Princess Diana’s wedding dress designer chose the Spencer tiara for sentimental reasons
Ruben B. Hughes
3 min read
Diana, Princess of Wales, married Prince Charles in 1981, in a wedding dress that has since gone down in royal history. One of the designers of the iconic dress was David Emanuel, who spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk about the style choices for the wedding day. Diana wore an heirloom Spencer that belonged to her side of the family, instead of choosing a tiara from the royal collection.
David discussed the decision with Express.co.uk, saying: “We discussed what she should wear as a royal for her tiara, and I remember telling her ‘we need to see all your tiaras’ , as Her Majesty the Queen might have allowed her to borrow one.
“We had a meeting at Buckingham Palace where we were having a fitting and we went to another room where they put on all these tiaras and some of them were awfully grand.
“I was very aware she was young, she was fresh, but I pointed to one and said, ‘That’s really pretty’ and she said, ‘Oh, that’s my family tiara “.
“But of all of them, I found that there was a beautiful and pretty one, feminine, not too big and she was touched.
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“I thought, ‘He belongs to your family, perfect!’ That’s how it happened. She wore it after the wedding a few times, and it looked sensational on her.
“We wanted her to look like a fairy tale princess.”
David explained what it was like to dress Princess Diana.
He added: “Diana was a fabulous woman, I can honestly say beautiful and kind. Every time I made her a new dress she would personally write us a note saying, ‘Thank you so much, I know you are busy but thank you’ .
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“But I just got back from the bridal show in Barcelona and surprise surprise, everything is huge Cinderella dresses.
“Everyone is making big crinolines, so it’s back in fashion.”
David went on to describe the process of designing the iconic dress for Diana’s wedding day.
He commented: “It was the three of us, my ex-wife, myself and Diana. Very simple and we had a few dresses in my little studio at the time in Brook Street.
“We promised it would be British because the Queen’s wedding dress was British, as were other royals like the Princess Royal, Princess Anne.
“Now it was a bit scary because it was easier to get Swiss taffeta or French taffeta, but we had a silk supplier and then we got a weaver, so it was a very British affair. .
“The toppings were all British. It had to be traditional – Diana had something new, something borrowed and something blue.
“We had a giggle when we found out the longest royal train was 20ft, so I said ‘Yes, that’s St Paul’s!’
“St Paul’s is huge, so I said, ‘Let’s make it bigger!’
“We decided on a 25ft train and actually when you think about it, looking at the camera in the daytime, the train had to be that long because St Paul’s is huge and it was a long walk down that aisle. ”
