess of Sussex. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, officiated at the wedding using the standard Anglican church service for Holy Matrimony published in Common Worship, the liturgical text of the Church of England.
The royal family announced that they would pay for the wedding. The costs for the cake, the florist, and the catering have been estimated to be £50,000, £110,000, & £286,000 respectively, & the overall cost is expected to be around £32 million. The security costs are expected to be lower than those of the 2011 wedding of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge. The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead has reportedly spent £2.6 million on cleaning the town & roads. It has been predicted that the wedding triggered a tourism boom & boost the economy by up to £500 million.
The wedding invitations specified a dress code for men of "Dress Uniform, Morning Coat or Lounge Suit"; for women, "Day Dress & Hat".
The wedding dress was designed by the British designer Clare Waight Keller under the aegis of the fashion house Givenchy. It was made of "double-bonded silk cady cushioned by an underskirt in triple silk organza" & had a boat neckline, long sleeves & sweeping train. The silk veil was 16 feet (4.9 m) long & was embroidered with 55 flowers, representing the 53 countries of the Commonwealth, as well as Wintersweet, & the California Poppy, the state flower of California.
It was secured by a diamond bandeau tiara, made in 1932 for Queen Mary & lent to Markle by Queen Elizabeth II. The centre brooch had been a wedding gift from the County of Lincoln in 1893. The tiara is a platinum band, made up of eleven sections, a detachable centre brooch with interlaced opals & diamonds. The shoes were also from Givenchy, & had a pointed couture design.
The bride's bouquet, designed by Philippa Craddock, contained "forget-me-nots, scented sweet peas, lily of the valley, astilbe, jasmine & astrantia, & sprigs of myrtle". The flowers were chosen by the groom who handpicked forget-me-nots in honour of his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales.
After the wedding the bridal bouquet was placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey, following royal tradition that began with the Queen Mother. For the customary bridal themes of "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue", Markle had her gown & veil (the "new"), the Queen's tiara (the "borrowed"), sprigs of myrtle taken from "a plant grown from the myrtle used in the Queen's wedding bouquet" & a piece of fabric from Diana, Princess of Wales's wedding gown (the "old"), & Diana's favourite flowers, forget-me-nots, in the bouquet (the "blue").
Prince Harry & the Duke of Cambridge wore the frock coat uniform of the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) in which both were commissioned,& Prince Harry served for 10 years, including in combat in Afghanistan. The uniforms were made by Dege & Skinner, gentleman's tailors & uniform makers, of Savile Row, London.
The groom asked for & received the Queen's permission to keep his beard, as beards are only permitted under exceptional circumstances in the British Army. Prince Harry wore the rank of major with the star of the Royal Victorian Order, of which he is a Knight Commander, along with the ribbons of the Royal Victorian Order, Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan, Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal & Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, & Army Air Corps wings.
Wedding service
The wedding service was conducted according to the Christian liturgy for Holy Matrimony as set out in Common Worship of the Church of England, mother Church of the Anglican Communion.
The main congregation & the guests all started to arrive at the chapel at 9.30 am, followed by members of the Royal Family. The Queen & the Duke of Edinburgh were the last members of the Royal Family to depart for the ceremony, as is tradition, arriving at the chapel at 11.52 am. Shortly after, Markle arrived with the party of junior attendants. She proceeded down the aisle followed by the attendants, where the Prince of Wales met her to escort her through the quire of the chapel. He accompanied her to the altar, where Prince Harry was standing.
Prince Harry's maternal aunt, Baroness Fellowes, read a scripture lesson from The Song of Solomon in the Christian Bible. The Dean of Windsor, David Conner, conducted the service with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, performing the marriage ceremony. The sermon was delivered by The Most Reverend Michael Curry, presiding bishop & primate of the Episcopal Church (the American member church of the Anglican Communion). Curry's 14-minute address, which quoted Martin Luther King Jr., emphasised the redemptive property of love;its unexpected length caused the service to overrun by eight minutes. Chaplain to the Queen The Reverend Prebendary Rose Hudson-Wilkin and Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London Anba Angaelos offered the prayers.
The marriage vows were those published in Common Worship, & included the promise to "to love and to cherish" each other. This was sealed by the exchange of rings. The wedding rings were created by Cleave & Company, with Markle's ring being fashioned out of Welsh gold & the Prince's ring made of platinum. After the signing of the registers, Harry & Markle together with the guests sang the national anthem. The couple paused briefly to bow & curtsey to the Queen before walking down the aisle. They were followed in procession by other members of the bridal party, & their families. The couple shared a kiss on the steps outside the chapel.
In April 2018, the couple requested that, rather than sending wedding gifts, people should make a donation to one of seven charitable organisations, none of which they had a formal association with. They included: CHIVA (Children's HIV Association); Crisis; The Myna Mahila Foundation; Scotty's Little Soldiers; StreetGames; Surfers Against Sewage; & the Wilderness Foundation UK.
Peak viewing figures of 18 million were reported in the UK. About 29 million were reported to have watched in the United States, up from the 23 million Americans who watched the wedding of Prince William & Catherine Middleton. The global audience was estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.
You can also watch the full wedding video free on our Royal Wedding Channel
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