Love, marriage, and a whole lot of pomp and circumstance. Part of the popular Oxford People series, Royal Weddings traces the history of British royal weddings, documenting the highs and the lows, as well as the good, the bad…and well, the plain ugly. Catherine Ryan has captured the essence of regal relationships with over 100 stunning photos and images of Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses, and Dukes and Duchesses tying the knot from medieval times to the present day.
To set the stage: On July 29, 1981, a global audience watched the “fairy tale†wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was the first time a Prince of Wales had married for over 100 years, but after ten years, the relationship ended in insults, recrimination, and divorce.
When Queen Victoria met her cousin Prince Albert for the second time in October 1839, she quickly fell in love. Which is just as well, as the potential match had been plotted by Albert’s uncle Leopold and Victoria’s mother since the pair were babies. Not even torrents of rain, and violent gusts of wind could spoil Victoria and Albert’s big day on February 10, 1840. Queen Elizabeth II also married her cousin, Philip Mountbatten, just after World War II in 1947. Their magnificent wedding was a beacon of hope amid the troubles of the world.
More recently, the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018, in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, was a remarkable event. George Clooney, Sir Elton John, Serena Williams, and other glittering celebrities mingled with the Queen of England, The Prince of Wales, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was an extraordinary day even in the annals of royal wedding history. A marriage in the Royal Family has always lifted the British nation’s spirit in times of depression.
All this aside, royal weddings are not always a match made in heaven, and the history of regal matrimony is also a tangled web of scandal and divorce. Lady Diana and Prince Charles ended in divorce. Henry VIII’s ruthless, arrogant desire for a male heir led to six royal weddings and a religious revolution. Henry’s reign undoubtedly shaped modern Britain, but it is the fate of his six wives he is best remembered for with the help of the old rhyme: “Divorced, Beheaded, Died: Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.â€
Royal Weddings is a celebration of regal matrimony that pop culture fans won't want to miss.
And check out other titles in the Oxford People series to delve into lesser-known historical morsels brought to life with stunning photography and illustrations throughout in these illustrated histories.
The Oxford People Series :
978-0-7858-3308-6Â Gettysburg
978-0-7858-3500-4Â Women of Invention
978-0-7858-2944-7Â Tesla
978-0-7858-3334-5Â Edgar Allan Poe
978-0-7858-3376-5Â Gunfighters
978-0-7858-3502-8Â Pirates and Privateers
978-0-7858-3501-1Â Creating Sherlock Holmes
978-0-7858-3508-0Â John F. Kennedy
978-0-7858-3111-2Â Skies of WWII
978-0-7858-3633-9Â Roosevelt and Churchill
978-0-7858-3632-2Â Che
978-0-7858-3741-1Â Vampires
978-0-7858-3742-8Â Ghosts
978-0-7858-3768-8Â Angels
978-0-7858-3769-5Â Myths & Legends
978-0-7858-3770-1Â Houdini
978-0-7858-3771-8Â Vikings
