The Belle Époque Today: Historic Royal Wedding Dresses at Kensington Palace

As the world speculates as to the look of Catherine Middleton’s wedding dress, the Conservation and Heritage charity of The Historic Royal Palaces is giving us a chance to see the dresses from previous Royal weddings which may have given Kate some cues for both style and tradition.

Princess Charlotte's Wedding Dress, 1816
The Historic Royal Palaces

The collection includes the wedding gowns of five Royal women: At 195 years old, the senior member of the group is the gown worn by Princess Charlotte (the only daughter of King George IV) in 1816. Also featured are the gorgeous creations worn by Alexandra of Denmark (1863), Princess Mary of Teck (1893), Princess Margaret (1960) and Princess Alexandra of Kent (1963).

The conservators of the Historic Royal Palaces spent over 1000 hours preparing these gowns for viewing. According to the official press release circulated by Kensington Palace, the following data may be of interest to you:

Princess Margaret Rose's Wedding Dress
The Historic Royal Palaces

Wedding Dress Conservation in Numbers:

• 1000 hours were spent on treating and mounting the dresses (500 hours on Princess Charlotte’s dress alone)
• 6 expert textiles conservators with…
• …100 years combined textiles conservation experience
• 195 years – the age of the oldest royal wedding dress in the collection (Princess Charlotte’s dress)
• 12,000 – the number of items in the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection at Kensington Palace, cared for by independent charity Historic Royal Palaces
• 2012 – the year when Queen Victoria’s wedding dress will be publicly displayed at Kensington Palace in new permanent exhibition Victoria Revealed.

I would love to see this exhibition, but I won’t be anywhere near Kensington Palace any time soon. If you’re in London, this would be an excellent exhibit to see in lieu of going to the Royal wedding (in case your invitation was lost). If you’re nowhere near London, this video is as close as we’ll get.