Weddings can be fraught businesses and nothing every goes completely to plan, even for royalty. When Queen Elizabeth II attended Princess Alexandra’s 1963 wedding to Alexander Ogilvy, she ended up having to say sorry to another monarch.
Footage from Princess Alexandra’s wedding on 24 April 1963 shows The Queen accidentally standing on King Olav V of Norway’s foot as guests gathered to wave the newlyweds off. She quickly realised what she had done, especially as King Olav flinched slightly. Luckily, the two monarchs were second cousins and very close and the two dissolved into laughter.
Elizabeth II and Olav V were related through King George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Maud of Norway. George and Maud were siblings. Maud married the future King Haakon VII, who had been born Prince Carl of Denmark, making the pair the aunt and uncle of King George VI, Elizabeth’s father. Haakon was actually born on the Sandringham Estate in 1903, another close tie with the late Queen.
The Norwegian Royal Family spent the Second World War in exile. King Haakon and then-Crown Prince Olav spent those years in London. The families grew closer during this period, with Elizabeth referring to Haakon as “Uncle Charles” for the rest of his life. It is reported that when she had her first son, in 1948, she named in honour of the King of Norway. Olav continued to return to the United Kingdom each year to mark Remembrance Day with the British Royal Family until his death in 1991.
Princess Alexandra’s wedding was a notable royal event. As the only daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, Alexandra is related to almost every European royal family. In addition to King Olav of Norway, other notable royal guests included Queen Ingrid of Denmark, the future-Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Queen Louise of Sweden, Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, Queen Mother Helen of Romania, Princesses Irene and Margriet of the Netherlands, the Margrave and Margravine of Baden, and Prince and Princess Paul of Yugoslavia, amongst others.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh were there to support Princess Alexandra, as she was a first cousin to Elizabeth and a second cousin to Philip.
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