Sunday, 19 July 2020

Wedding Gown Addendum

I wrote a blog entitled "On the subject of Royal wedding gowns" in response to the marriage of Harry and Meghan (pub. 22 May 2018) it seems only fitting that following the marriage of Beatrice and Count Eduardo Mappeli Mozzi I do a bit of an update.

First we need to go back to the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Fergusson in 1986.
I make no apologies for my love of this couple. They were the royal pairing of my childhood and I still think they're adorable. I will be devastated if the allegations against Andrew are proven; I think the allegations are most likely founded in a desire for notoriety or to deflect public interest away from Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's numerous other high profile contacts...
Anyway, the point is this was the royal wedding that had the greatest impact on me and it's only right to reference it in a blog about their daughters.
Sarah's wedding gown was waaay better than Diana's "heap of crumpled hankies" look while being very eighties. It was also embellished with lots of symbolism which is a thing I really like.
Maybe I just have a thing for younger sons because I won't book much criticism of Harry and Meghan either, HOWEVER, using Princess Eugenie's wedding as an opportunity to announce their pregnancy with Archie was a major faux pas.
Princess Eugenie, Andrew and Sarah's younger daughter, married Jack Brooksbank (a British wine merchant) on October 12th, 2018.
The particularly noteworthy detail about Princess Eugenie's gown was the open back / lack of veil combination. Princess Eugenie had spinal surgery for scoliosis as a child and wanted her scar visible to empower others.
I thought Princess Eugenie's choice of gown was superb - classic, elegant, and meaningful.

I must confess that I feel... 'dubious' of Princess Beatrice's new husband, Eduardo Mapelli Mozzi, but I wish her every happiness. I feel intensely for Princess Beatrice too as she had to postpone her wedding due to the chaos of Covid-19.
Princess Beatrice finally wed her 'Count' on 17th July 2020 and officially became the first royal-born step-mama of the modern era as Eduardo has a son Christopher "Woolfie" (b. 2016) with his former partner. The first photos released make me think how much she looks like her mum and I love the eighties vibe she's got going on with her gown. As much as anything I think it's nice to see sisters do it their own ways; no indication of trying to 'out do' each other... and sadly there was a lot of speculation of that kind as the younger sister married first. Ye gods I loathe the way the press treats the royal family!
As yet there is little to go upon as to why Princess Beatrice chose the gown she did but I love it... from the beading reminiscent of the 1920s, the poofy 80s sleeves, the deep contrast hem which screams 70s at me for no adequately explained reason... But most of all I love her smile. Her big day may not have been as big as she'd planned and dreamed of but I truly hope it was everything she wanted it to be.
EDIT
Well, I missed my guess three times over with the dress (mostly) dating to 1961! Honestly, three whole decades guessed and still wrong LOL.
Here it is, being worn - sans sleeves - by her grandmother, HM Queen Elizabeth II:
And another photo from Beatrice's wedding:

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