She might have been marrying the then heir to the Belgian throne, but when Paola Ruffo di Calabria said ‘I do’ to Albert, Prince of Liege, she had absolutely no expectation that they would ever end up as Belgium’s king and queen. So Paola’s wedding look was a personal pick rather than an attempt to fit a regal template. And one of the most striking parts of it is the lack of a tiara.
Royal weddings nowadays are expected to come with diamonds included. Not for Paola. She had fallen in love with Albert at a papal coronation, as you do, and after a whirlwind romance, the couple decided to get married. The couple had wanted to head back to the Vatican for their nuptials but the Belgian authorities weren’t letting the sparkle of a royal wedding slip through their fingers and Albert and Paola agreed to tie the knot in Brussels instead. But despite a whole host of tiaras sitting in the royal vaults, Paola went for flowers in her hair on her big day.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe main focus of her outfit was the antique lace veil first used by Paola’s Belgian born grandmother. The bride held this Brussels lace heirloom in place with a simple arrangement of orange blossoms rather than a diadem.
Orange blossom as a bridal accessory goes all the way back to Queen Victoria. When she married Prince Albert, in 1840, she wore orange blossom in her heir rather than any form of jewels.
Victoria loved the language of flowers, the practice popular at the time of sending messages through blooms. Orange blossom signifies chastity and was Victoria’s regal version of very demure.
Given that Victoria and Albert then went on to dominate royalty in the 19th century as their nine children married into various dynasties, the orange blossom trend spread across Europe. By the end of the 1800s, no self respecting bride walked into a royal wedding without a wreath of orange blossom in her hair.
There are, of course, strong links between the Belgian royal family and Victoria and Albert. The two were cousins and their uncle, Leopold, went on to be the first King of the Belgians.
Whether Paola was paying tribute to her new husband’s royal family tree isn’t known. But she chose orange blossom for her wedding look, wearing a wreath of the flowers in her hair to anchor that historic lace veil.
Embed from Getty ImagesPaola was already renowned as a style icon by then and her wedding look surprised many. She’d been known for her sharp tailoring and sleek silhouettes but for her marriage, she went full on old school.
Her dress was simple, made of heavy white satin, with a scoop neckline and three quarter length sleeves as well as a fitted waist finished a bow. There was also a five metre train. The designer has never been revealed but it was a far more traditional look than some were expecting from a woman who was a fashion maven by the age of 21.
Embed from Getty ImagesGuest of honour at the wedding, on July 2nd 1959 at St Michael and St Gudula’s Cathedral in Brussels, was the groom’s older brother, King Baudouin of the Belgians, who was expected to marry and pass the crown to his own children.
Baudouin married the following year but he and his wife, Queen Fabiola, suffered the sadness of several miscarriages and the couple never had the family they so wanted.
Eventually, Albert succeeded Baudouin in 1993. During her husband’s twenty year reign, Queen Paola wore the most famous diadems in her royal family’s collection. But as a bride, she ditched the diamonds and went full on Victorian with orange blossoms in her hair.
