In pictures: Royal weddings through the years

The wedding that captivated the world only 5 years ago was of course the marriage of Prince William of Cambridge to Kate Middleton.

Here, Kate flashed her soon to be husband an excited smile as her father gave her away.

Wills and Kate lit up Westminster Abbey, a 929-year-old church located in London.

The exchange of the rings definitely had us in tears!

Watch Kate arrive at the Abbey in the next video – gallery continues after video

After saying “I do”, the newlyweds stepped out of the chapel for the first time as Husband and Wife and were welcomed with a chorus of bells and cheers.

And of course a princess needs a carriage!

The newlyweds share their first public kiss as a married couple.

Relive the fairytale moment in the next slide! Gallery continues after video

The stunning tiara that Duchess Catherine wore on her wedding day was the Cartier Halo tiara. The tiara was gifted to a-then Princess Elizabeth on her 18th birthday by her mother. Apparently she wasn’t terribly fond of it and often gave it to her sister, Princess Margaret (Pictured right in 1955).

When the then-Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip on November 20, 1947 at Westminster Abbey, she wore an elaborate gown and a tiara that she still wears today, but in post-war Britain, she had to save ration coupons to buy the material. The dress was designed by royal couturier Norman Hartnell and made of ivory silk decorated with crystals and 10,000 imported seed pearls.

Watch their wedding procession in the video on the next slide – gallery continues after video

The wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, 29th July 1981. Her wedding gown train was almost 8 metres long.

In 1981, when Diana Spencer was just twenty years old she married Charles, Prince of Wales and became Princess Diana.

Princess Diana waves to the well-wishers gathered to see her wedding.

Diana’s dress, worn when she married Prince Charles on July 29, 1981, became one of the most famous dresses in the world. Designed by married couple David and Elizabeth Emanuel, it made of ivory silk taffeta and antique lace and embellished with sequins, embroidery and 10,000 seed pearls.

The lace used to trim it had been owned by Charles’ great-grandmother Queen Mary. It was a squash getting the 25ft train into the glass coach that took Diana to St Paul’s Cathedral, and it ended up badly wrinkled by the time she arrived.

See Diana on a ski trip with her children, William and Harry in the video on the next slide – gallery continues

Gallery continues after video

In a story reminiscent of Wills and Kate, Prince Carl Philip of Sweden married Sofia Hellqvist, a ‘commoner’ with no royal blood. The couple tied the knot at the chapel of the Royal Palace in Stockholm, in front of about 550 guests.

The couple’s story has captivated the Swedish media ever since the pair started dating in 2010. Prince Carl Philip is third in line to the throne, while Princess Sofia was previously a glamour model and reality TV show competitor.

The couple were serenaded by a version of Coldplay’s song ‘Fix You’, as well as a singer performing a Swedish version of Rihanna’s hit ‘Umbrella’ at the ceremony.

A formal portrait of the wedding of Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden.

Princess Victoria of Sweden and her husband Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland, are seen during their wedding ceremony in Storkyrkan Church on June 19, 2010.

The couple appear on the balcony to acknowledge spectators at The Royal Palace in Stockholm after their wedding.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall on their wedding day at Windsor Castle on April 9 in 2005.

The British Royal family posed for the official wedding photos on the couple’s wedding day.

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (The Queen Mother) married Prince Albert, the Duke of York (later George VI) on April 26, 1923. She wore a dress made of ivory chiffon moire and defied tradition by including a sprig of green tulle – the colour green was considered bad luck at the time. Nevertheless, one day, after his brother’s abdication, her husband would become the King of England.

Our current Queen’s younger sister, Margaret, used the same designer as her sister when she married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones on May 6, 1960, but the dress couldn’t have been more different.

When she married Prince Andrew at Westminster Abbey on July 23, 1986, Sarah was inspired by the dress worn by her sister-in-law Princess Diana five years earlier. Designed by Lindka Cierach, it featured heavy beading, incorporating symbols like hearts, anchors, bumblebees and thistles. The five-metre train had the initials A and S sewn in silver beads.

Many years later, Fergie promotes blenders on the shopping channel. See her explain why she is no longer the ‘Duchess of Pork’ in the video on the next slide.

Gallery continues after video

Former Tasmanian real estate agent Mary was the epitome of elegance when she married Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark on May 14, 2004.

Her gown was created by Danish fashion designer Uffe Frank, and Mary reportedly had her late mother’s wedding ring stitched into the bodice. Her tiara was a present from her mother-in-law, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, and her bouquet included eucalyptus to honour her Australian roots. An aunt later laid it on her mum’s grave in Scotland.

Prince Albert II of Monaco married Charlene Wittstock former Olympic swimmer for South Africa, now Princess of Monaco, in 2011.

Charlene turned to acclaimed fashion designers for her wedding to Prince Albert II of Monaco. While Karl Lagerfeld came up with the pant suit she wore for the civil ceremony on July 1, 2011, Giorgio Armani designed the traditional gown she donned for their religious ceremony. That dress featured 40,000 Swarovski crystals and 30,000 gold stones.

It was however Albert of Monaco’s mother whose wedding would go down in history, with the marriage of royalty of Hollywood with royalty of Monaco.The American movie star, Grace Kelly, married Prince Rainier III in April 1956 and had two wedding dresses, both designed by Helen Rose, a costume designer at MGM Studios.

The first was a pale pink taffeta dress worn to the civil ceremony while the second was a high-necked, long-sleeved gown with a billowing skirt. Grace also carried a pearl-encrusted prayer book.

Princess Grace’s oldest daughter, Princess Caroline, has been married three times. For her first marriage, to Philippe Junot on June 28, 1978, she wore a white lace gown by Marc Bohan at Christian Dior. Her unusual floral headdress attracted a lot of attention, with some critics unkindly comparing the look to Princess Leia from Star Wars.

Mike Tindall and the Queen’s granddaughter, Zara Phillips, depart after their royal wedding at Canongate Kirk on July 30, 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Just six months after meeting Jordanian then-prince Abdullah bin Al-Hussein at a dinner party in 1992, a 23-year-old Rania Al-Yassin married the prince who she now has four children with. When her husband ascended the throne and proclaimed her Queen in 1999, Rania became the youngest queen in the world at age 28.

Here, Rania and Prince Abdullah stand at the altar at their wedding in Amman. Next to them stands the then-king, King Hussein and Queen Noor, the Prince’s parents.