Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh sent royal fans into a frenzy when she stepped out in a beautiful wedding gown to marry Prince Edward more than two decades ago.
The wedding took place in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in a silk organza Samantha Shaw wedding dress on 19 June 1999.
The elegant garment Sophie wore on her special day featured a v-neck coat dress made of ivory silk organza with crepe and tulle.
The now Duchess of Edinburgh paired her special gown with a diamond tiara from the late Queen’s private collection.
It consisted of three open-work scroll motifs and was believed to be designed by David Thomas, at Asprey and Garrard, although this was never officially confirmed.
The royal wore a black-and-white pearl cross necklace to accompany her look with matching pearl earrings that were given to her by Prince Edward for the wedding.
The actual jewellery pieces were designed by Edward and made by Asprey and Garrard.
Sophie’s wedding shoes were made of silk crepe by Gina.
But one of the most striking features of the bridal look was the amount of delicately sewn embellishments on it.
Samantha Keswick (née Shaw) recalled working with Sophie and said it was a day she would “forever hold very dear”.
But she also revealed that the royal’s coat dress actually concealed an evening gown underneath.
She told Tatler: “There was an evening dress under the coat dress, which was to remain super private for the evening dinner, and I had to get the fabric perfectly dyed to colour-match the beautiful stone of St George’s Chapel.”
As for the bouquet, the royal opted for the most popular flowers used by brides for their big day during that time.
The bouquet featured roses, calla lilies, stephanotis, lily of the valley and freesia and Sophie kept a portion of it – one of the few royal wedding bouquets known to have been kept.
The then-Earl and Countess of Wessex had a modest wedding ceremony, despite their wedding attracting 200 million spectators.
