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Monaco

Princess Charlene of Monaco – the royal bride who wore the trousers

It’s a very famous royal wedding outfit, a style statement worn as a much talked about bride became a princess. Charlene Wittstock arrived at her civil marriage to Prince Albert II of Monaco in a trouser suit she designed with the help of Karl Lagerfeld.

Charlene and Albert’s civil wedding took place on July 1st 2011, at the Prince’s Palace in Monaco. For the event, the first part of what had been described as the biggest celebration in Monaco since the wedding of Albert’s parents in 1956, the Princess chose a striking and surprising outfit. For this royal bride wore blue to say ‘I do’ for the first time.

Charlene’s civil wedding outfit included palazzo pants made of chiffon and a single-breasted fitted jacket. The creation was a shade said to match her eyes to perfection and known since as ‘Charlene blue’. Charlene worked on the design with Lagerfeld, who was the creative director of both Chanel and Fendi.

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He was among the most high-profile guests at Albert and Charlene’s religious wedding on July 2nd 2011, although for that ceremony, the bride wore Armani. Karl Lagerfeld, however, dressed some of the most important guests at the event with the groom’s sister, Princess Caroline of Hanover, and her elder daughter, Charlotte Casiraghi, both in Chanel designs for the occasion.

Lagerfeld’s involvement in the royal wedding was widely expected as he had been close to Monaco’s Princely Family for many years. He was a particularly good friend of Caroline, who wore many of his designs over the decades, choosing his creations for major events in the Monaco royal calendar, including the Bal de Rose.

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However, it is the wedding outfit he helped Princess Charlene create that will remain perhaps his best-known royal style statement. The man who had a huge impact on fashion, who was hailed as a radical and revolutionary and who had his own brushes with controversy, also has his own place in the ever-evolving story of regal style as the man who helped dress a princess in trousers for a royal wedding.

About author

Lydia Starbuck is Jubilee and Associate Editor at Royal Central and the main producer and presenter of the Royal Central Podcast and Royal Central Extra. Lydia is also a pen name of June Woolerton who is a journalist and writer with over twenty years experience in TV, radio, print and online. Her latest book, A History of British Royal Jubilees, is out now. Her new book, The Mysterious Death of Katherine Parr, will be published in March 2024. June is an award winning reporter, producer and editor. She's appeared on outlets including BBC 5 Live, BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Local Radio and has also helped set up a commercial radio station. June is also an accomplished writer with a wide range of material published online and in print. She is the author of two novels, published as e-books. She is also a marriage registrar and ceremony celebrant.