How the 1920s celebrated a Royal Wedding

As the country counts down to Prince William and Kate’s marriage, I was wondering how in the 1920s they celebrated the Royal Wedding of Princess Mary  to Henry, Viscount Lascelles in 1922.

Who was Princess Mary?

Princess Mary (1897-1965) was the Queen’s aunt. She was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary and sister to Edward VIII and George VI. She married Viscount Lascelles, the heir of the 5th Earl of Harewood, on 28th February 1922. Like William and Kate, they too chose to marry at Westminster Abbey.

My interest in her lies in the fact that she lived at Goldsborough Hall throughout the 1920s and it was her first family home before her move to Harewood House, West Yorkshire.

What a 1920s Royal bride wore

Speculation is rife over who will design Kate’s wedding dress, but back in the 1920s Princess Mary’s dress was made by the British fashion house Reville of London. William Wallace Terry of Reville Ltd was Court Dressmaker to Queen Mary and back in 1911 had created her coronation robe. He specialized in formal gowns and was popular with members of the aristocracy.

Princess Mary’s wedding dress was ankle-length silk embroidered with pearls and crystals in a trelliswork of roses. At the time, Vogue described the dress as a combination of ‘youthful simplicity and royal splendour’. And for those who’d like to see it, Princess Mary’s dress remains on permanent display at Harewood House.

What the Royals wore

Back in the 1920s, for the wedding of his only daughter, King George VI wore the scarlet uniform of the Grenadier Guards while the groom was in the full dress uniform of the Brigade of Guards. Queen Mary was dressed in gold frock with a gold hat while the bridesmaids (below) were dressed all in silver.

First appearance of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (known to most of us as The Queen Mother) made her first public appearance when Princess Mary chose her as one of her bridesmaids and this was the first time that she’d been present at a Royal occasion. Lady Elizabeth was friends with Princess Mary and only came into prominence after her marriage to Mary’s brother Bertie (later George VI) in 1923 and subject of the Oscar winning film The King’s Speech. Elizabeth and Bertie both planted trees when they visited Goldsborough Hall as Duke and Duchess of York, a few months after the birth of their daughter Elizabeth, The Queen. In the photograph (below) of Princess Mary’s bridesmaids, Lady Elizabeth is standing at the back second from left.

February Flowers

As Princess Mary married in the cold month of February, her bridal colours were silver and white with only a flash of colour in the pink flush of a big round bouquet of sweet peas. Princess Mary isn’t carrying a bouquet in these photographs,  apparently, after the service, on their way back to Buckingham Palace, Princess Mary requested an unscheduled stop, handing her bouquet to one of the attending Scots Guards to put onto the Cenotaph war memorial as they passed by.

Next Post

My next post will feature Princess Mary’s 1920s wedding breakfast and her amazing 900lb wedding cake, don’t eat it all at once…