Charles and Diana married at St Paul's Cathedral
On this day · 29 July 1981
A choirboy's cathedral, a 25-foot train and a billion-strong audience turned one July morning into the world's most-watched wedding.
On 29 July 1981, Charles, Prince of Wales, married Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The couple chose Sir Christopher Wren’s domed masterpiece over Westminster Abbey, the usual royal venue, because its vast nave seated more guests and its longer processional route let crowds line the streets from Buckingham Palace.
The marriage was solemnised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Robert Runcie, alongside the Dean of St Paul’s, before a congregation of roughly 3,500. Diana wore an ivory silk taffeta gown by David and Elizabeth Emanuel, embroidered with mother-of-pearl sequins and pearls, trailing a 25-foot train that became as famous as the ceremony itself.
An estimated 1,000 million people watched or listened around the world.
The wedding was treated as global theatre: a national holiday, hundreds of thousands lining the route, and a television and radio audience numbering close to a billion. For one carefully staged morning, a British state occasion played as the most-watched performance on Earth.
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