On this day in 2011, Prince William and Kate Middleton tied the knot at Westminster Abbey.
And 30 years earlier, Prince Charles and Diana Spencer exchanged vows and rings at St Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981.
But despite both marrying future kings, Kate and Diana could not have been more different as royal brides, according to a royal biographer.
As Kate made her way into the Abbey in a £250,000 Alexander McQueen gown, she paused to wave to the crowds – some of whom had camped out overnight to wish her well on her big day.
‘One day the British people would be her subjects,’ Katie Nicholl wrote in the book Kate: The Future Queen.
‘It was the same thought that had struck Diana, who had paused and waved to the nation, as was expected of royal brides, before she climbed the stairs of St Paul’s Cathedral.
‘But, while Diana had seemed full of trepidation, Kate, who was older and more experienced in her role as royal consort, exuded an amazing sense of confidence and purpose.’
‘They were both royal brides, but Kate and Diana, for all the comparisons, were two very different women.’
Kate Middleton married Prince William on April 29, 2011
The bride waves to a crowd of adoring royal fans outside Westminster Abbey
Diana Spencer walks up the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981
By the time she walked down the aisle towards a beaming Prince William, Kate was 29 years old and already had practice as a royal consort.
In 2008, the future princess joined Prince Harry and other senior royals on Garter Day to watch William became the 1000th Royal Knight of the Order of the Garter.
A month after announcing their engagement, Kate attended a Teenage Cancer Trust Christmas charity gala with William in December 2010.
And in the lead up to their fairytale wedding in 2011, William and Kate completed a tour of the UK including a romantic trip to the University of St Andrews in Scotland where they first met.
Nearly two billion people tuned in to watch the ceremony, so Kate would have been forgiven for stumbling over her words or struggling to calm a tremble in her hand.
But, she proved herself as a future queen by not only remaining calm as she walked down the aisle with her father Michael Middleton but by also offering her husband-to-be William a reassuring smile as he struggled to get the wedding ring on her finger.
In a stand out moment from the ceremony, Kate delivered her vows in ‘crystal-clear tones’, wrote Nicholl.
‘William Arthur Philip Louis,’ she delivered clearly and audibly at the altar.
Kate walks down the aisle at Westminster Abbey with her father Michael Middleton
Diana walks down the aisle with her father Earl Spencer
William and Diana exchange vows with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams
Charles and Diana sit at the altar during their marriage ceremony
Diana, on the other hand, was just 20 years old when she married Charles and had limited experience with royal engagements.
So as the world watched her exchange vows, it is no wonder nerves got the better of her and she muddled Charles’s names.
‘I, Diana Francis,’ a meek voice came from underneath her veil. ‘Take thee Phillip Charles Arthur George, to my wedded husband.’
The future king was baptised Charles Philip Arthur George.
Although there may have been a marked difference in delivery, both Kate and Diana decided to break royal tradition with their vows.
As Diana had done so many years before her, Kate wanted her vows to be ‘equal’ to that of her husband’s and chose to ‘love, comfort, honour and keep’ him instead of ‘obey’.
As both brides said ‘I will’, a cheer erupted up and down the country – but decades apart.
To show their respect to the reigning monarch, Kate and Diana curtsied deeply to Queen Elizabeth II who was sitting in the front row at their respective ceremonies.
William and Kate emerge from Westminster Abbey to cheering royal fans
Newlyweds Diana and Charles stand on the steps of St Paul’s in front of the roaring crowds
Kate became the Duchess of Cambridge after marrying William, the Duke of Cambridge, in 2011
Diana gained the title Princess of Wales after marrying Prince Charles in 1981
Kate and William emerged from Westminster Abbey to a roar of approval from the crowds.
Even the British weather seem to agree with the matrimony as the clouds parted to bathe the new husband and wife in golden spring sunshine.
Similarly, Diana and Charles left St Paul’s Cathedral hand-in-hand in the summer sun to be greeted by adoring fans.
Both couples rode through the streets of London in the 1902 State Landau, which is the largest and most splendid horse-drawn carriage used by the sovereign.
Built by Messrs Hooper for the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, it is drawn by six horses and has no coachman.
It is upholstered in crimson satin and laces, and its back and front door panels bear the Royal Arms.
The carriage has a flexible leather hood, making it perfect for warm weather, as it gives the crowds a clear view of the people inside.
It was in the luxuriant carriage that lip readers caught a buzzing William saying: ‘I hope I remember… It’s mad, it’s mad! Oh my goodness it’s really loud here – these people are clapping.’
Newlyweds Charles and Diana ride through the streets of London in the 1902 State Landau
The 1902 State Landau is the largest and most splendid horse-drawn carriage used by the sovereign
He later reportedly turns to his new wife and tells her: ‘You look happy’.
She smiles and replies, ‘Yes! Are you happy?’ to which he says, ‘Yes. Very!’
By the time the couple reached Buckingham Palace and the glass doors of its famous balcony swung open, the playful crowds below were already chanting: ‘Kiss, kiss, kiss.’
The onlookers may have had to wait a few minutes, but when the time came they were doubly rewarded.
‘Wow, that’s amazing,’ exclaimed Kate, confronted by the spectacle below: a forest of up-raised flags, periscopes and mobile phones stretching from the gates of the Palace all the way along The Mall to Admiralty Arch in the distance.
And then Prince William, half-turning to his bride, said: ‘Go on, a little kiss, go on.’
A little kiss was exactly what he got. In fact it was scarcely more than a peck and brought to mind Prince Charles’s rather stilted kiss with Princess Diana on the same spot 30 years earlier.
But high on an enormous blast of goodwill, William, normally averse to public displays of affection, wanted more – and so, of course, did the multitude standing before him.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wave to adoring fans from the Buckingham Palace balcony
The new husband and wife treated the crowd to not one but two kisses
Diana and Charles greet well wishers from the Buckingham Palace balcony
The pair share a rather stilted peck in the same spot Kate and William would kiss 30 years later
‘Let’s give them another one. I love you,’ said William, as a spectacular flypast of Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft swept into view. ‘One more kiss, one more kiss. OK?’
After greeting wedding guests and dignitaries at Buckingham Palace, Kate was so eager to relive the fairytale wedding that she changed into a fluffy robe and rewatched the ceremony on the bed with William. Harry also joined the watch party, according to Nicholl.
‘The three of them sat watching together,’ the royal author penned. ‘Kate was still wearing the Queen’s priceless tiara.’
After a tough year of cancer treatment for Kate, there is no doubt that the couple, now the Prince and Princess of Wales, will look back fondly on their wedding day as they celebrate their 14th anniversary.
Sadly this was not the case for Diana who would tell her biographer Andrew Morton that she felt like a ‘lamb to the slaughter’ on her wedding day.
‘Got out [of St Paul’s], was a wonderful feeling , everybody hurraying, everybody happy because they thought we were happy,’ Morton penned on behalf of the princess in his book Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words.
‘There was the big question mark in my mind.
‘I realised I had taken on an enormous role but had no idea what I was going into – but no idea.’
