So Prince Harry is to marry. What a great time for the
couple and their families. As all the planning begins, the decisions over who
will do what and who will be invited, it got me thinking about past royal
marriages and how they differ from now.
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St Georges Chapel Windsor where the royal wedding will take
place
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The last time the fifth in line to the throne married was in
1935 when Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. He was the fourth child and third
son of King George V and Mary of Teck. (He was proceeded in the line of
succession by his brothers Edward, later King Edward VIII, Albert, later King
George VI and Albert’s daughters Princess Elizabeth, our current Queen and
Princess Margaret). He was married on the 6th November in the
Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace to Lady Alice Montagu – Douglas – Scott the
daughter of the Duke of Buccleuch and Lady Margaret Bridgeman.
But how have royal marriages changed over the centuries
especially in the venues they used. Let’s consider the different locations that
have been used going back approximately 100 years at a time.
20th Century
On the 28th February 1922 Princess Mary
(Victoria), the daughter of King George V and Mary of Teck married in
Westminster Abbey. She married Viscount Henry Lascelles, the son of the Earl of
Harewood and Lady Florence Bridgeman. He would later become the 6th
Earl of Harewood. Being married in Westminster Abbey indicates a grand wedding
along the lines of today’s royal weddings.
19th Century
On the 2nd May 1816 Princess Charlotte Augusta of
Wales, the daughter of the Prince of Wales, later King George IV and Caroline
of Brunswick, married at Carlton House in London Prince Leopold of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, later King Leopold I of Belgium. He was the son of Francis,
Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf. This
wedding although definately grand, was held in the home of her father, not one
of the great churches as would have been expected as the second in line to the
throne.
18th Century
In August or September 1705 in Hanover Germany George the
son of George Louis, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (later King George
I of Great Britain), and his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, married Caroline
of Ansback, the daughter of John
Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and his second wife, Princess
Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach. The marriage took place in a chapel at the
Palace of Herrenhausen, Hanover, Germany.
17th Century
On the 14 February 1613 at the Chapel Royal at Whitehall
Palace, London Princess Elizabeth the daughter of King James I/VI and Anne of
Denmark married Frederick V Elector Palatine of the Rhine, later King of
Bohemia. He was the son of Frederick IV Electoral Palatinate and Louise Juliana
of Nassau. The chapel royal is the for the reigning monarchs use.
16th Century
On the 11th June 1509 King Henry VIII ( the son
of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York)married for the first time. He was
married in a low key ceremony (Henry’s father had died only months earlier) at
the church of the Observant Friars in Greenwich. He married the widow of his
elder brother Katherine of Aragon the daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon
and Queen Isabella I of Castile.
As a side just to show the nature of the rest of Henry’s
marriages, they were as follows:
Marriage 2. 5 January 1533 at York Place, London (York
Place was the Kings main residence in London) to Anne Boleyn the daughter of Thomas
Boleyn, later Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormond, and Lady Elizabeth Howard.
Marriage 3. 30 May 1536 at Whitehall Palace, London to Jane
Seymour the daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth.
Marriage 4. 6 January 1540 at Greenwich Palace, London to
Anne of Cleves, the daughter of John III
of the House of La Marck, Duke of Jülich, Cleves, Berg, Count of Mark and Maria,
Duchess of Julich-Berg.
Marriage 5. 28 July 1540 at Oatlands Palace, Surrey (a
former site of a monastery) to Katherine Howard the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper.
Marriage 6. 12 July 1543 at Hampton Court Palace, to
Katherine Parr the daughter of Sir Thomas Parr and Maud Green.
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Hampton Court Palace
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15th Century
In 1423 John of Lancaster the son of King Henry IV and Mary
de Bohun and brother of King Henry V married at the Cathedral of Troyes in
France. He married Anne of Burgundy the daughter of John the Fearless, Duke of
Burgundy and Margaret of Bavaria.
14th Century
In 1308 King Edward II, the son of King Edward I and Eleanor
of Castile married in Bolougne Cathedral, France, to Isabella of France. She
was the daughter of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre.
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Bolougne Cathedral, France
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13th Century
On the 24th August 1200 King John married for the
second time. He was the son of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He
married at Bordeaux Cathedral in France to Isabella of Angouleme the daughter
of Aymer Taillefer, Count of Angoulême and Alice of Courtenay.
12th Century
In January 1114 at Worms in Germany Princess Matilda, later
Empress Matilda (or Maude) the daughter of King Henry I and Matilda of Scotland
married Henry V, Emperor of Germany, the son of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor,
and Bertha of Savoy.
So as can be seen some weddings have been grand lavish
affairs in the cathedrals of the lands and some have been in private with few
witnesses. It seems no matter what a person’s station in life, be it a member
of the royal family or your own ancestors they are all family events which are
meant to be celebrated.
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