Prince Charles was born on 14 November 1958 to HRH Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He is the oldest of four children - Anne, Andrew and Edward. At the time he was born, his grandfather, George VI, was still King. His mother ascended the British throne when he was three, and became Queen when he was four. His parents made the decision that he should attend school, rather than be tutored, so the young prince attended Cheam School in Berkshire, followed by Gordonstoun, in Scotland. During his time at Gordonstoun, he was an exchange student at Timbertop in Australia. After leaving school he went to Cambridge University, initially reading Archaeology and Anthropology, but later changed to History.
After University, he joined the Royal Air Force, then the Navy, and became a qualified helicopter pilot. Around this time, the nation became obsessed about who Charles would marry. He was in his late twenties and settled in a career, and was of the age when he should think of marriage. Quite a few ladies were seen on the Prince's arm - some suitable, some unsuitable. Also there were European princesses to consider as well. After a series of relationships, Prince Charles announced his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer on 24 February 1981.
Diana was a modern woman. She was nineteen, lived with flatmates, had a job and a car. She lived life her way. Suddenly, she was thrust into the Royal Family and she had trouble adapting to the media intrusion in her life. At one point, the press set up shop outside the Kindergarten where she worked, and the staff became so concerned about them frightening the children, that Diana agreed to pose for photographs if they would go away.
Diana was a shy, sweet girl who had had a difficult childhood. Born on 1 July 1961 at Park House, part of the Queen's Sandringham Estate, she was the second youngest of four siblings. She was close to her brother, Charles, and her two older sisters, Sarah and Jane. Following her parents' divorce when she was only eight, her father gained custody of the children and they lived with him at Althrop House. When Diana was sixteen, her father married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, and daughter of the novelist Barbara Cartland. However, Diana never warmed to her new stepmother.
Diana was educated at Silifield School and Riddlesworth Hall in Norfolk, then at the West Heath Girls' School in Sevenoaks, Kent. Then, she attended finishing school at the Institut Alpin Videmanette in Switzerland. She was never an academic pupil, but she did excel in piano, swimming and diving. Her ambition was to become a ballerina, but her height prevented her from carrying on. On her eighteenth birthday, she bought a flat with money inherited from a relative. There she lived with three flatmates until her marriage in 1981. Her jobs included working with children as she loved to be around them, and so she became a dance instructor with a youth group, a nanny, and then a playgroup assistant.
Charles had known Diana for many years. He had dated her sister, Lady Sarah Spencer when Diana was a teenager, and Diana had known Prince Andrew since they were children. In fact, before Charles and Diana became an item, there was speculation about whether Diana would marry Prince Andrew. However, Press speculation started about Charles and Diana in the summer of 1980 when Diana watch Charles play in a Polo match. Various invitations to join the royal family followed and, once approved by the Queen, Charles proposed to Diana over dinner at the beginning of February 1981.
The Famous Kiss! (Library of Congress)
Amongst the guests at Charles and Diana's wedding were Prime Ministers and Heads of State. (Library of Congress)
On 24 February 1981, Charles and Diana walked onto the lawn at Buckingham Palace, Diana was wearing a blue suit and on her finger was a ring with a huge sapphire surrounded by fourteen diamonds. The ring was made by the Royal Jewellers, Garrard. The nineteen-year-old Lady Diana Spencer looked happy on the arm of her prince.
The date was set for 29 July 1981. It was a glorious day - very hot and the sun was shining. Masses of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the royal party travelling to and from St Paul's Cathedral. Millions more watched the event on television, with hundreds of millions watching worldwide.
It was a 'fairytale wedding'. The bride left Clarence House in the Glass Coach with her father, Earl Spencer. After arriving at St Paul's Cathedral, the public caught their first glimpse of the long-awaited wedding dress. The dress designers, David and Elizabeth Emmanuel, had kept all the details of the dress under complete secrecy. The twenty-year-old Diana emerged from the Glass Coach in an ivory, pure silk, taffeta and antique lace dress. The silk came from Lullingstone Silk Farm, the only silk farm in Britain; and the lace was Carrickmacross Lace, which once belonged to Queen Mary. The train of the dress stretched 25 feet and was detachable. The dress had thousands of mother-of-pearl sequins and pearls and cost ?9,000 at the time.
For accessories, she wore a Spencer family tiara and an eight-foot-long veil. It was reported that the tiara gave her a headache. Her shoes were made by Clive Shilton and had 24-carat gold trim on the low wooden heels. They were trimmed with an embroidered lattice pattern.
Diana's bouquet was a huge array of flowers, such as gardenias, white Odontoglossum orchids and Stephanotis, with ivy and tradescantia leaves. There were three versions of the bouquet, all designed by Longmans Limited of London. They were used at different stages of the wedding. The first was displayed in Longman's shop after use in rehearsals, the second was used for the actual wedding and the third for formal photographs. Versions two and three were placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the wedding.
Prince Charles had 'supporters' rather than best men. His supporters were Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. Diana's bridesmaids were: Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones, daughter of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon; India Hicks, grand-daughter of Earl Mountbatten of Burma; Sarah-Jane Gaselee, daughter of Nick Gaselee, who trained Prince Charles to become a jump jockey; Catherine Cameron, grand-daughter of the Marquess of Lothian; and Clementine Hambro, great-granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill. The bridesmaids all wore dresses, which were very similar to the wedding gown. However, these were trimmed with gold velvet sashes. The pageboys were Lord Nicholas Windsor and Edward van Cutsem.
Diana made a mistake in her wedding vows by mixing up Charles' names. She also deliberately left out the word 'obey' from her vows. This caused quite a sensation at the time. Following this it became fashionable to leave the word out of wedding vows. After the three minute walk down the aisle to the strains of Jerimiah Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary, Diana met her Prince who was dressed in his Naval Commander's uniform. The couple wanted it to be a musical occasion, so the hymns included Sir Cecil Spring-Rice's 'I vow to Thee,
Charles and Diana with members of the both families (Earl Spencer’s head is just visible at the bottom of the photo) during the wedding ceremony. (Library of Congress)
My Country’ (music by Gustav Holst), and 'Christ Is Made The Sure Foundation’ by Purcell. Dame Kiri te Kanawa sang 'Let the Bright Seraphim’, while 'Let Their Celestial Concerts All Unite’ was sung by the Bach Choir. When the couple proceeded back down the aisle, Elgar’s 'Pomp and Circumstance No 4’ joyfully played.
After the ceremony, the couple returned to Buckingham Palace in an open-topped landau (carriage). The couple appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony where the famous kiss took place, and there was also a wedding breakfast for 120 specially-invited guests.
After the festivities, the couple were driven to Waterloo Station (and Princes Andrew and Edward put a 'just married’ sign on the back of the landau!). From there they caught the Royal Train to Romsey in Hampshire, where they spent a night at the late Earl Mountbatten’s home, Broadlands, before flying out to Gibraltar for a Mediterranean Cruise on the Royal Yacht Britannia. Then it was on to Balmoral, in Scotland where the Queen, Prince Philip and other members of the Royal Family joined them for a break.
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