Prince Charles And Princess Diana’s Wedding: 14 Secret Details You Didn’t Know About

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13. Camilla Parker Bowles Was Invited to the Wedding

Diana was reportedly well aware of Charles’ feelings for Camilla prior to their wedding and had been heartbroken when she saw that her fiancé had a bracelet monogrammed for his former lover. Surprisingly, Camilla was invited to the wedding, but Diana had refused to have her at the more exclusive wedding breakfast that took place at Buckingham Palace.

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12. She Called Him by the wrong Name During Their Vows

According to the BBC, while saying her vows, Princess Diana called Charles by the wrong name. She called him “Philip Charles Arthur George” instead of “Charles Philip Arthur George.” This can probably just be chalked up to wedding jitters!

Photo by Mike Hollist / Daily Mail / Rex Features

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11. There Were 27 Cakes

Twenty-seven cakes were served at the couple’s wedding. The official cake was a five-foot-tall layered fruitcake that was decorated with Prince Charles’ coat of arms, the Spencer family crest and flowers, and it weighed 225 pounds! There were two official wedding cakes made just in case one was damaged.

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10. There Was a Backup Wedding Dress

Prior to the wedding, Princess Diana’s dress was a heavily guarded secret. The designers actually had a backup wedding dress just in case her wedding dress was revealed before the big day. The backup gown was very similar to the dress that Diana wore but didn’t have the signature lace.

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9. She Left the Word “Obey” Out from Her Wedding Vows

In her wedding vows, Lady Diana Spencer broke with royal precedent when she decided not to promise to obey Prince Charles. Instead, she promised to “love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health.” When Kate Middleton and Prince William were married, they followed in her footsteps and decided to remove the word from their vows.

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8. Her Dress Got Wrinkled in the Carriage

Diana’s wedding dress had a 25-foot train, which ended up causing problems on her wedding day. The designers of her dress didn’t factor in how small the glass carriage she would traveling would be and the dress and its train ended up being crushed inside. When she arrived at the cathedral, there were visible wrinkles, which her bridesmaids tried to shake out.

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7. He Wept the Night Before

Prince Charles reportedly wept the night before he married Diana and told one of his aides, “I can’t go through with it.” The same aide said that the prince had realized that his bride-to-be wasn’t “the jolly country he had assumed” and was instead a vulnerable and complicated woman who struggled with an eating disorder.

Mirrorpix/Courtesy Everett Collection

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6. Hidden Message in Her Shoe

The shoes that Princess Diana wore on her wedding day had a hidden message that was a tribute to Prince Charles. On the arches of the soles, a small “C and D” were painted right under the heel with a heart in-between. No one ever saw the secret message though because she would have had to fall over.

Photo by Tim Stewart News / Rex Features

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5. Her Tiara Gave Her a Headache

Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, revealed that the tiara that she wore on her wedding day gave her a splitting headache. “In the evening we all went to a sort of semi-private party and she was there and she seemed incredibly relaxed and happy and I just remember she had a cracking headache too because she wasn’t used to wearing a tiara all morning,” he said.

Photo by Rex Features

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4. She Spilled a Bottle of Perfume on Her Dress

On the big day, Diana accidentally spilled some perfume on her gorgeous dress as she was trying to put some of it on her wrists. This is why she can be seen in pictures lifting the front of her dress or covering part of it with her hand – she was trying to hide the perfume spot on the dress! Fortunately, no one actually noticed it.

Courtesy Everett Collection

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3. He Didn’t Seal His Vows with a Kiss

At the wedding, Prince Charles forgot to seal his vows with a kiss. However, hours later, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, he made up for it by kissing her there, which delighted the crowd. This started the tradition of the groom kissing the bride in public view on the balcony, which Prince William and Kate Middleton followed.

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2. She Lost a Lot of Weight

Prior to the wedding, Princess Diana was losing weight and designer had to make five separate bodices to fit her shrinking waist. When she was first measured, her waist was 29 inches but, by the big day, it was only 23.5 inches. Every time that she turned up for a fitting, she had lost more weight. In the end, Diana had come in for 15 fittings and the designers had to sew her into the dress on her wedding day.

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1. She Had Cold Feet

Lady Diana had cold feet before the wedding. She had told her biographer, Andrew Morton, that she had confided in her sisters before the big day, telling them, “I can’t marry him, I can’t do this, this is absolutely unbelievable.” They told her that it was too late to pull out because her face was “already on the tea towels.”

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Cate

Cate has a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature and has been the Managing Editor of Fame10 for more than 6 years. Despite having a love for the works of Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy and Lord Byron, she also has an intense fascination with pop culture. When she isn’t writing for Fame10, she’s planning her next big adventure in Southeast Asia.