Wedding of Queen Victoria & Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Victoria and Albert were married at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace at 1pm on Monday 10th February 1840.
Victoria wore a white dress, which was seen as unusual at the time.
It was more traditional for brides to wear colours, with gold or silver embroidery running throughout their gowns.
The Queen decided to buck the trend and go with white, which was seen at the time as a symbol of a wealth, not purity.
The white silk dress was made from silk spun at Spitalfields in London, with Honiton lace, which was worked at the village of Beer in Devon.
The dress, and the famously patterned lace, were designed by William Dyce, head of what was known at the time as the Government School of Design, now the Royal College of Art.
The white silk dress itself was made by a woman called Mary Bettans.
Queen Victoria loved her wedding dress so much that she tended to wear it over and over again.
Herself and Albert even posed for a series of photos in their wedding clothes years later.
They would re-enact their precious moment for improved cameras, so they’d have photos to remember the occasion by.
Victoria posed for a portrait as a first anniversary present for Albert too.
The lace veil we often see Victoria wearing with her small crown in later years, is that very same Honiton lace too.
The Queen was buried with her wedding veil covering her face.
Victoria was so taken with her wedding dress that she and Albert commissioned a Christening gown based on the same design for their first born child, Victoria.
That same Christening gown was worn by 62 royal children between 1841 and 2004, when it was finally deemed too fragile and a replica was ordered.
Victoria opted for a headdress of orange blossoms instead of her crown, although Albert did design a coronet for her as a wedding present.
As her father was dead, Victoria was walked up the aisle by her favourite uncle, the Duke of Sussex.
The Archbishop of Canterbury actually did approach Victoria and ask if she might like to remove the promise to “obey” her less powerful husband from her vows.
The Queen refused.
For a Honeymoon, Victoria & Albert headed off to Windsor on the afternoon of the wedding, where they remained until Friday.
It’s said they spent their time reading, walking, riding and hosting dinner parties, before returning to Buckingham Palace on Friday the 14th of February.
Their Wedding night was quite different to how we would think.
In her journal, The Queen writes:
“We had our dinner in our sitting room, but I had such a sick headache that I could eat nothing, and was obliged to lie down in the middle blue room for the remainder of the evening, on the sofa; but, ill or not, I never, never spent such an evening!!
My dearest dearest dear Albert sat on a footstool by my side, and his excessive love and affection gave me feelings of heavenly love and happiness, I never could have hoped to have felt before!
He clasped me in his arms, and we kissed each other again and again!
His beauty, his sweetness and gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband!
At ½ p.10 I went and undressed and was very sick, and at 20 m. p.10 we both went to bed; (of course in one bed), to lie by his side, and in his arms, and on his dear bosom, and be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief!
Oh! this was the happiest day of my life!
May God help me to do my duty as I ought and be worthy of such blessings”
Victoria and Albert’s marriage lasted for 21 turbulent, passionate years, until his death in 1861.
