Royal weddings may be hugely important occasions for the monarchies of Europe, but that doesn't
mean they always go off without a hitch.
Wondering which iconic royal got her husband's name wrong at the altar?
Keep watching to find out.
With all eyes on the soon-to-be princess, the hours leading up to Lady Diana Spencer's
nuptials must have been unbelievably nerve-wracking.
Indeed, this was apparently true enough that, when she went to apply one of her favorite
perfumes, she spilled the bottle, staining her extravagant gown.
In Rosalind Coward's book Diana: The Portrait, Barbara Daly, Diana's wedding makeup artist,
recounted the incident.
According to Daly, Diana anxiously told her:
"I've just spilled some [perfume] on the front of the dress.
They'll kill me."
Together, they decided that the best solution was to try and tuck the stain in the front
of the dress, but this apparently didn't work as well as they had hoped.
For most of the ceremony, the bouquet did the job of concealing the stain, but in the
moments in which she wasn't holding her flowers, it's thought that she was forced to awkwardly
hide the stain with her hand.
And the stain wasn't the only unexpected hiccup with Diana's wedding dress.
The gown also became horribly wrinkled in the carriage ride to St. Paul's Cathedral.
Elizabeth Emanuel told ITV in the 2018 documentary Invitation to a Royal Wedding:
"We did know it would crease a bit but when I saw her arrive at St. Paul's and we saw
the creasing I actually felt faint.
I was horrified, really, because it was quite a lot of creasing."
Nerves continued to affect Princess Diana even after she got to the altar, and, during
her vows, she mistakenly recited Prince Charles' name wrong.
"I, Diana Francis," "I, Diana Francis,"
"Take thee, Charles Philip Arthur George," "Take thee, Philip Charles Arthur George…"
But with a name like "Charles Philip Arthur George," who can blame her for saying "Philip
Charles Arthur George" instead?
However, the fact that Philip was actually Diana's father-in-law's first name reportedly
led to some family teasing.
Andrew Morton, in his book, Andrew: The Playboy Prince, claimed that Prince Andrew jokingly
said to Diana after the ceremony:
"You married my father."
But for many, this wedding day blunder made Diana seem relatable.
As Barbara Walters noted at the time:
"All it did was endear her more to her people because it was human and understandable."
Princess Diana wasn't the only one who experienced some awkward moments during that royal wedding,
however.
In the middle of the ceremony, Prince Charles mistakenly recited his vows as, "all thy goods
I share with thee" instead of "all my worldly goods I share with thee."
He then forgot to kiss his bride at the altar, though many have wondered whether this was
merely due to nerves or if it was a subconscious snub.
After all, it is said that Camilla, Charles' ex-girlfriend and future wife, was a guest
at the wedding.
Diana even later admitted that this made her nervous.
She told her biographer, Andrew Morton:
"I knew she was there, of course.
I looked for her."
Still, Charles and Diana's wedding made up for its lost kiss by introducing a new one:
the Buckingham Palace balcony kiss, an iconic moment that has since become tradition for
royal newlyweds.
Prior to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding in 2018, Meghan's father, Thomas Markle,
became the subject of a media whirlwind.
It was revealed that he had staged photos with the paparazzi and frequently spoke with
tabloid media outlets about his daughter's impending nuptials.
Markle publicly flip-flopped several times on his decision of whether or not to attend
the royal ceremony.
When The Mirror asked if he would "walk his daughter down the aisle," he answered that
he would "love to."
Months later, however, he said he wouldn't go because he didn't want to embarrass his
daughter.
He then changed his mind again and claimed he would attend after all, before finally
announcing that he would stay at home, citing health issues as the reason.
Meghan subsequently released an official statement via Twitter announcing that her father would
not be in attendance.
"I don't like to say it but I gotta say it — I don't know of anybody that's that cold."
So it was obviously a little awkward when the guests arrived and saw that the official
wedding program had incorrectly printed:
"The Bride, having been greeted by the Dean of Windsor, moves in procession through the
Nave where she is joined by her Father, Mr. Thomas Markle, to the High Altar."
Due to her father's absence, Meghan Markle walked down the aisle with her father-in-law-to-be,
Prince Charles.
Kate Middleton famously received Princess Diana's sapphire engagement ring when Prince
William proposed to her.
Her wedding band, however, is made of Welsh gold, following in the tradition of British
royal brides before her.
This convention began in 1923 with Prince William's great grandmother, Elizabeth Bowes
Lyon, and up until his wedding to Kate Middleton, all of the royal wedding rings had actually
been made from the same piece of Welsh gold that was gifted to Lyon.
While probably created from a different piece of gold, Middleton's ring was specially made
for her by a London jeweler.
Reportedly, she had recently lost weight and had to have the precious Diana heirloom resized,
so she went ahead and ordered the wedding band in a smaller size, as well.
But as it turns out, that size was ever so slightly too small.
When it came time for Prince William to put the ring on his bride during his vows, he
struggled to get it over her knuckle and onto her finger.
They allegedly laugh about the mishap, however, and an anonymous insider told the Daily Mail:
"It has now become a subject of amusement to her and William."
Royals rarely shy away from extravagance when it comes to their wedding gowns, but heavy
fabrics and long trains aren't exactly easy to walk in.
Add that to the nervousness and excitement of their big day, and there are bound to be
some trips and falls.
And that's exactly what happened to then-Princess Sofía of Greece when she married then-Prince
Juan Carlos of Spain in 1962.
Reportedly, the royal couple had three weddings due to their different nationalities and religions:
a Catholic ceremony, a Greek Orthodox ceremony, and a civil union.
The young princess wore the same dress throughout each of the weddings.
The gown was created by French designer Jean Dessès, made of silver and white lamé, and
covered in antique lace.
Unhelpfully, it also had a 16-foot train.
During the third ceremony, the princess supposedly tripped over her dress because she was so
excited.
Then again, with that much fabric, it's impressive that she even made it through the first two
weddings.
The upside to having a wedding party composed of kids under the age of 5 is that they're
totally adorable.
The downside is that, sometimes, children can be a little tricky to work with.
For example, one mini bridesmaid photobombed William and Kate's balcony kiss and quickly
became the star of the day.
The Buckingham Palace balcony kiss has become one of the most iconic royal wedding moments
ever since Charles and Diana initiated the tradition, but for William and Kate, their
moment turned viral thanks to a scowling little girl who later became known as "the grumpy
bridesmaid."
Reportedly, the crowd's cheers were too loud for the 3-year-old Grace van Cutsem, and she
was caught on camera covering her ears and looking a bit distressed.
The photo became one of the most memorable of the whole royal wedding.
If you know anything about the British royal family, then you're probably already aware
of the long and dramatic story of Prince Charles' affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.
Especially after this:
"Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
After decades spent apart, though reportedly very much in love, the controversial couple
finally found their happy ending when they got married in 2005.
But their wedding demanded a few admissions.
If it wasn't already awkward enough for the whole world to know about their affair, Camilla
and Charles had to "acknowledge" their "sins" in front of the whole wedding congregation
before they could officially be married by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
They both recited a confession from The Book of Common Prayer, which reads:
"We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time,
most grievously have committed, by thought, word and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty,
Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us."
Not exactly the words every little girl dreams of saying on their wedding day.
It's expected that a bride might cry happy tears on her big day, but the tears that soon-to-be
Princess Charlene Wittstock shed during her 2011 wedding didn't seem very joyous.
It was reported that she was upset with her betrothed Albert, the Prince of Monaco and
son of Grace Kelly, due to rumors of infidelity.
Suspicions arose that Prince Albert had not only been unfaithful to Wittstock, but had
fathered a child, too.
Robert Lacey, a British historian and royal biographer, remembered of the nuptials:
"When he goes to kiss her on their wedding day, she recoils in some way."
Charlene explained her tears later, saying:
"There were all the mixed emotions because of the rumors 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.'"
Royal weddings are pretty exclusive affairs, and the guest lists are chosen very carefully
— so some found it a bit odd that not one, but two of Prince Harry's exes showed up at
his ceremony.
Cressida Bonas and Chelsy Davy were former girlfriends of the prince, and both were invited
and attended the wedding.
Wedding etiquette expert Elaine Swann weighed in on the appropriateness of Prince Harry
inviting former lovers to the event and told The New York Times:
"There were only 600 people invited, and these were two of them?
I don't know what purpose it served for them being there, or for any ex, to be at a wedding."
According to Swann, inviting your ex can add unnecessary awkwardness for everyone:
"It puts the spouse in an uncomfortable position, it puts the ex in an uncomfortable position.
[...] It also makes the guests who know that individual feel uneasy."
And she might be onto something, too, considering the expression caught on Chelsy Davy's face
during the televised event.
When horses are involved, things can sometimes get a little dangerous — as proven on William
and Kate's wedding day.
During the procession that followed the wedding, one of the horses near the royal couple's
carriage nearly caused a disaster.
ABC News reported at the time that the horse was "spooked by the crowds" and "threw its
rider and bolted past the newly married couple."
The crowd was shocked as they watched the horse fall, knock its rider off, run off,
and nearly take its rider with it.
Garrison Sergeant Major Bill Mott, the organizer of the post-wedding parade, told People magazine
that the horse, quote, "was bee-lining down Whitehall to get to Horse Guards guardroom,"
to the stables where he was typically fed.
Thankfully, no one was hurt, mostly due to the professionalism of the rider and the horse
guards, who caught the free-running animal quickly.
Only a few hours before the wedding of Princess Elizabeth, future Queen Elizabeth II, the
bride's heirloom tiara broke into two pieces.
The tiara had been made for her grandmother in 1919 and was passed down to her mother,
who in turn, lent it to her daughter, the future queen, to wear as "something borrowed."
But as is often the case with antique family heirlooms, the structure was delicate and
easily broken when her hairdresser tried to secure it to her veil.
Panic set in as Elizabeth worried she wouldn't get to wear the tiara; luckily, a palace jeweler
was on standby to swoop in and save the day.
The tiara was swiftly taken to the jeweler and was welded back in place and returned
to the young princess just in time for the ceremony.
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