29 July 2024 marks 43 years since the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Taking place on a sunny summer’s day in 1981, the lavish event was complete with much pomp and ceremony – from the service at St Paul’s Cathedral to the couples’ appearance on the famous Buckingham Palace balcony – and was widely dubbed the ‘wedding of the century’.
The event cost a staggering £57 million and was watched by a record-breaking 750 million television viewers in 74 countries. The ceremony alone was attended by 3,500 guests, while a further 600,000 gathered to see the newlyweds process through the streets. Ahead of the 40th anniversary of the event, author Emma Craigie revisited the historic milestone in the Mail on Sunday, offering a behind-the-scenes look at what went on.
Read on for the most significant insights into how the wedding unfolded.
Crowds outside Buckingham Palace celebrating the Royal WeddingSerge Lemoine / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Tuesday 28 July, 1981
10am. On the eve of the momentous day, crowds began to gather in the streets, camping out along the route to St Paul’s Cathedral – including 14-year-old future prime minister David Cameron, who arrived to claim a spot on The Mall at 10am.
7.30pm. The Queen Mother was joined by her former lady-in-waiting, Lady Fermoy (Diana’s grandmother) at Clarence House, where the friends reportedly watched Dad’s Army. Meanwhile an anxious Diana had dinner with her sister, Lady Fellowes, elsewhere in the house. Diana later told her biographer, Andrew Morton, that she ‘had a very bad fit of bulimia’ that night. Her soon-to-be husband Charles sent over ‘a very nice signet ring’, accompanied by a note reading: ‘I’m so proud of you and when you come up I’ll be there at the altar for you tomorrow. Just look ’em in the eye and knock ’em dead.’
9.25pm. The Queen hosted a dinner at Buckingham Palace for 90 international dignitaries visiting London for the wedding, including the then US first lady Nancy Reagan, in attendance without her husband, president Ronald Reagan.
9.55pm. Charles lit the first bonfire – one of hundreds that were ignited in a chain across the country. A huge screen showed Diana’s younger brother, then an Eton pupil, Charles Spencer, lighting a bonfire at the Spencer family seat, Althorp House.
10.10pm. Half a million people congregated in Hyde Park to witness a royal fireworks display, set to Handel’s 1749 composition Music For The Royal Fireworks.
11pm. Lady Pamela Hicks, mother of the then 13-year-old bridesmaid India Hicks, was reportedly anxious about getting her young daughter home to bed ahead of the big day. Princess Margaret reportedly suggested, however, that Earl Mountbatten’s granddaughter should stay with her and her daughter, chief bridesmaid Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, at Kensington Palace.
Meanwhile, Princess Diana is said to have had trouble sleeping at Clarence House on account of the singing crowds, and went downstairs for a glass of orange juice. There, she spots the bike of the Queen Mother’s Steward, William Tallon, which she reportedly climbs aboard, cycling in circles and ringing the bell, while singing: ‘I’m going to marry the Prince of Wales tomorrow!’
12am. At Buckingham Palace, Charles looked out of a window to see police officers at the end of the Mall removing their helmets to join in with the revelry, doing the Hokey Cokey with the throngs of excited well wishers.
The most extravagant weddings of all time
Wednesday 29 July
5am. Diana awoke feeling ‘very, very calm, deathly calm’, later recalling: ‘I felt I was a lamb to the slaughter. I knew it and couldn’t do anything about it.’
7am. Hairdresser Kevin Shanley and makeup artist Barbara Daly arrived at Clarence House, while 5,000 police and military officers gathered ready along the two-mile procession route, including some armed officers in disguise as carriage footmen. Sharpshooters were also placed on rooftops, to combat a potential IRA attack.
7.45am. The bridesmaids arrived at Clarence House, with India Hicks recalling a scene of ‘organised mayhem, really wonderful – the hustle and bustle of a bride’. Diana was reportedly watching ITV’s coverage of the wedding day on a portable television, and joined her bridesmaids in singing along to the Cornetto adverts during the breaks.
8am. Street parties began to be set up across the country, ready for the public to join in with the celebrations with their local communities.
9am. Back at Clarence House, the bridesmaids and Diana were dressed and ready, with the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret looking on. As they admired Diana’s wedding dress, one of its designers, David Emanuel, is said to have popped out from beneath it, where he was hooking on the petticoat, much to everyone’s amusement. While applying her scent, Quelques Fleurs, Diana accidentally spilt some on the gown. Her makeup artist advised that she cover it by holding that spot on the dress when she entered the cathedral.
10am. The 3,500 guests arrived at St Paul’s Cathedral and were shown to their labelled seats.
The Queen Mother arriving for the wedding at St Paul’s CathedralJayne Fincher / Princess Diana Archive / Getty Images
10.42am. A procession of eight carriages from Buckingham Palace at the cathedral, bearing the Royal Family.
10.50am. Prince Charles walked up the aisle with his best men, his two younger brothers, Princes Andrew and Edward, accompanied by Purcell’s Trumpet Tune. Meanwhile Diana departed Clarence House with her father, Earl Spencer, in a glass carriage, later stating: ‘Father was so thrilled, he waved himself stupid.’
Princess Diana arriving in the royal coach for her wedding to Prince CharlesPrincess Diana Archive / Getty Images
11.20am. Diana’s carriage arrived at the cathedral, with BBC commentator Tom Fleming commenting: ‘For the first time we see in all its glory… that dress!’ Angela Rippon added: ‘What a dream she looks… that’s a sight any man would be happy to see coming down the aisle.’ Bridesmaids Sarah Armstrong-Jones and India Hicks helped manoeuvre the 25ft silk taffeta train – the longest in wedding history – with India recalling: ‘We realised to our horror that the train had been completely crumpled in the small carriage.’
11.23am. Diana and Earl Spencer made their three-and-a-half-minute walk up the aisle, which Fleming dubbed ‘the longest and happiest walk she will ever take’. Diana reportedly spotted the ‘pale grey, veiled pillbox hat’ of Camilla Parker Bowles (today the Duchess of Cornwall) among the crowd.
11.38am. There were a few hiccups as the couple made their vows, with Diana getting the order of Charles’s name wrong, while he said he would endow ‘thy worldly goods’ as opposed to his own. Yet when Diana said, ‘I will’, the congregation heard cheers from the throngs outside, where the service was being broadcast on speakers.
12pm. The then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, addressed the congregation, before Charles and Diana signed the register, as opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa performed Handel’s Let The Bright Seraphim. Makeup artist Barbara Daly squeezed in a quick touch up of Diana’s lipstick and powder out of public view.
12.27pm. The newlyweds departed the cathedral from the West Door and climbed into an open-top 1902 state landau pulled by four white horses, cheered by the joyful crowds. Camilla’s then husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, rode alongside the carriage as it made its way to Buckingham Palace, in his capacity as the Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry Regiment.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles being escorted through London in an open horsedrawn carriage after getting married at St Paul’s CathedralJayne Fincher / Getty Images
1.10pm. The royal party arrived at Buckingham Palace and waved from the balcony, where Charles and Diana kissed – much to the light of the ecstatic crowd. Diana later spoke of feeling ‘tremendous hope’ at that moment.
2pm. After the official photographs were taken, 120 guests attended the wedding breakfast, where Charles and Diana sat beside each other but were reportedly too ‘shattered’ to speak. The youngest bridesmaid, four-year-old Clementine Hambro, sat on Diana’s lap. Guests dined on dishes including brill with lobster sauce and chicken breast stuffed with lamb, followed by strawberries and clotted cream.
3pm. Diana departed the wedding breakfast and went upstairs to change into her going-away outfit, aided by her sisters and two oldest bridesmaids. India Hicks recalled that it ‘all felt very girly and giggly and wonderful.’ Diana also phoned the designers of her wedding gown, David and Elizabeth Emanuel, to express her gratitude for what a success it had been.
4pm. The Queen, Queen Mother and Princess Margaret waved goodbye to Charles and Diana, who departed the Palace in a going-away carriage. Decorated by Princes Andrew and Edward, it was adorned with balloons and a handmade sign, reading: ‘Just Married’. The couple then arrived at Waterloo and set off in the Royal Train for the Mountbatten estate of Broadlands in Hampshire – the same country retreat where the Queen and Prince Philip honeymooned in 1947.
7pm. Brigades of street cleaners were sent out to see to the aftermath left by the throngs of revellers in London.
Having gone to bed ‘for a minute’ to rest ahead of a celebratory ball, India Hicks woke up 11 hours later to find that she had missed it, later lamenting: ‘I’ve never forgiven my mother!’ In the subsequent weeks, India received fan mail from royal enthusiasts. Her mother instructed her that she must write a thank you note to every letter.
Following their stay in Hampshire, Charles and Diana flew to Gibraltar for a Mediterranean voyage aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. They concluded their honeymoon on the banks of the River Dee in Balmoral, the Queen’s Scottish estate.
