No expense is spared for a royal wedding, especially when it comes to the hotly-anticipated bridal gowns.
From Princess Kate's iconic lace number from Alexander McQueen to Princess Eugenie's meaningful gown from Peter Pilotto, plenty of our favourite royals have been listed in the top seven most expensive royal wedding dresses. According to Hitched, the average wedding dress costs £1,313, but some royal brides have splashed up to £6million.
WATCH: Most expensive royal weddings in price order - up to £75.5million
7. Queen Elizabeth II
Though the late Queen Elizabeth II's £30,000 wedding dress comes in at the bottom of the charts, it was certainly a jaw-dropping amount to spend when she married the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947, at a time when the world had barely begun to recover from the war and clothing was still rationed. The Queen even collected coupons to pay for her dress!
It was created by Norman Hartnell using Chinese silk, and shaped with a high neckline, tailored bodice and a 15-foot long train. Pearl and diamante-encrusted star flowers, roses, jasmine blossoms and wheat adorned the bodice and the skirt.
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6. Sarah, Duchess of York
Sarah Ferguson opted for a dress made from ivory Duchesse satin for her wedding to Prince Andrew in 1986, which was believed to have cost £35,000. Lindka Cierach created the style, with precise beadwork incorporating various symbols including anchors and waves representing Prince Andrew's sailing background.
Her 17-foot long train was embroidered with the initials A and S in silver beads. Sarah spoke out about her dress in her 1997 memoir My Story, describing it as, "an exquisite creation I'd lost twenty-six pounds to fit into. Lindka was a genius; I knew she could make the most flattering gown ever, and she had. It was amazingly boned, like a corset."
5. Duchess of Sussex
Meghan Markle's wedding dress is estimated to have cost £110,000, and the Duchess of Sussex paid for it herself. The timeless gown was the handiwork of Clare Waight Keller, of Parisian fashion house Givenchy, and the level of intricacy is surely reflective of its price.
The fashion house spent 3,900 hours embroidering Meghan's 16-feet long veil with the national flowers of each of the 53 commonwealth countries including real crops of wheat, while the dress was created using double-bonded silk cady cushioned by an underskirt of triple silk organza.
SEE: Best photos from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding
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4. Princess Diana
Princess Diana's wedding dress for her wedding to her ex-husband King Charles III in 1981 was valued at £151,000 in 2019. Welsh designer David Emanuel and his then-wife Elizabeth made the design from ivory silk and embellished with pearls, sequins and antique lace. It was topped off with a 25-foot train – the longest in royal history.
3. Princess Eugenie
When Princess Eugenie tied the knot with Jack Brooksbank in 2018, she wore a £200,000 design by British designer Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos. She worked closely with the duo to create a number of meaningful motifs including a Thistle for Scotland as a reference to the couple's love for Balmoral, a Shamrock for Ireland as a nod to the bride's heritage and the York Rose and ivy representing the couple's home.
She also opted for a low back that would display a scar she had from scoliosis surgery.
2. Princess of Wales
In at number two, Princess Kate's wedding dress for her wedding to Prince William in 2011 cost her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton (who footed the bill), £250,000. It was made in collaboration with Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, with a Victorian bodice, a train stretching almost nine-feet long with 58 gazar and organza-covered buttons on the back and rouleau loops, and handmade lace created by the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace.
1. Queen Letizia
Queen Letizia of Spain tops the charts with a £6million wedding dress that she wore to her wedding with King Felipe in 2004. It was designed by royal couturier Manuel Pertegaz, featuring a four-and-a-half metre-long train, long sleeves, a high-standing collar and embroidery woven into the silk using gold thread. (Real, of course.)
She accessorised with a diamond tiara, gifted to her from her mother-in-law Queen Sofia after she wore it on her own wedding day to King Juan Carlos in 1962.
READ: Zara Tindall's unconventional strapless bridesmaid dress that broke royal tradition
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