Not Even Princess Diana Knew About Her Second Wedding Dress. Here's Why
When Diana Spencer married then-Prince Charles on July 29, 1981 and became the Princess of Wales, she did so wearing a dress that would become one of the most iconic and memorable wedding dresses of any royal. It was all about early 1980s romantic style with poofy sleeves, a giant skirt, lots of embellished details, and a 25-foot-long train. But it actually wasn't her only wedding dress. You may not have known that Diana's wedding outfit actually had a backup dress, and it turns out, Diana didn't know there was a second option either.
Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed both of Diana's wedding dresses with the help of her then-husband David Emanuel, told People that they didn't tell Diana about the second dress because, "Neither of us wanted to worry her. It was a complete secret."
Think of normal wedding day jitters for a bride and then amplify that with the knowledge that millions of people around the world are going to be watching the ceremony as it unfolds live on TV. It makes sense that they'd want to protect Diana from additional concerns.
Princess Diana's wedding dress was top-secret
Thankfully, even though there were a few ways that Princess Diana's wedding didn't go as planned, she never had to use the backup dress that was ready to go. And while keeping the second dress a secret from Diana was meant to help reduce her stress, it was born out of anxiety on the part of the dress designer. Elizabeth Emanuel told People about the reasons she did twice the work for Diana's wedding: "I was a bit neurotic, and I thought, 'What happens if somebody breaks in and steals the dress or something spills or there's a fire or it gets stolen?'"
Thinking that someone might steal the dress was a reasonable speculation considering the massive amount of interest in what Diana was going to wear for her big day. They had to work to keep the designs under wraps so it would be revealed only when Diana wore it walking down the aisle at St. Paul's Cathedral. Though the designers had kept the first dress out of sight of the press and the second dress out of sight of Diana, things didn't go 100% smoothly dress-wise. Diana's wedding dress designer was upset on the big day when she saw how wrinkled the dress looked during the wedding.
You can see a virtual version of Princess Diana's backup wedding dress
Princess Diana's backup wedding dress was similar to the one she ended up wearing, though it was a bit more low-key, most notably missing the amazing, memorable 25-foot-long train. It wasn't ever even finished by Diana's wedding day. But recently, the designer Elizabeth Emanuel recreated what she called, "the dress that never was," per People. It was used as a part of The Princess Diana 3D Virtual Museum to imagine what it would have looked like on the princess.
The wedding dress that Diana actually wore was most recently on display in 2021 at Kensington Palace, on loan from William, Princes of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
The wedding dress wasn't the only thing that was duplicated for Diana's wedding. There were also two fruit cakes made, just in case something happened to the first one. When it's a royal wedding, there's just about nothing that's going to be left to chance.