Kate Middleton’s ranked royal wedding dresses to Queen Letizia – costing £ 6million?
Ruben B. Hughes
3 min read
Over the years, everything related to weddings has become more and more expensive; from the venue to the flowers, the dress worn by a bride also increased in price. For a royal bride, millions of people around the world stop what they are doing to watch the wedding ceremony and all eyes are on the wedding dress. But who had the most expensive royal wedding dress ever? Express.co.uk spoke to stylist Melita Latham about the dresses Princess Diana, Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and Queen Letizia chose as they walked down the aisle.
princess diana
Diana, Princess of Wales’ iconic wedding dress is currently on display at Kensington Palace.
The dress was loaned to members of the public for a close look.
It was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel for Diana’s July 1981 wedding to Prince Charles.
The dress features a 25ft (7.6m) sequin encrusted train, which filled the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
It had a fitted bodice covered with panels of antique Carrickmacross lace originally belonging to Queen Mary.
In addition to the nod to history, it was very much in keeping with the fashion of the early 1980s as it featured large puffed sleeves trimmed with bows and deep taffeta ruffles.
It would have cost around £ 10,000 to manufacture, but was valued at £ 150,000 a few years ago.
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Kate Middleton
The Duchess of Cambridge’s gown has blown away millions of viewers.
It was designed by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen for her 2011 wedding to Prince William.
“Miss Middleton chose British brand Alexander McQueen for the beauty of its craftsmanship and its respect for traditional work and technical construction of clothing,” the palace revealed in a statement on William and Kate’s wedding day.
“Miss Middleton wanted her dress to combine tradition and modernity with the artistic vision that characterizes the work of Alexander McQueen.”
The bodice of the dress is inspired by the Victorian tradition of corsetry, meaning it narrowed at the waist and was lightly padded below the waist.
The train was nearly nine feet long, two meters and two feet long.
Kate’s dress also featured 58 gazar and organza covered buttons on the back, which were closed with roll buckles.
As for the cost of making the dress, a price of £ 250,000 was put on it.
Meghan markle
The Duchess of Sussex opted for a simple but elegant wedding dress for her wedding to Prince Harry.
The dress was designed by Clare Waight Keller, artistic director of Givenchy.
The fashion house spent 3,000 hours embroidering Meghan’s 16-foot-long veil with the national flowers of each of the 53 Commonwealth countries, including real crops of wheat.
The dress, meanwhile, was created using double-bonded silk cady padded with a triple silk organza petticoat.
Kensington Palace explains: “True to the heritage of the house, the pure lines of the dress are achieved through six meticulously placed seams.
“The focal point of the dress is the graphic open bateau neckline that gracefully frames the shoulders and emphasizes the finely sculpted waist.
“The thin three-quarter sleeves add a touch of refined modernity. “
It would have cost £ 110,000, which Meghan paid herself.
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Melita spoke about the royal bride‘s sartorial choices.
She said: “Thousands of hours went into making these iconic wedding dresses.
“Embroidered flowers from all 53 Commonwealth countries for Meghan’s wedding dress, embellished with pearls, lace and pearls, 10,000 on Princess Diana’s dress and Kate Middleton’s nine-foot train.
“[And] I can’t imagine how many hours it took to embroider real gold in silk [for Queen Letizia’s dress]. “
“If we look at the cost, in my opinion, Diana’s dress today is worth far more than any real gold embroidered dress,†Melita added. “It’s in the history books. It is priceless.
