Princess DianaWhile she was certainly a trailblazer within the royal family’s royal family, did you also know that she was shaking up the monarchy right from the beginning? Diana changed her vows for her wedding, which her daughters-in law included in their ceremonies.
Diana’s ‘Fairytale’Charles Wedding
After getting engaged in 1981, Diana and Prince Charles were married in a fairytale ceremony. The couple first met in 1977, when Charles was dating one of Diana’s older sisters. They began to have a romantic relationship in 1980.
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The marriage was called “wedding of the century”People all over the globe attended the ceremony. There were 3,500 guests in attendance, and 2 million people on the streets. While many focused on Diana’s fairytale wedding dress, others were excited by a different detail.
The Two Words Diana Missed In Her Vows
Diana and Charles were able to agree that Diana would not utter a word during her vows recitation during the ceremony. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer explains that the marriage vows can be found in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer “to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part.”
Both Diana and Prince Charles decided to leave. “to obey”When she repeated her vows. The princess wasn’t the first British bride to do so, but she was the first royal bride to leave out a promise to obey her new husband.
Diana’s decision to omit “to obey”Her vows set a precedent among the new royal brides. Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle, and others left the words out their own marriage vows. The words were also removed by Princess Eugenie “to obey”These are her vows.
Diana Set: Other Royal Precedents
Diana was a rebel and continued to set new precedents for her family throughout her life. For example, she was the first royal to give birth in a hospital instead of at home—another tradition Middleton and Markle followed.
The princess was also a first royal mother to send Prince William, a future monarch to public school. Middleton and William have also sent their children to public schools, and when Archie and Lilibet get old enough, it’s fair to assume Markle and Prince Harry will as well.
The marriage between Diana and Charles didn’t last, but the late princess had a permanent impact on the British royal family, bringing a sense of normalcy and independence to the sometimes-stuffy monarchy.