Recently-engaged Prince William and Kate Middleton are reportedly opting for a ‘tight budget’ royal wedding (although their idea of a ‘tight budget’ might not exactly match ours) when they tie the knot on April 29, with an inherited engagement ring from the Late Princess Diana and a budget honeymoon in the UK’s Isles of Scilly.
But that’s a far cry from other royal couples, who have gone completely all out for their big day. Check out these big royal spenders:
Prince Williams’ parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, spent a whopping $6.5 million on their wedding back in 1981. Her sapphire and diamond engagement ring alone, which has now been passed on to Kate Middleton, cost £28,000 at the time, while her dramatic David Emmanuel gown, made of silk taffeta and antique lace and featuring a 25-foot train, cost £9,000.
Dubai is known for its opulence, so it is only fitting that it is also home to one of the most expensive royal weddings in history.
Forget the marquee, Sheikh Mohammed built an entire stadium for his 20,000 guests when he married his first cousin, Sheikha Hind Bint Maktoum, in 1979. Now that’s an audience!
The wedding lasted a whole week during which the Sheikh rode his horse to every village to feed his countrymen.
The whole wedding event cost a total of $44.5 million, which would equate to approximately $100 million in today’s terms.
Royals and world leaders around the world went to Brunei to witness Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah, heir to the Sultan of Brunei, marry his then 17-year-old bride Sarah Pengiran Salleh in 2004.
The lavish ceremony, which took place at Nurul Iman Palace, reportedly cost an estimated $5 million and involved endless ceremonies to “showcase centuries of Bruneian tradition”.
When Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden married her former personal trainer Daniel Westling in June 2010, her family splashed out $3 million on the fairytale wedding.
The event – which was the most-watched royal wedding since Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s – featured an audience of around 250,000 Swedes, as well as floral arrangements scattered along the streets of Stockholm and a two-storey replica of the princess’ castle in the city centre, created by Scandinavian furniture giants IKEA.
In what was one the most extravagant weddings ever witnessed in London at the time, Greece’s Crown Prince Pavlos married American heiress Marie-Chantal Miller in July 1995, to the tune of $1.9 million. The cost of the wedding included the cost of flying in Denmark’s royal florist to decorate St Sophia’s Cathedral with 30,000 pink garlands, as well as the bride’s gown – which alone cost a staggering $240,000 and was made of pearl-encrusted ivory silk, with a 15-foot Chantilly lace train.
One of the most famous and talked about royal weddings of all-time was that of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Hollywood actress Grace Kelly in 1956.
In what was dubbed by the press at the time as “The Wedding of the Century”, 600 guests filled the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Monaco, with white lilacs, hydrangeas, lilies and snapdragons adorning the altar. In preparation for the wedding, The Palace of Monaco was painted and redecorated throughout.
The bride certainly made a grand entrance for her big day. Leaving from New York Harbour, Kelly, along with her family, bridesmaids, poodle, and over 80 pieces of luggage, boarded the ocean liner SSConstitution for the French Riviera. About 400 reporters applied to set sail with the bridal party, but most were turned away. Thousands of Kelly’s fans showed up at the New York pier to bid bon voyage to the party before they departed for their eight-day voyage. Once they arrived in Monaco, more than 20,000 people lined the streets to greet the future princess consort.
Hollywood legends Cary Grant, David Niven, Gloria Swanson, and Ava Gardner gave the happy couple a 147-foot yacht as a wedding gift, while the people of Monaco gave them a cream and black Rolls-Royce convertible.
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