An escape attempt thwarted by a prince’s entourage? Weddings can be stressful,
but which royal bride tried — and failed — three times to avoid saying her I dos?
Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton was unquestionably a lavish royal affair. Still,
some watching the royal event pointed out that the Duke of Cambridge struggled when it was
time to place a ring on his blushing bride. As noted by the Daily Mail, most people watching
likely assumed that the mishap was the result of nervousness. But, according to the outlet,
the real reason the couple went through that awkward moment was due to the Duchess
of Cambridge's ring being too small for her finger. The ring's size wasn't an accident,
though, as Middleton reportedly asked that it be made a size smaller, so it didn't fall off.
According to the outlet, Middleton may have requested the smaller band size because she
allegedly experienced an issue with her engagement ring being too large. Middleton reportedly asked
jewelers to alter the engagement ring so that it would fit her finger better. The
sapphire and diamond ring was previously worn by Princess Diana and is said to be
worth around £32 million. It's fair to say that you wouldn't want that to fall off your finger.
There's no question that weddings can be stressful affairs. And of course,
when it comes to televised royal weddings, the pressure is cranked up even further.
At one of the most anticipated royal events, the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana,
a few unfortunate gaffes occurred. Before 3,400 guests inside St Paul's Cathedral
and approximately 750 million watching from home,
Charles and Diana both mixed up their words. During the couple's vow exchange, instead of
referring to the Prince of Wales as "Charles Philip Arthur George," Princess Diana said:
"I, Diana Frances…"
"Take thee, Philip Charles Arthur George…"
Many put this mix-up down to nerves. And Princess Diana wasn't the only one that misspoke during
the couple's wedding vows. Prince Charles said "thy goods" instead of the correct "my worldly
goods." While neither mistake would have likely been noticeable at a smaller wedding,
it's definitely harder to brush off errors like these when you have a global audience.
Shortly before walking down the aisle, Princess Diana suffered a serious last-minute wardrobe
malfunction: she spilled perfume down the front of her David and Elizabeth Emanuel wedding gown.
The liquid ended up very noticeably staining the material. Attempts to clean the dress didn't work,
and Princess Diana was ultimately forced to place her hand over the spot,
as if she were lifting her dress to walk, to conceal the stain.
Apparently, the hand placement trick appeared to work, as none of the onlookers noticed the
stain. However, this wedding blunder wasn't the only problem with Princess
Diana's dress. Although Diana's wedding gown was stunning, the fabric had an apparent problem
with creases. One of the dress designers, Elizabeth, explained during an ITV spot
that while she knew the material would likely wrinkle, she was shocked by the end result.
"I was horrified, really,
because it was quite a lot of creasing. It was a lot more than we thought."
"We tried to think of everything that could possibly happen."
The designer added that she believed the problem
resulted from the lengthy dress being crammed into the princess' carriage.
The last thing that any bride wants to hear before her wedding day is that her
partner isn't in love with her. Sadly for Princess Diana, Prince Charles reportedly
told his soon-to-be Mrs. these words the night before they said "I do."
The claims came from Princess Diana's astrologer, Penny Thornton, who spoke about the late princess
for ITV's "The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess." Thornton revealed:
"One of the most shocking things that Diana told me was that the
night before the wedding Charles told her that he didn't love her."
The astrologer went on to say that she believed Prince Charles delivered
the harsh blow because he didn't want to get married under dishonest circumstances. Still,
Thornton declared that the princess was devastated, as any bride would be,
and said that after the news, Diana didn't want to have a wedding.
Additionally, the Independent reported that previously unseen video tapes recorded
Diana's feelings about her big day, in which she stated it was the, quote,
"worst day of my life." Similarly, royal wedding photographer Kent Gavin told Insider that while
everyone else seemed to enjoy the wedding, the princess spent the day visibly miserable, saying:
"It was a very happy occasion for everybody apart from Diana, sadly."
Even with extensive planning, wedding mishaps are bound to happen — even to monarchs like Queen
Elizabeth II. According to Hello! Magazine, Queen Elizabeth's wedding had a surprising last-minute
accident that almost turned into a big disaster. The queen was ready to walk down the aisle in her
stunning Sir Norman Hartnell white satin dress and the Queen Mary's Fringe Tiara. But unfortunately,
the headpiece ended up getting broken shortly before the ceremony. Speaking about the accident
during an exhibition of Kate Middleton's wedding dress in 2018, the queen revealed:
"The catch, which I didn't know existed, it suddenly went. [...] I
thought I'd broken it... We stuck it all together again, but I was rather alarmed."
In an interview with Marie Claire, the royal jewelry house Garrard recalled the incident,
and explained that on her wedding day, Queen Elizabeth's hairdresser broke the
tiara. The police escorted it to the jeweler's workshop for repair. The jewelers confirmed:
"We fixed the tiara that morning, had it sent back to Queen Elizabeth,
and then she got married in it."
With plenty of eyes following royal weddings, it's no surprise that some royal couples
experience serious pre-wedding jitters. For Princess Sophia Margarita Victoria
Frederica of Greece and her groom Prince Juan Carlos, the pressure was cranked up even more.
This couple had not one, not two, but three weddings — all of which took place in Athens,
Greece. The first was a Catholic ceremony at the Cathedral of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite,
the second a Greek Orthodox wedding at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation,
and the third a civil rite at the Royal Palace in Athens.
With that many weddings to keep track of — and that many opportunities for error — it's no shock
that Princess Sophia fell victim to a blunder on one of her big days. According to Vogue,
the mishap occurred during the pair's third ceremony. Reportedly, the princess was so
caught up in the excitement that she tripped on her Jean Dessès wedding gown. The dress,
which was created out of silver and white lamé and covered in tulle and antique lace, also included
a 16-foot train. Still, despite the mistake, the ceremony continued on, and Princess Sophia
relinquished her ties to the Greek monarchy, changing her name to its Spanish variation, Sofía.
Royal wedding mishaps have happened all throughout history, as proven by Marie Antoinette's big day.
The French Queen had a big issue: her dress, a full-skirted silver gown with clumps of
white diamonds, was stunning — but it didn't fit. Due to miscalculating the bride's size,
the back of her dress wouldn't close, as author Caroline Weber explained in the book "Queen
of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution." This mistake resulted in a strange
gap that revealed Antoinette's undergarments, which appeared between the rows of diamonds.
"This is ridiculous."
"This, Madame, is Versailles."
The young Austrian was only fourteen years old when she married the future
King Louis XVI in the royal chapel at the Palace of Versailles, and thus her
body was still growing. This important fact likely wasn't taken into account,
which led to the resulting too-small bodice that couldn't be fastened. According to one attendee,
the ill-fitting gown was obvious. Via "Queen of Fashion," she noted:
"The corps of her robe was too small and left quite a broad stripe of lacing and
shift quite visible, which had a bad effect between two broader stripes of diamonds."
Many prospective brides fantasize about the perfect wedding; however, Princess Charlene
of Monaco may have been fantasizing about how to escape hers. According to Marie Claire,
various reports stated that the princess tried to leave Monaco a total of three
times to avoid her July wedding, but she was prevented from doing so each time.
Supposedly, the first attempt happened after the media reported that Prince Albert
had conceived a child with another woman during his relationship with Charlene. The
princess' alleged second attempt to leave Monaco during the 2010 Grand Prix was stopped by some
of Prince Albert's people, who reportedly confiscated her passport. Charlene's final
effort to flee is said to have happened just two days before the pair were wed.
Per Le Journal du Dimanche, the princess booked a one-way ticket back to her home
in South Africa but was stopped on her way to leave and convinced to stay for the wedding.
"It is a lot of work, and it has been a lot of work,
and a lot of sometimes slightly difficult moments."
The couple then tied the knot in a luxurious three-day wedding that cost approximately £53
million. The media reported that Charlene was seen openly weeping throughout the day. However,
the princess somewhat refuted such claims, telling The Times:
"Everything was just so overwhelming and there were all the mixed emotions because
of the rumours, and obviously the tension built up and I burst into tears. And then I burst into
tears some more because I was thinking 'Oh no, now the whole world has seen me cry.'"
While a royal romance sounds like a dream come true, the couple doesn't always get
their happily ever after. As noted by Town & County, Princess Margaret's relationship
with Captain Peter Townsend initially began eight years after meeting, when the Countess
of Snowdon was 22 years old. While the duo tried to keep their relationship private,
the press furthered rumors about their romance by speculating about the couple. Still,
it was the pair's desire to tie the knot that ultimately led to
serious public conflict. The issue? Townsend's status as a divorcé.
Both the Church of England and parliament made it clear they were against the couple getting
married. In 1955, Princess Margaret announced that she was calling off the wedding after
learning she would lose all her royal privileges if she chose to go ahead and marry Townsend.
According to Noel Botham's book "Margaret: The Last Real Princess," Townsend knew that
he couldn't make up for all that the princess would have lost by marrying him. As such,
he wasn't resentful about her decision not to proceed.