LONDON (CU)_In the latest tribute to honour their late mother, Prince Harry and Prince William have given their consent to have Princess Diana’s wedding dress to be displayed for the public for the first time in 25 years. The famous wedding dress will take centre stage at the new exhibition, Royal Style in the Making, at Kensington Palace.
The full silk taffeta dress has gone on display only twice since she tied the knot with Prince Charles in July of 1981. It was last on display at Kensington Palace in 1995 before being exhibited at her childhood home, Althorp prior to her death in 1997.
The dress, with its billowing sleeves and lace flounces and 25ft (7.6m) sequin-encrusted train, was valued at £151,000 last year. It was created by David and Elizabeth Emanuel with an ivory silk tulle which featured 10,000 mother-of-pearl sequins, and a fitted bodice overlaid with antique Carrickmacross lace which originally belonged to Prince Charles’ great-grandmother, Queen Mary.
Last year, speaking to Hello! Magazine, David Emanuel described the young royal bride as “the most beautiful woman, inside and out”. “It’s not just the look and the frocks and the fashion. She genuinely was just sweet. She was very young,” he said.
He also revealed that he had sewn a tiny gold horseshoe to the dress for good luck. “We only told her on the wedding day,” he added. “She didn’t know about the horseshoe for good luck, she was very touched. She was traditional.”
The Royal Style in the Making exhibition is expected to shine a spotlight on the relationship between fashion designers and their royal clients. The event, which will open on 3 June, will feature several items never seen before, including the rare toile used for the 1937 coronation dress of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
“Our summer exhibition at Kensington Palace will shine a spotlight on some of the greatest talents of British design, whose work has been instrumental in shaping the visual identity of the royal family across the 20th century,” Matthew Storey, exhibition curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said.
“While one of the highlights will undoubtedly be Diana, Princess of Wales’s show-stopping Emanuel-designed wedding dress – which goes on show at the palace for the first time in 25 years – we’ve got some real surprises up our sleeve for fashion fans.”
