Top 10 Royal Weddings
By Editorial Staff
Contributed by Info Guru Paul Seaburn
There’s no wedding like a royal wedding, or at least it seems that way based on how many of the crown jewels are needed to pay for them.
I’m sure the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert was beautiful, and the weddings of Henry VIII and his six brides had a lot of drama, but it’s worldwide media coverage of the royal marriages in the past 100 years that has turned them into real-life fairy tales. These royal weddings are the best and most famous of that period.
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10. King Edward VIII (UK) and Wallis Simpson
The scandal of a royal marrying a divorced commoner made this the first royal engagement covered by a media frenzy. Barely into his reign and not yet crowned, Edward VIII proposed to American socialite Wallis Simpson, who was about to be twice-divorced. To avoid a constitutional crisis, Edward abdicated the throne to his younger brother Albert, who became George VI. The actual wedding took place in France with little fanfare.
9. Queen Elizabeth II (UK) and Prince Phillip
Princess Elizabeth fell in love with Phillip when she was just 13 but age and World War II got in the way of their romance. Their wedding in Westminster Abbey on November 20m 1947, was not extravagant due to austerity measures still in place after the war, but the pageantry still gave the British relief and hope of good times ahead.
8. King Abdullah II (Jordan) and Rania al Yassin
Prince Abdullah bin Al-Hussein, at the time a member of Jordan’s elite special forces, met Apple employee Rania al Yassin at a dinner party in1993, fell in love at first sight, proposed shortly after and married her five months later. The ceremony was performed by the prince’s father, King Hussein, and the newlyweds rode through the streets of Amman in an open convertible and waved to the crowds.
7. Queen Beatrix (Netherlands) and Claus von Amsberg
For a controversial royal marriage, it’s tough to top the Netherlands’ then-Princess Beatrix’s wedding to German aristocrat Claus von Amsberg. Claus was a member of the Hitler Youth and the German Armed Forces during World War II and their wedding parade on March 10, 1966, was marred by street battles between protesters and police. Claus eventually won the Dutch over and was mourned when he died in 2002.
6. Princess Margaret (UK) and Anthony Armstrong-Jones
Queen Elizabeth’s good-looking, party-loving younger sister Princess Margaret was courted by Frank Sinatra and Peter Sellers but married socialite photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 1960, in the first televised royal wedding. Unfortunately, it ended in divorce, the first in the British royal family in 400 years.
5. Princess Hajah Majeedah Nuurul Bulqiah (Brunei) and Khairul Khalil
Money is no object when your daddy is the Sultan of Brunei, one of the world’s richest men, so the marriage of Brunei’s Princess Hajah Majeedah Nuurul Bulqiah to civil servant Khairul Khalil was a two week extravaganza. They were married on June 10, 2007, in the main hall of the 1,788-room gold-domed royal palace.
4. Princess Victoria (Sweden) and Daniel Westling
Sweden’s Princess Victoria decided she wanted to be in shape for her wedding so she married her fitness instructor, Daniel Westling. While the engagement started out controversial, Swedes eventually approved it and the wedding on June 19, 2010, in Stockholm Cathedral was watched by over 500 million TV viewers.
3. Prince William (UK) and Catherine Middleton
In the most recent royal wedding, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge married Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. They met as students at the University of St Andrews. Not only was the ceremony royal and tastefully done, it introduced the world to Catherine’s attractive sister, Pipa, whose rear became as famous as the bridal gown train.
2. Prince Rainier III (Monaco) and Grace Kelly
The first true fairytale romance began when Monaco’s wealthiest bachelor, Prince Rainier III, met American Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly at the Cannes film festival. Preparations for the wedding were elaborate. The Palace of Monaco was painted and redecorated for the reception the beautiful couple wed on April 19, 1956, in St Nicholas Cathedral which was filled with both world and Hollywood royalty.
1. Prince Charles (UK) and Diana Spencer
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On July 29th, 1981, Britain’s somewhat-charming Prince Charles wed everyone’s favorite fairytale princess, Diana Spencer, in a ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral watched live by 750 million viewers with over 600,000 people lining the streets of London waiting to see their carriage and Diana’s first royal wave.