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For the first time in 7 years, you can see Princess Diana's iconic wedding dress up close thanks to Prince William and Prince Harry

Apr 29, 2021, 03:26 IST
Insider
Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married on July 29, 1981 in St. Paul's Cathedral.David Levenson/Getty Images
  • Princess Diana's wedding dress will be on display this summer for the first time in 7 years.
  • People can view the iconic gown starting June 3 at Kensington Palace as part of a larger exhibition.
  • The dress is on loan from Prince William and Prince Harry, who have owned it since 2014.
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For the first time in seven years, Princess Diana's wedding dress will go on public display this summer.

The gown, which Diana wore during her nuptials to Prince Charles in 1981, is one of the most iconic in history.

Designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel, it is made of ivory taffeta and features a fitted bodice, large puff sleeves, and more than 10,000 pearls. The Emanuels also created a 25-foot-long bridal train for Diana, the longest in royal history.

The dress and train currently belong to Prince William and Prince Harry, who have loaned them to Historic Royal Palaces for an exhibition at Kensington Palace called "Royal Style in the Making."

"Royal Style in the Making" will run from June 3 through January 2022 and explore the relationship between fashion designers and the Royal Family.

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The last time the dress appeared in Kensington Palace was back in 1995, according to the Telegraph.

After that, the dress was displayed at Althorp, Diana's childhood home, between 1998 and 2014 during the summer, and was also a part of several traveling exhibitions, the BBC reported.

Following Diana's death, it came under the care of Charles Spencer, her brother, but passed to her sons, William and Harry in 2014 once Harry turned 30 due to a stipulation in Diana's will, the Telegraph reported at the time.

Elizabeth Emanuel is excited to see the dress again, she told People magazine. She last saw it at Althorp in July 1998.

"It will be like seeing an old friend after all these years," she said. "I was looking at the images again today, and I can't believe how many sequins we sewed onto the dress. This is going to be a wonderful exhibition."

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A few years ago, Emanuel admitted that she was 'horrified' at how Diana's dress creased during her carriage ride to St. Paul's Cathedral.

"We did know it would crease a bit, but when I saw her arrive at St. Paul's and we saw the creasing I actually felt faint," she said during an appearance on ITV's "Invitation to a Royal Wedding" in 2018, per Insider's Anneta Konstantinides.

"I was horrified, really, because it was quite a lot of creasing," she added. "It was a lot more than we thought."

But the creases didn't seem to bother Diana. Before leaving for her honeymoon, she called David Emanuel to tell him how happy she with the dress, creases, or no creases, he told Hello! magazine.

"She said 'I just wanted to say thank you so much for the gown. I loved it. Prince Charles loved it. All the family loved it," Emanuel said.

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