A custom-built Greek temple? A gown made from 100 yards of silk?
Royalty around the world spare no expense when it comes to their nuptials.
Although Princess Margaret's marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones would not last,
her royal wedding would forever be cemented in history. Their wedding on May 6, 1960,
was the first royal wedding to have ever been televised.
Over 20 million people watched from their screens as the couple exchanged vows at Westminster Abbey,
and an additional 2,000 guests attended the event in person. According to Express,
the wedding likely cost around £26,000 at the time. That would be over £168,000 — about
$212,000 — today. And that's just their wedding. The couple's honeymoon is thought
to have been even more expensive. We're talking over twice as much as the wedding itself. Whew.
In 1956, an American "commoner" married a royal in one expensive royal wedding in
Monaco. Hollywood actress Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III
of Monaco married at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Monaco on April 18, 1956.
According to Harper's Baazar, Kelly's wedding gown,
which was 100 yards of quality silk and 25 yards of taffeta,
cost around $8,000 in 1956. That's over $100,000 today. Her father, millionaire John Kelly,
also needed to provide a dowry of $2 million before his daughter could marry the prince.
In 2010, the Swedish royal family celebrated the union of Crown Princess Victoria and
Daniel Westling. The ceremony took place at the Storkyrkan Cathedral in Stockholm,
Sweden. The couple's big day was broadcast on television and watched by nearly 5 million people.
An additional 200,000 people took to the city to get a glimpse of the bride and groom.
According to Sweden's The Local, the affair was estimated to cost $2.63 million. According
to Swedish royal treasurer Jan Lindman, approximately half was set to come "from
the government" — a.k.a. taxpayers — and "the rest" would be the responsibility of the king.
Just as the world was going through royal wedding withdrawal, after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's
nuptials, Princess Eugenie married her longtime partner, Jack Brooksbank. The two were pronounced
husband and wife at George's Chapel at Windsor Castle — the same venue Harry and Meghan used.
Express has reported that it’s believed the royal wedding likely cost about $3.3 million.
Harper's Bazaar has estimated that Eugenie's wedding gown alone
likely set the royal family back by at least $135,000. All such things come at a pretty penny.
"How would you describe each other in just three words?"
"She's just a bright shining light."
Spending a few million bucks or so on a wedding may be hard to fathom,
but that's really chump change compared to the cost of Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece
and Marie-Chantal Miller's wedding. The couple wed at St. Sophia's Cathedral in London back in 1995.
Miller wore a pearl-encrusted Valentino gown with a 13-foot Chantilly lace
train — and it took 25 seamstresses a whopping four months to create.
The wedding even included a custom-built Greek temple and garden. All said and done,
the New York Times reported that the wedding set the prince's parents back a total of $8 million.
Prince William and Kate Middleton had one pricey royal wedding.
Business Insider has said that their 2011 wedding totaled an incredible $34 million.
It has been revealed by CBS News that all but $2 million went toward paying for security.
A large portion of the leftover cash went toward Kate's stunning Alexander McQueen
gown, which carried a price tag of nearly a half-million dollars.
Although it's not uncommon for the British royal family to foot the
bill for the majority of royal wedding-related expenses, Kate's family reportedly contributed
a great deal to the couple's ceremony. We do get it, William. Weddings are expensive.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding in May 2018 wasn't cheap. In fact,
it was more expensive than Prince William and Kate's wedding. Ahead of the couple's big day,
the wedding planning site Bridebook revealed that the affair was expected
to cost "over 100 times" the price of the average wedding in the U.K.
The couple's wedding was estimated to have cost between $40 million and $42.8 million.
The venue, St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle,
was thought to be the single highest expense aside from security. No, it wasn't
a cheap day by any stretch of the imagination. However, the royals paid for most of the bill.
Monaco's Prince Albert II married Charlene Wittstock in 2011. And, much like Prince
Rainier III and Grace Kelly's royal wedding, the modern-day couple's wedding was über expensive.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the wedding costs tallied up to $70 million.
The wedding took place at the royal palace in Monaco.
Despite the glitz and glamor of the wedding, though, rumors took center stage that day.
Some claimed Wittstock was suffering from cold feet and was going to call the whole
thing off. The couple did indeed get married and are still together.
“And wuv…twue wuv…”
Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer's union in 1981 was not only a big day for the royal
couple — it became the most expensive British royal wedding of all time. The wedding was
reported to have cost anywhere from $70 million to $110 million, according to Business Insider.
Diana's wedding gown alone cost six figures. The train of Diana's wedding dress was 25 feet long,
and, believe it or not, her veil was even longer. Factor in the sky high
costs of the couple's beautiful venue, decorations, and florals,
and you can see how this wedding truly became the "wedding of the century."
"I don't know, what did you think of me?"
"Pretty amazing."
The Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark had a lavish royal wedding that
was the perfect happy ending to their fairytale romance. Frederik first met Mary in Sydney during
the 2000 Olympics. After the prince happened to meet the then-marketing executive at a bar,
the pair started a long-distance relationship. She even had to learn Danish, convert to Lutheranism,
and give up her Australian citizenship to make the relationship work. Just one year later,
Mary moved to Denmark, and, by 2003, the pair was engaged.
Their extravagant royal wedding took place on May 14, 2004. The wedding was truly something
out of a storybook. Mary wore a stunning off-the-shoulder satin gown with a 19-foot train
along with a lace veil previously worn by Princess Margaretha from Sweden. The Bishop
of Copenhagen officiated. Outside, thousands of royal fans gathered and waved flags from both
Denmark and Australia. It's hard to imagine a more romantic story or a more beautiful wedding!
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi and Princess Salama of the United Arab Emirates
got married in 1981, and the pair had one of the most expensive weddings in history. According to
Rarest, the price at the time was estimated to cost over $100,000,000 by today's standards.
The sheikh's parents built a 20,000-seat stadium for the occasion. The celebrations
reportedly lasted for a whole week, during which the sheikh rode on horseback to every
town in the emirate to celebrate with his subjects around the country. There
were also 20 camels covered in jewels which reportedly carried the couple's wedding presents
to the bride on their wedding day. It really doesn't get much more extravagant than this!
King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain tied the knot in 2004 at Madrid's Cathedral Santa Maria
la Real de la Alundena — and, as you might expect, the wedding was pretty spectacular. For a start,
the bride was presented with an engagement ring reportedly worth $24,000, according to Express..
The wedding celebrations lasted a whole week and included a dinner for 350 guests.
Roughly 25 million people watched the ceremony itself on TV
and on huge screens mounted throughout the city. Huge crowds turned up even though
the wedding took place on a rainy day! The bride's gown, designed by Manuel Pertegaz,
featured a four-and-a-half meter train. She also wore a Prussian tiara and diamond earrings.
In 2004, Al-Muhtadee Billah Bolkiah, Crown Prince of Brunei, married Sarah Salleh,
a "commoner," in a wedding that's considered to be one of the most lavish in history.
The pair even arrived in a limo adorned with gold.
The ceremony took place on September 9, 2004, in Istana Nurul Iman Palace in Bandar Seri Begawan.
They followed Malay traditions and celebrated for two whole weeks. After the ceremony,
the pair drove through the streets in a procession featuring 103 limousines and cars along with
a marching band. Clearly, this was a wedding that the people of Brunei would never forget.