The Queen Apparently Has To Approve All The Royal Wedding Dresses

(Image credit: getty)

published 9 September 2019

Can you imagine if Kate Middleton hadn't worn that now iconic Alexander McQueen gown? Or if Meghan Markle didn't walk down the aisle in her ivory Givenchy dress? Well those wedding dresses could've been very different indeed, well in theory at least.

You see according to tradition, the Queen has to approve royal wedding dresses before the big day, so if she wasn't keen on them, or deemed them inappropriate, she could've (again in theory) vetoed them, though that has never happened - that we know of at least.

This means Duchess Kate would've shared the designs of her gown with Her Majesty, or perhaps even taken her with her to one of her fittings, and same goes for Princess Eugenie and Duchess Meghan.

At the time of Meghan and Harry's wedding, it was rumoured that the Queen wasn't a fan of the former actress wearing white, as she has been married before, however she obviously approved the design.

Queen Elizabeth II herself was ahead of her time with her bridal gown, designed by Norman Hartnell, as she shunned the traditional white in favour of a blush colour.

It's not known if she had hers approved by her father, the then King Georve VI, but what we do know is that it only got the go ahead three months before the big day, which isn't very long at all to design such an important dress.

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.

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