Chic Vintage Bride – Princess Margaret of Connaught
May 23, 2012
I confess I continue to be more than a little obsessed with veils. Nothing unusual I know for a wedding blogger, however I have never been a veil girl – I never dreamed of wearing a veil, never played with a net curtain pretending it was a veil…. I don’t know why, but veils just never appealed to me, until now! And it is for her veil that I selected this week’s Chic Vintage Bride Princess Margaret on Connaught…..
Standing, left to right: Princess Victoria Eugenia, Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh, the groom Crown Prince Gustav VI Adolf, and sister of the bride Princess Patricia of Connaught. In front: the flower girl Princess Mary, who later became Viscountess Lascelles and the bride Princess Margaret of Connaught.
Rather a veil-tastic wedding wasn’t – even the bridesmaids wore them!….
I love the way all of the ladies are wearing corsages – I think corsages could be the new bouquet!
Princess Mary of Connaught, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, married Crown Prince Gustav VI on 15 June 1905 in St. George’s Chapel, at Windsor Castle. One of Margaret’s wedding presents was the Connaught tiara, although she didn’t wear it on the day, instead choosing a simpler but equally lovely (if a little less sparkly) flower crown to afix another of her presents, her oh so gorgeous veil….
Created of the most exquisite Carrickmacross lace, like the lace on Catherine Middleton’s divine dress, it was gifted to the Princess by the ladies of Ireland. The design of the lace was based on the shamrock, the fleur-de-lys and the meadowsweet. What I love even more than the beauty of Princess Margaret’s veil though is the tradition started by it….
Left to right: Queen Ingrid of Denmark, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Queen Margrethe of Denmark, Princess Benedikte of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
Her only daughter, Princess Ingrid of Sweden, wore her mother’s veil when she married Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark in 1935. Ingrid was about 10 years old when Princess Margaret passed away, so it would have been an extremely meaningful gesture. Ingrid took the veil with her as she became Queen of Denmark, and all of her female descendants have married in it. The first of Ingrid’s daughters to marry, Anne-Marie, spread the tradition into the Greek royal family when she married King Constantine of Greece. Queen Margrethe (then Crown Princess) wore it, Princess Benedikte wore it as well, for her wedding to German royal Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
L to R: Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, Princess Alexia of Greece, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
Both Princess Benedikte’s daughters wore it for their weddings, first Alexandra and most recently Nathalie. Anne-Marie’s daughter Alexia wore it, and Queen Margarethe of Denmark passed it along to the only non-descendant to wear it to date: Crown Princess Mary. So fitting for a future Queen of Denmark isn’t it? Such a beautiful history of magical royal weddings.
It is enough to make me wish I had worn a veil that I could pass down. Are there any brides-to-be out there going to wear a family heirloom veil of their own on their wedding day??
Amy
x
Don’t they look gorgeous- and what about those tiny waists! I suspect the lavish use of decorative daisies amongst the bridal party is a homage to the bride, who was known as Daisy to friends and family. At the time girls called Margaret were often nicknamed Daisy – a play on the French word for a daisy, “marguerite”.
Oh wow thanks for that little snippet of insight Anne, I never knew that!