One year ago, on 27 September 2008, the wedding of His Royal Highness Prince Aimone of Savoy, Duke of Apulia, and Princess Olga of Greece took place in Patmos, the wonderful Greek island in the Aegean sea.

The Prince and Princess got engaged in 2005, and married in a civil ceremony in the Italian Embassy in Moscow on 16 September 2008, after having asked and obtained the allowance for the marriage to Prince Amedeo, Aimone’s father and Head of the Family, following the rules of the Royal House.

Click to see at the website of Prince Amedeo

They married in a Greek Orthodox ceremony, but recognised by the Catholic Church which Aimone belongs to; the ceremony took place in the Church of the Evangelismos of the Virgin Mary at Pano Kambos, celebrated by the Patriarchal Exarch of Patmos, Archimandrite Andipas Nikitaras, on the 65^th birthday of Prince Amedeo, “a tender thought of Olga and Aimone, a wonderful present” has explained the Prince.

Although a private and quite simple organized event, attended only by 40 guests, the wedding was attended by several european Royals, all related to Olga and Aimone (who are second cousins); among them were the grooms’s father and stepmother Prince Amedeo and Princess Silvia of Savoy, the bride’s parents Prince Michael and Princess Marina of Greece, Aimone’s mother Princess Claude of Orleans; the two sisters of the groom, Princess Bianca, Countess Arrivabene-Valenti-Gonzaga, and Princess Mafalda, Mrs. Lombardo di San Chirico, with their husbands and children; the sister of Olga, Princess Alexandra, Mrs. Mirzayantz, and family; King Constantine and Queen Anna Maria of Greece, Queen Sofia of Spain and Princess Irene of Greece, who are cousins of both Prince Amedeo and Prince Michael; Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy and Prince and Princess Casimir of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Read more…

MAfan Italian Royals Prince Aimone, Princess Olga, Savoy, Wedding Anniversary

Prince and Princess Preslav

Kyrill, Prince of Preslav married Doña Maria del Rosario Nadal in Palma de Mallorca on September 15, 1989. The wedding too place in Almudania’s Saint Anne Chapel: some 400 guests were invited to the wedding but only 125 could be present during the religious ceremony because of the Chapel’s small size. The guests included the entire Bulgarian Royal Family, the King and Queen of Spain, Infantas Elena and Cristina, the Prince of Asturias, who was one of the witnesses, as well as other royals and nobles from around the world.

The bride wore a heavy silk wedding gown designed by Gustavo Puente, which featured delicate embroidery and 3 meters long veil. Rosario wore one of the heirlooms of the Bulgarian Royal Family, the Floral Diamond Tiara, which had been a gift of Prince Ferdinand to his bride, Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon Parma. Queen Giovanna of Bulgaria, King Simeon’s mother, wore the tiara for her own wedding. The bride’s look was finished by matching diamond earrings – a present from King Simeon and Doña Margarita.

Upon the marriage, Rosario assumed her husband’s titles and became HRH Princess Rosario of Bulgaria, Princess of Preslav. Kyrill and Rosario have 3 children: Princess Mafalda-Cecilia Preslavska of Bulgaria (born in 1994), Princess Olimpia Preslavska of Bulgaria (born in 1995) and Prince Tassilo Preslavski of Bulgaria (born in 2002).

Prince Kyrill is the second son of Tsar Simeon II and Doña Margarita: although he was born after his father lost the throne, he is styled as a Royal Prince by courtesy. He graduated Princeton University with a degree in Physics in just 3 years and for some time read the subject at Princeton. He now works in banking sector in London, where the family resides most of the time. Princess Rosario is the daughter of Miguel Nadal i Bestard and Isabel Fuster de Puigdórfila i Villalonga. She is directly descended from Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II. Before her marriage to Kyrill, she used to be a model and was the face of Valentino for many years. Rosario is a Professor of the History of Art and occasionally gives readings on the subject.

The family owes a property in Majorca, where they spend their holidays. During the summer holidays, they can be occasionally seen with members of the Spanish Royal Family: the two Royal Houses appear to have very close relationships. You can find more information and pictures about the wedding in this thread.

Marsel Bulgarian Royals Biography, Prince Kyrill, Rosario Nadal, Wedding Anniversary

On 30 August, the Belgian King and Queen hosted a garden party to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. At the same time, the wedding anniversaries of the other Belgian royals were commemorated, as this year is also the silver wedding anniversary of Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz, as well as the 10th wedding anniversary for Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde, and the 6th wedding anniversary for Prince Laurent and Princess Claire.

Click to see full image at Zimbio

To celebrate all these festivities, the royals organized a garden party on the grounds of the Palace of Laeken, where the guests could wander around, meeting the royals and enjoying the entertainment. Many of the guests were couples with the same wedding date as one of the royal couples.

The festivities, however, were overshadowed by an accident. Two carriages collided after one horse was stung by an insect and the driver could not regain control. The people sitting in the carriages were flung out and got injured. Two were only lightly injured, but two others more severely, probably having broken bones. First aid was provided by the military medics who were on stand-by, and the injured were quickly transported to a hospital to receive further care. The festivities were not interrupted, but in a public statement, Palace officials said they regretted the accident deeply.

See here for an article.
See here for the thread about the wedding anniversaries festivities.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Garden Party, King Albert II, Queen Paola, Wedding Anniversary

 The engagement between The Lady Helen Marina Lucy Windsor and Timothy Taylor was announced on 8th January 1992. image Tim gave Lady Helen an art deco ring of a square cut emerald surrounded by diamonds. The couple married on 18th July 1992 in St George’s Chapel Windsor. image A reception was held at the Kent family’s country home of Cocker End House in Nettlebed Oxfordshire. image

Lady Helen ‘s wedding dress was designed by Catherine Walker of the Chelsea Design Company, who was a favourite of the Princess of Wales and also the bride’s mother, the Duchess of Kent. image The Tudor style gown fitted perfectly with the surrounding of St George’s Chapel. The pearl-white dress was made from heavy silk featured a fitted bodice and full skirt which formed a six-foot train. image The deep v-neckline and cap sleeves were heavily embroidered with silver diamante and pearls. image This detailing complemented the bride’s jewellery. Holding in place the veil was a diamond and pearl tiara which had been a family heirloom of her mother’s family. image The Duchess of Kent had worn the piece to her own wedding in 1963. Lady Helen also wore a diamond and pearl necklace and matching earrings. Read more…

PrincessofEurope British Royals Fashion, Lady Helen Taylor, Wedding Anniversary

In 1958, the then Prince of Liège, Prince Albert of Belgium, went to Rome to attend the coronation ceremony of the new Pope, John XIII. After the ceremony, the Belgian embassy in Rome hosted a ball, on which the Prince was of course the guest of honour. Among the invitees was the young Italian Princess, Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria, who captured  his eye immediately with her shy smile. As far as love at first sight goes, this is definitely a royal example. Later, Queen Paola would say that at their first meeting, they were both so shy, they didn’t say much. In a coverage, “The Voice of the Queen”, Queen Paola admitted that she did not really know who Albert was. “I had a vague idea of who Baudouin was, but I didn’t really know anything about Belgium or Prince Albert. Only Tintin, yes. I had all the comics”.  But lasting impressions were made, and when they met again a few days later, they both realized it was a match made in heaven. After meeting the young Princess, Albert remained in Rome, always looking for new engagements there so he could prolong his stay, and spend more time with la dolce Paola.   Read more…

LadyLeana Belgian Royals King Albert II, Queen Paola, Wedding Anniversary

Image from TRF Avatar Collection

 The engagement between HRH Prince Michael of Kent and Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz was announced on 30th May 1978. The official pictures were taken by Lord Lichfield. image The couple were unable to marry in an Anglican chuch because she was divorced and the Catholic Church also refused to recognise the union. The Queen had given her consent to the couple’s marriage and it was announced that Marie-Christine would become Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent. However by marrying a Catholic, Prince Michael had to give up his rights to the throne – in 1978 he was 15th in the line of succession. An English civil marriage that involved a member of the Royal Family was not allowed at the time thus they choose to marry in Vienna, Austria. The couple married in the town hall in Vienna on 30th June 1978 surrounded only by close family. Princess Anne, the Duke of Kent, Lady Helen Windsor (now Taylor) and Princess Alexandra with her husband Angus Ogilvy were the only members of the British royal family to attend. image Marie-Christine wore a simple cream suit by British royal designer Hardy Amies. image

Following the civil cermony, a ball was held that night in Schwarzenberg Palace for the couple. The bride wore a Bellville Sassoon cream silk crepe gown. The dress had a pin tucked bodice, a deep neckline with see trough panel and lace trim. image There was a small train and the skirt of the dress had inserts of Chantilly lace. image Read more…

PrincessofEurope British Royals Fashion, Prince Michael of Kent, Princess Michael of Kent, Wedding Anniversary

 On the 6th January 1999 the long awaited engagement between Prince Edward and Miss Sophie Rhys Jones was finally announced. image The couple were presented to the press at St. James’s Palace gardens that day. Sophie’s diamond ring was one of the most expensive engagements rings ever in the British royal family. image

The wedding took place at 5pm on Saturday 19th June 1999 in St George’s Chapel Windsor followed by a reception in the State Apartments at Windsor Castle. Due to the lateness of the wedding, the couple asked the guests to wear long dresses without hats. The Queen who is rarely seen without a hat at a function chose a lilac feather headpiece and some other senior figure such as the Princess Royal and the Duchess of Kent also added a small headdress. image The Queen Mother was the only royal to break the dress code by wearing a hat but considering her age it was appropriate. image The couple had wanted a more private family wedding compared to those of Edward’s siblings. There was a very limited number of foriegn royals invited and only a short carriage ride through Windsor without any balcony appearance that become the norm. This was what the couple wanted and reflected their more relaxed and private lifestyle.

Sophie Rhys-Jones chose the little known designer Samantha Shaw to create her wedding dress. Coincidently Samantha was married only a few weeks before and Sophie had attended the nuptials. Press examined in detail Shaw’s own wedding dress to gather hints about Sophie’s dress and there were a few similarities in the style. Sophie wore a simple medieval style dress-coat made of ivory silk and organza. image The coat had a deep v-neckline, bell shaped sleeves and a long train. image There was heavy detailing of rows of pearls and crystal bead around the neckline and sleeves of the coat as well as trimming the edge. Spotted over the dress were small pearls. An estimated 325,000 cut-glass and pearl beads were sewn onto the coat. image Although there are no pictures, there was a simple plain dress under the coat for the evening party. She wore court shoes by Gina and carried a bouquet of blown ivory garden roses, scented stephanotis, lily of the valley and freesia. image The bride had lost a lot of weight between her final dress fitting and the actual day which did result in a lot of gapping around the neckline. Read more…

PrincessofEurope British Royals Countess of Wessex, Earl of Wessex, Fashion, Prince Edward, Wedding Anniversary

Click here to see the photo at ANP

 Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan met his future bride Masako Owada first on October 18, 1986. A party had been arranged to celebrate the visit of Princess Elena of Spain; but it was also a way of enabling the heir to the throne to meet a selection of forty eligible young women, among them Masako. The prince was immediately smitten: Masako, a charming, attractive and intelligent Harvard-graduate, had only recently passed the Foreign Ministry entrance exam (as one of only five per cent of those to pass the test that year). She seemed to incorporate everything that he had always wanted from his future partner.

Click here to see the photo at ANP

After the prince had in 1985 come back from his studies in Oxford, he had told a press conference: “My ideal partner should have the ability to boldly speak her mind. Another wish is that she should know a foreign language to a certain degree because we will often meet with foreigners.” The court journalists were a bit at a loss to imagine a Japanese woman matching this picture. But it was known that the prince had a penchant for American actress Brooke Shields whom he enthusiastically praised: “She says things in a clear, fearless way.” (Only to add, with a sad smile: “But, of course, I cannot marry a foreigner…”) Now, he finally seemed to have met a Japanese woman whom he was able to truly love and admire. Masako’s strong-willed nature was combined with a natural knack for diplomacy. “She has the wisdom to adapt herself to any environment,” a classmate said about her. Read more…

ChiaraC Japanese Royals Prince Naruhito, Princess Masako, Wedding Anniversary

From the TRF avatar collection

 On the 8th June 1961, Miss Katharine Lucy Worsley married Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent in York Minster. It was the first royal wedding to take place there for over six hundred years when King Edward III had married in 1328. The bride, who had been born in 1933, was the only daughter of the late Sir William Worsley of Hovingham Hall. The couple had met in 1956 whilst Edward was stationed with the Royal Scots Greys at their barracks in Catterick, Yorkshire. Their engagement was announced on the 8th March 1961. (Offical engagement picture image) The wedding was attended by all the senior members of the family (image) as well as some foreign royalty including Crown Prince Harald of Norway, Crown Prince Constantine of Greece, Crown Princess Margrethe of Denmark, Princess Sophia of Greece and Don Juan Carlos of Spain. image

The bride chose John Cavanagh of Mayfair to make her wedding dress. Cavanagh was Princess Marina’s favourite designer and she persuaded her future daughter-in-law to give him the task of creating the wedding dress. The dress was made of a shimmering white silk gauze with a pearlized motif. image The details on the dress were kept simple with a stand away collar and as series of buttons on the long fitted sleeves. The tight bodice fell into a full bell-shaped skirt with a long train. image The bride’s tulle veil was held in place with a small diamond tiara. image Katharine also wore a simple pearl necklace and earrings. The bride carried a small rose bouquet. image The dress out on display in London. image

The bride was attended by eight bridesmaids including Princess Anne and three pageboys. The bridesmaids wore long white organdie dresses trimmed with yellow ribbon and they carried posies of roses to match the rosebuds which were in their hair. image The reception was held at the bride’s family home of Hovingham Hall where the official pictures were taken. image

The couple have three children, George, Earl of St Andrews born in 1962, Lady Helen Windsor (now Taylor) born in 1964 and Lord Nicholas Windsor born in 1970. image The Duchess also had a stillborn child in 1977. The couple also have 8 grandchildren – Edward Lord Downpatrick, Lady Marina-Charlotte Windsor, Lady Amelia Windsor, Columbus Taylor, Cassius Taylor, Eloise Taylor, Estella Taylor and Albert Windsor. Today, the Duchess is rarely seen in public and only attends a small number of family functions. She converted to Roman Catholicism in 1994 and now prefers to be known simply as Katharine Kent.

More information and pictures of the wedding can be found at this thread.

PrincessofEurope British Royals Duchess of Kent, Duke of Kent, Wedding Anniversary

Crown Prince Felipe and Crown Princess Letizia celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary on the 22nd May. The Princess has worn some classic outfits and to mark the couple’s anniversary we have gathered five of her most famous outfits.

The Armani engagement trouser suit – 6th November 2003
image
Few royal watchers will forget Felipe and Letizia’s engagement as she controversially wore an Giorgio Armani white trouser suit accessorised with black pumps. image Even today fashion watchers still comment on the bold choice of Letizia not only for choosing a foreign designer but also for wearing such a simple trouser-suit. image Since the couple’s engagement, Letizia has worn a number of different white trouser suits with great success.

Lorenzo Caprile’s Danish wedding outfit – 14th May 2004
image
This is the outfit that probably is most instantly recognised with Letizia. Caprile’s masterpiece of a scarlet dress with matching bolero made headlines arcoss the world. image Part of the success of the dress was the simplicity of the design and Letizia added to the effect by borrowing two Art Deco ruby and diamond clips and a pair of earrings from her future mother-in-law Queen Sofia. image The dress has never been worn again and many would argue this was Letizia’s best outfit by far.
(Caprile also designed the figure-hugging red skirt with the vibrant off-the-shoulder jacket that she had worn at pre-wedding concert in Denmark on the 13th May. image ) Read more…

PrincessofEurope Spanish Royals Fashion, Princess Letizia, Princess of Asturias, Wedding Anniversary