On July 29, 1981 Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a wedding at Saint Paul's Cathedral in London. Nearly everyone who was anyone in European political and aristocratic life attended the ceremony and that ceremony, along with the events which surrounded it, were witnessed by a worldwide television audience estimated at nearly a billion people. Diana wore a gown designed by Elizabeth and David Emanuel that included a 25 foot long taffeta and lace train which caused ladies the world over to swoon with envy. Due to intense security concerns thousands of police and military types were brought into London to manage crowds estimated at two million people, but the concerns were largely unfounded and the events went off without a hitch. That is, until it came time for Diana to recite her vows and she swore her undying love to one "Philip Charles Arthur George", whoever that was. (Charles' name was, and I believe still is, "Charles Philip Arthur George".) She also insisted that her vows not require her to state that she would "obey" her new husband; an omission that caused copious tongue wagging among the British people and press at the time.
Perhaps Diana sensed something most others chose to overlook (can you say Camilla?). Because within just a few years loose threads would start to become apparent on the fabric of their union, and though they had two healthy and apparently happy children together they themselves would begin to spend more and more time apart. They would formally separate in 1991 and divorce in 1996.
But for one bright, shining day Charles and Diana had the world at their feet in an event few who were alive at the time will ever forget. Here is a clip of Diana arriving at Saint Paul's Cathedral in that outrageous dress.
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