For today's normal folk, a wedding costs around $30,000 and lasts a few hours — maybe even an entire weekend. For royals, things are a little bit different.
Throughout history, members of royal families all over the globe have been getting hitched in style. They drop millions of dollars on dresses, security, and lavish multi-day parties. They hold ceremonies at ancient castles or private islands — one royal even said his vows surrounded by 20,000 spectators in a custom-built stadium. (Sort of makes that $30,000 affair sound like a bargain.)
And Kate and Will aren't the only royals who tied the knot in such a spectacular fashion. Here's a look at some of the biggest, best, most extravagant royal weddings of all time.
Queen Elizabeth II married her husband Philip in 1947, when she was still just Princess Elizabeth.
Elizabeth and Philip are distant cousins who met at a family wedding in 1934, when they were children. It's been said that Elizabeth fell in love with Philip at first sight. A few years later, they began exchanging letters and in 1946, they announced their engagement.
Their wedding ceremony was broadcast to 200 million radio listeners, and the young couple received 2,500 gifts and 10,000 congratulatory telegrams from well-wishers across the world. Elizabeth's custom satin gown was breathtaking — though she had to use ration coupons to obtain the material, according to the BBC.
In just a few years, Elizabeth would ascend to the throne at age 25, following the untimely death of her father. But the stress of royal life doesn't seem to have hurt her marriage: Philip and Elizabeth recently celebrated their 70th anniversary.
In 1960, Princess Margaret's marriage ceremony became the first televised royal wedding in history.
Margaret (Queen Elizabeth's younger sister) married a photographer named Anthony-Armstrong Jones. Sadly, the relationship wasn't to be, and the couple called it quits in 1978.
Source: BBC
In 1981, Princess Diana and Prince Charles became the first royal couple to share a kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
750 million people watched Queen Elizabeth's oldest son Prince Charles marry Lady Diana Spencer on TV — that's not counting the 3,500 attendees at Westminster Abbey and the 600,000 who crowded the streets of London hoping to glimpse the couple.
There were a few bumps that day (Diana spilled a bottle of perfume on her dress and both bride and groom flubbed parts of their vows!) but the crowd went wild when they shared a timid kiss at Buckingham Palace. At the reception, guests could choose from one of 27 wedding cakes.
But their marriage would soon be plagued by scandal: Both admitted to extramarital affairs, and they divorced in 1996. Diana died in a car crash shortly thereafter; Charles eventually remarried.
Source: BBC, Daily Mail
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