camilla parker bowles wedding dress

The Duchess of Cornwall is the only royal bride to have recycled her wedding dress – see photos

Camilla wore her white dress two years after her ceremony

Content Managing Editor
May 3, 2018

The Duchess of Cambridge is known for her thrifty fashion sense, but it seems the Duchess of Cornwall went one step further when she recycled her wedding dress in 2007. Camilla wore an elegant white coat and matching scalloped-edged dress by Robinson Valentine for her civil ceremony to Prince Charles in April 2005, when the pair married at Windsor's Guildhall.

Two years later in June 2007, the Duchess stepped out in the same outfit as she attended the opening of the National Assembly of Wales. Camilla, 70, swapped her show-stopping wedding hat for another wide-brimmed one, and this time wore a triple string of pearls and a different pair of shoes. She did, however, wear the same diamond brooch that featured the Prince of Wales feathers.

Camilla pictured at her civil ceremony in 2005

The Duchess of Cornwall was one of the royal brides who appeared in ITV's documentary, The Royal Wives of Windsor, which aired earlier this week. The TV show looked at the many royal women who married into the most famous family in the world, and how today's society has changed the monarchy's traditions in ways that wouldn't have been possible even one generation ago.

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The next bride to walk up the aisle is Meghan Markle, who is set to marry Prince Harry in mid-May. The question on everyone's lips is what dress Meghan will wear on her big day, and which designer she has chosen. Bookmakers stopped taking bets on Alexander McQueen at the start of April after punters rushed to back the British designer. This choice could be highly likely, particularly as Kate wore Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen at her own royal wedding in 2011.

The Duchess recycled her wedding dress in 2007

No matter which designer the former Suits star decides to opt for, one royal expert has predicted she won't spend more than Prince William's wife. Kate Nicholl explained to Entertainment Tonight: "There have been reports that [Meghan's] considering spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on a wedding dress. I think that's incredibly unlikely. Kate Middleton's dress is rumoured to have cost £250,000. It was her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, who paid for that bill.

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"I think it is very unlikely that Meghan would spend more than that and in doing so try and upstage a future queen. I don't think she's going to want to get royal life off to a start where she's criticised for spending something like £400,000 on a wedding dress."

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