 The Duke and Duchess of York on their wedding day | |
| Date | 26 April 1923 |
|---|---|
| Venue | Westminster Abbey |
| Location | London, England |
| Participants |
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The wedding of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) [lower-alpha 1] took place on 26 April 1923 at Westminster Abbey. The bride was a member of the Bowes-Lyon family, while the groom was the second son of King George V.
Prince Albert, Duke of York, "Bertie" to the family, was the second son of King George V. He was second in line to succeed his father, behind his elder brother Edward, Prince of Wales. He initially proposed to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1921 (reportedly by proxy), [1] but she turned him down, being "afraid never, never again to be free to think, speak and act as I feel I really ought to". [2] When he declared he would marry no one else, his mother, Queen Mary, visited Glamis, Elizabeth's home, to see for herself the girl her son wanted to marry. She became convinced that Elizabeth was "the one girl who could make Bertie happy", but nevertheless refused to interfere. [3] At the same time, Elizabeth was courted by James Stuart, Albert's equerry, until he left the prince's service for a better-paid job in the American oil business. [4]
In February 1922, Elizabeth was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Albert's sister, Princess Mary, to Viscount Lascelles. [5] The following month, Albert proposed again, but she refused him once more. [6] Eventually, on 13 January 1923, Elizabeth agreed to marry Albert, despite her misgivings about royal life. [7] Following the engagement, she gave an interview to the press. She appeared to be relaxed and laughing and referred to Albert by his nickname "Bertie", which made the King furious in private. [1]
Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon were married on 26 April 1923 in Westminster Abbey. The couple's wedding rings were crafted from 22 carat Welsh gold from the Clogau St David's mine in Bontddu. In the following years, the use of Clogau Gold within the wedding rings of the royal family became a tradition. [8] In an unexpected and unprecedented gesture, [9] Elizabeth laid her bouquet at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior on her way into the Abbey, [10] in memory of her brother Fergus. [11] Ever since, the bouquets of subsequent royal brides have traditionally been laid at the tomb, though after the wedding ceremony rather than before. [12]
Lady Elizabeth was attended by eight bridesmaids: [13]
The newly formed British Broadcasting Company had wanted to record and broadcast the event on radio, but the Chapter vetoed the idea (although the Dean, Herbert Edward Ryle, was in favour). [14] Albert's freedom in choosing Elizabeth, not a member of a royal family, though the daughter of a peer, was considered a gesture in favour of political modernisation; previously, princes were expected to marry princesses. [15]
The event was not broadcast on the radio due to the Archbishop of Canterbury's concern "that men might listen to it in public houses". [12]
Elizabeth's wedding dress was made from deep ivory chiffon moire, embroidered with pearls and a silver thread. [16] It was intended to match the traditional Flanders lace provided for the train by Queen Mary. [16] Elizabeth's dress, which was in the fashion of the early 1920s, was designed by Madame Handley-Seymour, dressmaker to Queen Mary. [17] Its design was reportedly based on a dress created by Jeanne Lanvin and was "suggestive of a medieval Italian gown". [17] [18] Elizabeth chose not to wear a tiara, and instead a chaplet of leaves secured the veil. [17]
A strip of Brussels lace, inserted in the dress, was a Strathmore family heirloom. A female ancestor of the bride wore it to a grand ball for "Bonnie Prince Charlie", Charles Edward Stuart. [19]
The silver leaf girdle had a trail of spring green tulle, trailing to the ground; silver and rose thistle fastened it. According to an era news article: "In the trimming the bride has defied all old superstitions about the unluckiness of green." [19] Elizabeth wore "an orange blossom wreath", which featured "white roses of York". [20] The dress had two trains: "one fastened at the hips, the other floating from the shoulders". [21]
Unlike more recent dresses, details of this one were publicly revealed in advance of the wedding day. [19] However, the dress was worked on until the last possible opportunity: the day before the wedding, Elizabeth divided her time between the wedding rehearsal and her dressmakers. [22]
A prototype of the wedding dress was sold at an auction in 2011 for £3,500. It was one of the three initial designs prepared for the wedding and the one used for the final design. [23]
Prince Albert wore RAF full dress in the rank of group captain, his senior service rank at the time of his marriage. [12]
Upon their marriage, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was styled Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York. [24] Following a wedding breakfast at Buckingham Palace prepared by chef Gabriel Tschumi, they honeymooned at Polesden Lacey, a manor house in Surrey, and then went to Scotland, where she caught "unromantic" whooping cough. [25]
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was also the last Empress of India from 1936 until the British Raj was dissolved on 15 August 1947. After her husband died, she was officially known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter Queen Elizabeth II.
Mary, Princess Royal was a member of the British royal family. She was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, the sister of kings Edward VIII and George VI, and aunt of Elizabeth II. In the First World War, she performed charity work in support of servicemen and their families. She married Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles, in 1922. Mary was given the title of Princess Royal in 1932. During the Second World War, she was Controller Commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The Princess Royal and the Earl of Harewood had two sons, George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, and Gerald David Lascelles.
Patrick Bowes-Lyon, 15th and 2nd Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne,, styled as Master of Glamis until 1904 and Lord Glamis until 1944, was a British landowner, peer and British Army officer. He was the eldest brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, thus a maternal uncle of Queen Elizabeth II.
Victoria Constance Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, CStJ was a British peeress and sportswoman. The elder daughter of the 1st Marquess of Cambridge and Lady Margaret Grosvenor, she was the niece of Queen Mary.
Mary Frances Elphinstone, Lady Elphinstone GCVO, was a British aristocrat. She was an elder sister of Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom later The Queen Mother, and a maternal aunt and godmother of Queen Elizabeth II.
Sidney Herbert Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone and 2nd Baron Elphinstone, was a British nobleman.
The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer took place on Wednesday, 29 July 1981, at St Paul's Cathedral in London, United Kingdom. The groom was the heir apparent to the British throne, and the bride was a member of the Spencer family.
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The wedding of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones took place on 19 June 1999 in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Queen Elizabeth II's youngest child, Prince Edward, was created Earl of Wessex hours before the ceremony.
Elizabeth Handley-Seymour (1867–1948) was a London-based fashion designer and court-dressmaker operating as Madame Handley-Seymour between 1910 and 1940. She is best known for creating the wedding dress worn by Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the future Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, for her marriage to the Duke of York, the future King George VI, in 1923; and later, Queen Elizabeth's coronation gown in 1937.
Mabel Lee Hankey was a British artist specialising in miniature portraits painted in watercolour.
The wedding of Princess Alexandra of Kent and The Honourable Angus Ogilvy took place on Wednesday, 24 April 1963 at Westminster Abbey. Princess Alexandra was the only daughter and second child of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, while Ogilvy was the second son and fifth child of the 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady Alexandra Coke.
The wedding of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and Katharine Worsley took place on Thursday, 8 June 1961, at York Minster in York, England. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, was the eldest son of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, while Katharine Worsley was the only daughter and fourth child of landowner Sir William Worsley, 4th Baronet.
The wedding of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott took place on Wednesday, 6 November 1935, in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace. A larger public ceremony had been planned for Westminster Abbey, but plans were scaled back after the bride's father, the 7th Duke of Buccleuch, died of cancer on 19 October.
The wedding of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones took place on Friday, 6 May 1960 at Westminster Abbey in London. Princess Margaret was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, while Antony Armstrong-Jones was a noted society photographer.
The wedding of Princess Mary, and Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles took place on Tuesday, 28 February 1922, at Westminster Abbey. The bride was the only daughter of King George V, while the groom was a member of the Lascelles family.
The wedding of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark took place on Thursday, 29 November 1934, at Westminster Abbey. The Duke of Kent was the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary, while Princess Marina was the youngest daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. The couple were second cousins through mutual descent from King Christian IX of Denmark.
The wedding of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and Princess Alexandra of Denmark took place on 10 March 1863 at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. It was the first royal wedding to take place at St. George's, and the last wedding of a Prince of Wales until Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer's 1981 wedding.
Michael Claude Hamilton Bowes-Lyon was a British nobleman. A British Army officer during World War I, he was a prisoner of war at Holzminden. He was an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and maternal uncle of Queen Elizabeth II.
