At last... something William and Harry actually agree on
Feuding princes show
WILLIAM and Harry have agreed to put their mother Princess Diana’s wedding dress on show at Kensington Palace for the first time in 25 years.
The princes, who took ownership of the dress when they both reached 30 in line with Diana’s wishes, have set aside their feud and agreed to loan the dress out to Historic Royal Palaces.
It will form part of an exhibition examining the relationship between fashion designers and their royal clients.
The exhibition, Royal Style In The Making, will open in the newly renovated 18th century Orangery at the palace on June 3.
And Diana’s dress, with its billowing sleeves, bows and lace flounces, will be the showcase attraction.
William, 38, and Harry, 36, were first approached about loaning out the dress in 2017.
Rare
The gown, designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel for Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding to the Prince of Wales in 1981, features a fitted bodice overlaid at the centre, both front and back, with panels of antique Carrickmacross lace that originally belonged to Queen Mary, Charles’s great grandmother.
Its gently scooped neckline and large puffed sleeves are trimmed with bows and deep ruffles of taffeta, a style popularised by Diana in the early 1980s.
The full skirt is supported on a mountain of stiff net petticoats to create its famous silhouette. Diana’s ivory silk tulle featured 10,000 mother-of-pearl sequins.
The exhibition will feature a number of never-before-seen items, including the rare surviving working prototype for the 1937 coronation dress of King George VI’s wife Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother.
The toile, created by Londonbased court designer Madame Handley-Seymour, features golden national emblems embodying a message of continuity at the start of the unexpected new reign of George VI, following the abdication of Edward VIII.
Matthew Storey, exhibition curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said: “Our summer exhibition at Kensington Palace will shine a spotlight on some of the greatest
Diana wedding dress talents of British design, whose work has been instrumental in shaping the visual identity of the Royal Family across the 20th century.
“We’ll be exploring how the partnership between each designer and client worked and revealing the process behind the creation of a number of the most important couture commissions in royal history.
“While one of the highlights will undoubtedly be Diana, Princess of Wales’s show-stopping Emanueldesigned 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.”
Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, had her wedding dress for many years. He put it on display at the Spencer family home, Althorp in Northamptonshire, and took it on an exhibition tour.
There had been speculation that the public might not see it for many years when William and Harry were given it around six years ago.
Royal Style
In
The
Making, which runs until January 2, 2022, will also feature unseen items from the archives of some of the most celebrated royal couturiers of the 20th century.
It promises to be one of the highlights of a London summer tourist season restricted by the pandemic. Tickets, costing £25.30 for adults, will be limited because of social distancing.
A Historic Royal Palaces spokesman said: “What it means is there has ever been a better time to come to Kensington. It’s Kensington without the crowds.”