Princess Margaret’s Wedding Fashion

On 6th May 1960, Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones in Westminster Abbey. It was the first-ever televised royal wedding with estimates of over 300 million people watching the event worldwide. The Princess choose one of her favourite designers, Norman Hartnell, to design her wedding dress. Hartnell was also a favourite of the Queen and the Queen Mother and had been responsible for the Coronation dresses and Princess Elizabeth’s wedding dress. However his creation for Margaret in 1960 was remarkably different from his other designs. At Princess Margaet’s request, the design was kept simple with no lace or sequins. image , image The dress of white silk organza had a striking high neckline and tight-fitted bodice. image Unlike previous wedding dresses there was no separate court train instead the large itself formed a short train. image The simple veil was made by Claude St Cyr of Paris and the only detail was the piping on the trim to match the dress. image

The veil was held in place with the stunning Poltimore tiara which had been purchased for Princess Margaret at auction prior to her wedding for over £5000. For the wedding day Margaret’s hairdresser styled her hair with a hairpiece to add height. The Poltimore tiara was made by Garrard in 1870 for Lady Poltimore. It could be transformed into a fringe necklace and eleven brooches. image The Princess was seen wearing the tiara in the form of the necklace prior to her wedding and continued to wear the piece in its various forms on many state occasions. The tiara was sold in 2006 at an auction in Christie’s along with many other pieces from her jewellery collection. It sold to a private collector for about £1 million. On her wedding day, Margaret also wore Queen Mary’s diamond riviere which she had inherited after her grandmother’s death in 1953. It became one of her signature pieces and was sold for nealy £1 million at the 2006 auction. image , image

Hartnell also designed the dresses for the eight bridesmaids, including Princess Anne. The dresses were specifically made to replicate Margaret’s first evening dress which had been a favourite of her late father, King George VI. They were frilly with insets of broderie anglaise and trimmed with blue ribbon. image , image

More infomation and pictures of the wedding can be found in this thread. Second photo is from the Royal Forums avatar collection.

Filed under The United Kingdom
Tagged Fashion, Poltimore Tiara, Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon, Tiaras, Wedding.