A right royal do!
lucy Worsley helps to recreate Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s wedding…
Victoria & Albert: The Royal Wedding
Friday, 8.30pm BBC2
We’ve already seen two royal weddings this year, and historian Lucy Worsley makes it a third as she restages the nuptials of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Over the course of 12 months, Lucy and her team attempted to recreate everything from the vast guest list, to the elaborate wedding feast and the vows for the ceremony which, for the show, had to be staged in Winchester College Chapel rather than
The Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace where it was originally held.
Public celebration
What many people don’t realise is that this union was designed to be the ‘people’s wedding’. Sharing it with the public was a way of trying to save the monarchy as it was close to collapse.
‘It was fun because it made you ask questions that never come up in any other way, like how was the cake made,’ says Lucy. ‘It was like a little snapshot into so many things, and after two royal weddings this year it’s interesting to see what it was like in 1840.’
New traditions
The wedding was such a huge success that many elements, like Victoria’s white dress – unusual for the time – the tiered cake and the carriage ride along the streets are still traditions today.
Everything had to be recreated in an authentic manner, so the dress was hand-stitched and the cake could only be made once a special oversized tin was handmade.
‘It was an huge project,’ says Lucy. ‘But at times it was like looking back into history.’