In our last post on royal wedding attendants we reviewed Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, the future Princess Grace of Monaco, and Princess Anne – all in their flower girl and/or bridesmaid glory. Click here if you missed it. We’ll kick off today’s post with Lady Diana Spencer.
Lady Diana Spencer
She wasn’t a royal yet, but I love these photos of Diana as a bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding.
Lady Jane Spencer was the first of the three Spencer gals to tie the knot. The wedding took place at Westminster Abbey on April 20, 1978 and was quite a London to do. Diana’s parents had also been married in the Abbey (in June of 1954). Not too shabby!
Jane seems to have been caught a bit off guard when the photographer snapped this one. Not sure what to make of the attendant’s outfits. The boys look ok, but goodness those dresses are sadly reminiscent of table cloths or kitchen drapes:
Ok, so my question is, where was the reception? Could this be Spencer House? Or??
Wonder why Lady Sarah wasn’t a bridesmaid, too. Here she is with Diana:
And here’s a shot of more of the family that day. On the far left we have Raine, Countess Spencer (the Earl’s second wife, for many years also known as ‘Acid Raine’ to Diana and her siblings). Next to her is Lady Sarah, Earl Spencer, Frances Shand-Kydd (Diana’s mom), and Ruth, Lady Fermoy (Diana’s grandmother):
Lady Sarah Spencer was next. She married Neil McCuorquodale on May 17, 1980. They opted to have their wedding at a small church near Althorp, the Spencer’s ancestral seat, with the reception to follow at the estate.
Diana not a bridesmaid this time round, but Princess Margaret’s daughter Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones was. There’s a picture of her coming up below.
The Spencer ladies and sister-in-law Victoria Lockwood (pictures of her are coming right up) all wore the Spencer tiara on their wedding days. Click here for more info on the tiara.
Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones
Speaking of Lady Sarah (daughter of Princess Margaret), she took on bridesmaid duties multiple times. We’ve got two instances here.
First, she was a bridesmaid for Princess Anne in 1973. That’s Prince Edward all kilted up on the left. Once again, the pageboy got away with the perfect ensemble while Sarah was forces to wear quite the hat:
Lady Sarah was also a bridesmaid for Lady Sarah Spencer (Princess Diana’s sister) when she married Neil McCorquodale in May of 1980. That’s her in the back row on the left.
At sixteen years old, Lady Sarah was also famously the oldest bridesmaid for Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding to Prince Charles. She’s keeping up the rear here and earlier had the tough job of trying to sort Diana’s train after it was crushed in the glass coach on the way over:
Love this balcony appearance!
And this rarely seen shot of William with Lady Davina Windsor at Buckingham Palace after the wedding:
Prince Harry
Prince Harry had his turn for his uncle Charles Spencer’s wedding to at Althorp. He succeeded to the Earldom in 1992 so his title was Viscount Althorp when he married Victoria Lockwood in 1989.
The children’s outfits were inspired by a Joshua Reynolds painting that hangs at Althorp.
How fantastic is this one?!
To finish things off here’s the family shot taken at Althorp:
Next up: Princess Beatrice, lots of Zara, and some European Royals….oh yeah…
Categories: British Royal Family, Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince Harry, Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge
The Royal Post 
I know it’s the norm to have youngsters as attendants at British weddings, but some of the outfits they dress the children in make me giggle (Harry at Charles Spencer’s wedding as an example).
I wonder if Sarah wasn’t a bridesmaid at the April 1978 wedding of her sister as she was over the age of 18? Diana’s date of birth is July 1, 1961 – so she was only 17 in April 1978.
I hadn’t seen some of these photos before, so it was nice to see them. Thank you for doing this blog – it’s always nice researched and informative.
I’m pretty sure Lady Jane’s reception was at one of the royal palaces in London, as Robert Fellowes worked for the queen. Can’t remember which one off the top of my head. I think it may have been KP.
You’re right; Robert Fellowes was deputy assistant private secretary to the Queen (the third and most junior position, I think???) when he wed Lady Jane. The reception was held at St. James’ Palace but the Felloweses did live at KP for all of Robert’s career.
I understood that Jane and Robert married at Guards chapel at Wellington Barracks, London not Westminister abbey so I checked quickly in one of my books – the 1982 published country life book of Diana confirms this.
Interestingly Lady Jane Spencer (Diana’s sister) was bridesmaid, the year Diana was born, to Katherine Worsley and the Duke of Kent
I’m trying to find a princess DIANA costume for school so hard to find uuuuuurgh!!😡😡😡😡😡😡
I’m not like Duchess of conwall. Poor princess Diana had Bad way with her. Hasbound.
Princess Diana she vey good wtih he sons