
Bridie Wilkins
Royal wedding dresses in order of price: Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton, Princess Eugenie, Princess Diana, the Queen, Sarah Ferguson and Queen Letizia had the most expensive dresses.
Royal weddings are lavish affairs, especially when it comes to bridal attire. According to Hitchedthe wedding dress costs an average of £1,313, but royal ladies such as Princess Eugenie, the Queen and others have spent far more on their dresses – with prices that could reach £6million, or around 4,469 times more.
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See the most expensive royal wedding dresses in order of price, including Kate Middleton‘s gorgeous lace number at Alexander McQueen…
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7. The Queen
Although queen elizabethThe £30,000 wedding dress hits the bottom of the charts, it was certainly a jaw-dropping sum to spend when she married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947, at a time when the world was just beginning to recover war and clothes were still rationed (the queen even collected coupons to pay for her dress).
It was created by Norman Hartnell from Chinese silk and fashioned with a high neckline, a tailored bodice and a 15-foot-long train. Star flowers encrusted with pearls and rhinestones, roses, jasmine flowers and wheat adorned the bodice and skirt.
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6. Sarah Ferguson
Sarah Ferguson opted for an ivory duchess satin dress for her wedding to Prince Andrew in 1986, which reportedly cost £35,000. Lindka Cierach created the style, with precise beads incorporating various symbols including anchors and waves representing Prince Andrew’s sailing history.
Her 17-foot long train was embroidered with the initials A and S in silver beads. Sarah spoke about her dress in her 1997 memoir, My Story, describing it as “an exquisite creation in which I had lost twenty-six pounds. Lindka was a genius, I knew she could make the most flattering dress of all time, and she had. It was incredibly boned, like a corset.
5. Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle’s wedding dress is estimated to have cost £110,000, and the Duchess of Sussex paid for it herself. The timeless dress was the work of Clare Waight Keller of Parisian fashion house Givenchy, and the level of intricacy surely reflects its price tag.
The fashion house spent 3,900 hours embroidering Meghan’s 16ft-long veil with the national flowers of each of the 53 Commonwealth countries, including real wheat crops, while the dress was created in double bonded silk cady aide padded by a triple silk organza skirt.
WATCH: The best photos from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s royal wedding
4. Princess Diana
princess dianaThe wedding dress for her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981 was valued at £151,000 in 2019. Welsh designer David Emanuel and his then-wife Elizabeth made the design in ivory silk and embellished with beading, sequins and old lace. It was complemented by a 25ft train – the longest in royal history.
MORE: 3 stunning wedding videos from Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ big day
3. Princess Eugenie
When Princess Eugenie tied the knot with Jack Brooksbank in 2018, she wore a £200,000 design by British designer Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos. She worked closely with the duo to create a number of meaningful designs, including a thistle for Scotland in reference to the couple’s life. love for Balmoral, a Shamrock for Ireland as a nod to the bride’s heritage and the York Rose and ivy representing the couple’s home. She also opted for a form that would display a scar she had from scoliosis surgery on her back.
2. Kate Middleton
At number two, Kate MiddletonThe wedding dress for her wedding to Prince William in 2011 cost her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton (who footed the bill), £250,000. It was made in collaboration with Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton, featuring a Victorian bodice, a train spanning nearly nine feet long with 58 gazar and organza covered buttons at the back and scroll bows, and handmade lace created by the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace.
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1. Queen Letizia of Spain
Queen Letizia of Spain topped the charts with a £6million wedding dress she wore when she married King Felipe in 2004. It was designed by royal fashion designer Manuel Pertegaz, with a four-legged train and a half meters long, long sleeves, a high standing collar and embroidery woven in silk over gold thread. (Real, of course.) She accessorized with a diamond tiara, given to her by her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia, after wearing it on her own wedding day to King Juan Carlos in 1962.
SEE: Photos from Queen Letizia and King Felipe’s wedding as it happened
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