Which Royal Weddings have taken place in Windsor? From Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles
As Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank tie the knot, here's the lowdown on other royal weddings that have taken place at Windsor Castle over the past 150 years
Which Royal Weddings have been held at Windsor Castle?
1863: The Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark
The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert married Danish Princess Alexandra on March 10, 1863 in St George’s Chapel.
They’d met at Speyer Cathedral, Germany, in 1861, and Albert (or “Bertie” to his family) proposed the following year.
Prince Albert, the future Edward VII and the Queen’s great-grandfather, was the first of five of Queen Victoria’s children to marry at the chapel.
1866: Princess Helena and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
Princess Helena, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s fifth child, became engaged to Prince Christian, who was 15 years her senior, on December 5, 1865.
They married at Windsor Castle seven months later.
Prince Albert had died almost five years earlier, so Queen Victoria gave her daughter away, adding a white mourning cap (also known as a ‘widow’s cap’) to her black mourning dress.
1871: Princess Louise and The Marquess of Lorne
Princess Louise, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s sixth child and the future Duchess of Argyll, married John Campbell at St George’s Chapel on March 21, 1871.
The crowd outside Windsor Castle was so vast that, for the first time, policemen had to form chain barriers to keep control of the sheer amount of people.
Louise wore a wedding veil of Honiton lace that she designed herself.
Her mother and her two eldest brothers, The Prince of Wales and The Duke of Edinburgh, escorted her into the chapel.
The couple never had any children.
1879: Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia
Prince Arthur, the seventh child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, married Princess Louise at St George’s Chapel on March 13, 1879.
Louise, formerly Luise Margarete before her name was Anglicized, was the daughter of Prince Frederick Charles and was a great-niece of the German Emperor, Arthur’s godfather, Wilhelm I.
Many members of England and Germany’s royal families attended, and the couple received plenty of lavish gifts, including a diamond tiara and a pearl and diamond pendant from the Queen.
The couple went on to have three children.
1880: Princess Frederica of Hanover and Luitbert, Von Pawel Rammingen
Princess Frederica was the daughter of King George V of Hanover, and her fiancé Baron Alfons Von Pawel-Rammingen was the son of a government official of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
They were both born in Germany, and Alfons was naturalised as a British subject in Marcy 1880.
Just over a month later, the couple married.
Frederica and Alfons lived in an apartment at Hampton Court Palace, and after her death in 1926, Frederica was buried at Windsor Castle.
1882: Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Prince Leopald was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s eigth child and youngest son.
He suffered with the blood disorder haemophilia, which apparently caused him great difficulty in finding a wife.
Queen Victoria suggested a meeting with Princess Helena Friederike, the daughter of Georg Viktor, reigning Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, and the couple married at St George’s Chapel in April 1882.
In 1883, Helena gave birth to a daughter, Alice, but just two years after the wedding, Leopold’s illness led to his untimely death.
He died shortly before the birth of his son, Charles Edward.
1891: Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein and Prince Aribert of Anhalt
25 years after her parents, Princess Helena and Prince Christian, married at Windsor, Princess Marie Louise wed Prince Aribert at St George’s Chapel.
Prince Aribert was the third son of Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg.
However, their marriage was unhappy, and they never had children.
Aribert was reportedly homosexual and the marriage was annulled in 1990.
1904: Princess Alice Mary of Albany and Prince Alexander of Teck
Princess Alice Mary, Marie Louise’s cousin, also chose Windsor Castle as her wedding venue when she married Prince Alexander.
Alice was the daughter of Prince Leopold, who had died in 1884, and Princess Helena, while Prince Alexander was the brother of Princess Mary, The Princess of Wales (later Queen Mary, consort of George V).
The couple had three children, though their two sons died young.
Their daughter, Lady May Cambridge, lived to be 88-years-old.
1905: Princess Margaret of Connaught and Prince Gustaf Adolph of Sweden
Princess Margaret, Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, married Prince Gustaf of Sweden at Windsor Castle, the same place her parents, the Duke of Cannaught and Princess Louise Margaret, tied the knot.
Gustaf would later become King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, but Margaret died 30 years before he ascended the throne.
The couple met when they were both visiting Egypt and reportedly fell in love at first sight.
They had five children together, but Margaret died suddenly at the age of 38 when she was eight months pregnant with their sixth.
The Connaught tiara, a wedding gift to Margaret, is held at the Swedish Royal Jewellery Collection.
1919: Lady Helena Cambridge and Major John Gibbs
Lady Helena was the daughter of Adolphus Cambridge, a great-grandson of King George III and younger brother of Queen Mary.
Helena married Major Gibbs of the Coldstream Guards at St George’s Chapel.
The couple had no children.
1957: Anne Abel Smith and David Liddell-Grainger
Anne, who was the daughter of Colonel Sir Henry Abel Smith and Lady May Abel Smith, married David Liddell-Grainger at St George’s Chapel.
Her grandparents, Princess Alice Mary of Albany and Prince Alexander of Teck, had also married at St George’s Chapel in 1904.
Anne and David went on to have five children.
1992: Lady Helen Windsor and Timothy Taylor
The next royal wedding at Windsor Castle took place 35 years later, when Lady Helen, currently 42nd in line to the throne, wed art dealer Timothy Taylor.
Helen is the daughter of Edward, the Duke of Kent, a first cousin of the Queen.
The couple have four children together.
1999: Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones
On June 19, 1999, Prince Edward, the Queen’s youngest child, married Sophie Rhys-Jones, whom he’d met at a tennis event in 1993.
Edward’s two older brothers, Prince Charles and the Duke of York, supported during the service at St George’s Chapel.
After the ceremony, the newlyweds rode in an open, horse-drawn carriage around the town of Windsor.
Sophie is now known as the Countess of Wessex, and worked in public relations until 2002.
She is said to be a favourite of the Queen.
The couple have two children together, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.
2005: The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall.
A Service of Prayer and Dedication was attended by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, and was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
As the future Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Charles’s marriage to a divorcée was not without its controversy, but the Queen, the government, and the Church of England all provided consent for the marriage to go ahead.
2008: Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly
Peter Phillips, the eldest child of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, married Autumn Kelly, a Canadian management consultant, at St George’s Chapel on May 17, 2008.
The couple became engaged in July 2007 after meeting at the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2003.
Autumn didn’t know that Peter was the Queen’s grandson until six weeks later, when she saw him on television.
Before their marriage, Autumn converted from Roman Catholicism to join the Church of England, otherwise her husband would have lost his position in the line of succession.
The couple are now parents to daughters Savannah and Isla.
2018: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry married at St George’s Chapel on May 19, 2018.
The couple had announced their engagement on November 27, 2017, just over a year after meeting on a blind date.
After their nuptials, the couple adopted the titles the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.