Royal Collection Trust gives insight into history of all royal wedding dresses

Fans of royal weddings recently received a sweet gift from the Royal Collection Trust of the British royal family.

Wednesday, February 10, marked the 181st anniversary of Queen Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gothe at St James's Chapel. To celebrate the occasion, Royal Collection Trust organised a discussion about the royal wedding dresses, from Queen Victoria's gown to the recently-wed Princess Beatrice's recycled dress, reports Royal Central.

One continuous theme throughout the entire discussion was that only British designers were chosen to design the royal wedding gowns. The tradition was started by Queen Victoria who used British artisans and British textiles in her wedding gown and required her daughters and daughters-in-law to do the same. When her son Edward VII, the then Prince of Wales, married Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863, Victoria made the future Queen consort use British lace even though the bride had received famed Brussels lace as a gift from King Leopold.

Queen Elizabeth II's gown was also put on display at the museum. The dress was created by the "First Knight of Fashion" Sir Norman Hartnell for her 1947 wedding to Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Hartnell had also designed the wedding gown of the Queen's sister Princess Margaret in 1960.

The influence of history and past royal wedding gowns on the recent dresses was also discussed. The latest royal bride Princess Beatrice, who wed Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in July last year, opted for a Hartnell gown originally worn by the Queen. Kate Middleton's wedding dress designed by Sarah Burton was also influenced by the queen's wedding gown, featuring a similar silhouette.

Princess Eugenie's wedding gown, designed by Peter Pilotto and Christoper de Vos, was noticeably missing from the discussion. The backless gown was especially designed to highlight the royal's scoliosis scars.

The oldest surviving wedding gown in the Royal Collection Trust belonged to Princess Charlotte, who married Prince Leopold in 1816. Some of the recent wedding gowns are in the private possession of the royal brides who wore them, but they were put on display for a period after their wedding.