When Princess Elizabeth married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey on 20 November 1947, the country paused to witness a moment of hope and pageantry in an otherwise austere post-war Britain. The ceremony, held at 11:30 am, drew huge public attention, and the fascination did not end when the newlyweds departed the Abbey. More than 2,500 wedding gifts were placed on display at St James’s Palace, drawing vast crowds, while the Princess’s wedding dress was also exhibited separately, becoming a major attraction in its own right.
The gown, designed by Sir Norman Hartnell, had been chosen from a selection he submitted only three months earlier, during a period when rationing was still in force and every detail was scrutinised. Its display underscored the extraordinary interest the public felt in this royal wedding. Cinema newsreels showed the event to packed audiences across the country, eager to share in a moment that felt symbolic of national renewal.
Princess Elizabeth’s bridesmaids wore wreaths created by Jac Ltd of London, combining white sheaves, lilies and London Pride in satin and silver lame. The design choices were steeped in royal precedent. More than a century earlier, Queen Victoria had sketched her own bridesmaids’ dresses for her marriage in 1840, opting for simple white gowns trimmed with rose garlands. That lineage of tradition continued in 1947.
The bridesmaids carried bouquets of white roses, orchids, lilies of the valley, gardenias, bouvardia and nerine, all supplied by Moyses Stevens. The long-established florist, which today holds a Royal Warrant, had only just reopened its Mayfair branch in 1948 after wartime closure.
Princess Elizabeth’s own bouquet was created by the Worshipful Company of Gardeners and crafted by florist M. H. Longman. Made from white cattleya, Odontoglossum and Cypripedium orchids, it also included a sprig of myrtle grown from the original plant used in the wedding bouquet of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter. This tradition, passed down through generations, had also been part of the bouquet carried by Princess Alexandra of Denmark for her marriage to the future Edward VII in 1863. Guests at the wedding breakfast were given posies of myrtle and Balmoral heather, a symbolic gesture underscoring continuity and heritage.
The Princess’s tiara was equally steeped in royal history. She wore Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara, a piece made in 1919 by E. Wolff and Co for Garrard. Its origins lay in an earlier tiara owned by Queen Victoria, later broken down and reimagined as a necklace that could be worn as a diadem. Queen Mary had eventually gifted it to Queen Elizabeth, who lent it to her daughter for the wedding day. Princess Elizabeth also wore the Duchess of Teck’s earrings, given to her at the start of 1947, and a pearl necklace said to have belonged to Queen Anne or, in other accounts, Queen Caroline, both gifts from her parents.
As had become custom following Queen Elizabeth’s example in 1923, the Princess sent her wedding bouquet back to Westminster Abbey after the ceremony so it could be laid on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A replica of that bouquet was later created for the Queen’s Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1997.
Hartnell would go on to design some of the most significant royal garments of the twentieth century, including the Queen’s coronation gown, embroidered with thousands of pearls and crystals. Yet the 1947 wedding dress remains one of his most celebrated works. It contrasted with the famously simple gown he had produced decades earlier for Queen Elizabeth’s own wedding, made of ivory chiffon moire and dyed to match the antique veil lent by Queen Mary.
The Princess’s wedding ring was fashioned from a nugget of Welsh gold sourced from the Clogau St David’s mine, beginning a tradition that would endure for the next generation of royal brides.
In a Britain still recovering from war, the wedding of Princess Elizabeth brought with it a rare sense of joy and optimism. Seventy-seven years on, the details of that day – from the heirloom jewels to the myrtle sprigs and the quietly symbolic gestures – remain a defining chapter in royal history.
