and Diana, the Prince and Princess of Wales The wedding took place on 29 July 1981. 3,500 guests made up the congregation at
St Paul's Cathedral. Charles and Diana selected St Paul's over
Westminster Abbey, the traditional site of royal weddings, because St Paul's offered more seating The security screenings in the airports also increased. The cost of the wedding was later estimated to be $48 million in total (between $70M and $110M when adjusted for inflation), with $600,000 being spent on security. Regiments from the
Commonwealth realms participated in the procession, including the
Royal Regiment of Canada. At 10:22 BST the Queen and the Royal Family were taken to the cathedral in eight carriages, the Prince of Wales in the
1902 State Landau, which was later used following the ceremony to take the couple back to Buckingham Palace. Charles also made an error, saying he would offer her "thy goods" instead of "my worldly goods". In keeping with tradition, the couple's wedding rings were crafted from
Welsh gold from the
Clogau St David's mine in
Bontddu. The tradition of using Welsh gold within the wedding rings of the Royal Family dates back to 1923. Other church representatives present who gave prayers after the service were a former Archbishop of Canterbury,
Donald Coggan,
Basil Cardinal Hume, the Right Reverend Andrew Doig and the
Reverend Harry Williams CR. The choirs were conducted by
Barry Rose, the choirmaster at St Paul's. The cathedral's organist,
Christopher Dearnley, and its sub-organist,
John Scott, played the organ. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra were conducted by
David Willcocks, who was the director of the Royal College of Music and of The Bach Choir;
Richard Popplewell, the organist at Chapel Royal; and
Colin Davis, who was the musical director of Covent Garden. with
John Wallace as solo trumpeter.
Clothing Diana's wedding dress was valued at £9,000 (equivalent to £ in ). The dress was made of ivory silk
taffeta, decorated with
lace, hand
embroidery,
sequins, and 10,000 pearls. It was designed by
Elizabeth and
David Emanuel and had a train of ivory taffeta and antique lace. She wore a pair of low-heeled Clive Shilton shoes "with C and D initials hand-painted on her arches" and decorated with 542 sequins and 132 pearls. The official parfumeur of the royal wedding was
Houbigant Parfum, the oldest French fragrance company. Diana chose the floral scent Quelques Fleurs, which featured "notes of tuberose, jasmine and rose". She was reported to have accidentally spilled perfume over a part of her dress which she later covered with her hand during the ceremony. Barbara Daly did the bride's make-up for the ceremony. As a
Commander in the
Royal Navy, Charles wore his
ceremonial day dress uniform. He wore the star and riband of the
Order of the Garter, the star of the
Order of the Thistle, the neck badge of the
Order of the Bath, the
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal and
Silver Jubilee Medal. The uniform was completed with a gold aiguillette across the right soldier and the Queen's cypher on his epaulettes, reflecting his position as personal
aide de camp to the Sovereign. He carried a "full dress sword tassled in gold." Princes
Andrew and
Edward were the Prince of Wales's supporters (the equivalent of "
best man" for a royal wedding). Most of Europe's elected heads of state were among the guests, with the exceptions of the
President of Greece,
Konstantinos Karamanlis (who declined because Greece's exiled monarch,
Constantine II, a kinsman and friend of the bridegroom, had been invited as "
King of the Hellenes"), and the
President of Ireland,
Patrick Hillery (who was advised by
Taoiseach Charles Haughey not to attend because of the
dispute over the status of Northern Ireland).
First Lady Nancy Reagan represented the United States at the wedding. While Gambian President
Dawda Jawara attended the wedding, the
Gambia Socialist Revolutionary Party attempted a
coup d'état in his home country. Among other invitees were the couple's friends and the bride invited the staff of the nursery school in which she had worked to the wedding. The couple's other wedding cake was created by
Belgian pastry chef SG Sender, who was known as the "cakemaker to the kings". Another wedding cake was created by
Chef Nicholas Lodge; Chef Nicholas had previously made the Queen Mother's 80th Birthday Cake and also commissioned to create a Christening Cake for Prince Harry. A slice of the couple's wedding cake was later auctioned off by
Julien's Auctions in 2018 and was estimated to sell between $800–$1,200. Another slice sold for £1,850 ($2,565) in a 2021 auction. An estimated 750 million people watched the ceremony worldwide,
Angela Rippon,
Peter Woods,
Tom Fleming,
Wynford Vaughan-Thomas,
Rolf Harris, and
Terry Wogan provided the coverage for the BBC on television and radio. The wedding ceremony was positively received by the public, and according to
The New York Times symbolised "the continuity of the [British] monarchy". 600,000 people lined the streets of London to watch the ceremony, The wedding was widely broadcast on television and radio in many countries, and news channels covered the ceremony in different languages.
Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom John Betjeman released a poem in honour of the couple. The
Edinburgh District Council was among the organisations that made a charitable donation in honour of the couple's wedding and donated $92,500 to the Thistle Fund, "a charity for the disabled". The
Greater Manchester Council offered engineering apprenticeships for a small number of unemployed young people, and
Cambridge University sent "a spare copy of
The Complete English Traveller" by
Robert Sanders. The
Worshipful Company of Glovers of London presented the couple with gloves made out of leather, silks and cotton. A number of these gifts were displayed at
St James's Palace from 5 August to 4 October 1981. ==Honeymoon==