Queen's wedding dress and jewellery to go on display

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An exhibition recreating the 1947 wedding day of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will open at Buckingham Palace this summer to mark their 60th anniversary.

The display will feature archive film footage of the celebrations and behind-the-scenes preparations for the day Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey.

Princess Elizabeth's ivory silk dress, decorated with crystals and 10,000 seed pearls, will go on show alongside the dresses worn by her grandmother Queen Mary and her mother Queen Elizabeth and the uniforms worn by her father King George VI and the bridegroom.

Items from her jewellery collection will be featured, including the diamond bracelet given to her by Prince Philip to mark their marriage.

Wedding gifts from Mahatma Gandhi, Pope Pius XII, Chinese President Chiang Kai Shek and US President Harry Truman will also go on display in the special exhibition at the Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace.

The Queen and Prince Philip will celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary on November 20, making her the first reigning sovereign to reach 60 years of marriage.

Although they met through family connections in their early lives, the royal couple's first publicised meeting was in 1939 at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, with fevered speculation about a romance by the mid 1940s.

Their engagement was announced on July 10, 1947, and shortly before the wedding Prince Philip was created Duke of Edinburgh.

Organisers say the exhibition aims to reflect the mood of public rejoicing that swept through Britain following the end of the Second World War.

The Royal Wedding exhibition is part of the Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace, which runs from July 28 to September 25.

 

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