Kate Middleton Broke a 350-Year Royal Wedding Tradition When She Married Prince William
Prince William and Kate Middleton have the sort of romance that some think was pulled right from a fairytale. The husband-wife duo first met when they were still teenagers at the University of St. Andrews, and while their relationship hit a few bumps as any relationship does, they wed in 2011 and have been married ever since.
But Kate Middleton, a commoner, didn’t want to conform to all of those royal traditions — including the time she broke a 350-year wedding tradition in favor of doing what she wanted on her wedding day.
Kate Middleton’s hair broke a 350-year royal wedding tradition
When William and Kate wed, there were a number of royal must-dos for the big day. The two tied the knot at Westminster Abbey, for example, and everything from the invitations to the dinner menu received the royal stamp of approval. However, there was one aspect of the wedding that Kate wouldn’t let go of: how she styled her hair. In royal tradition, the hair should be pinned up on the wedding day. Not in an updo, but rather pinned back so that it doesn’t fall so far below the shoulders; Queen Elizabeth wore her hair in this fashion on her wedding day (though she had shorter hair to begin with). However, Kate reportedly didn’t want that; she wanted to wear her hair down and curled, which is how William liked it, too.
According to Express, royal expert Ashley Pearson said, “Royal sources tell me that the royals indicated very strongly to Kate that they would prefer her to wear her hair up for this very special occasion.” However, Kate gave pushback because she wanted to wear her hair down. Instead, Kate reached a compromised with the family and said she would go for a half-up, half-down look. So, Kate pinned back the hair directly in front of her face but wore the rest down and curled.
Kate Middleton also chose to have a maid of honor at her wedding
While Kate didn’t necessarily “break” any royal rule here, she did decide to have a maid of honor at her wedding, which is outside of royal tradition. Kate asked her sister, Pippa Middleton, to be her maid of honor, which stepped outside of the traditional royal wedding realm.
Of course, it’s important to remember that Kate is a commoner, so she was raised with a different understanding of weddings. Not in her wildest dreams did she probably ever think she would walk down the aisle to Prince William, so when it came time for her to plan her special day, she wanted to find a balance between what the royal family expected of her wedding decisions and also what she expected of her own dream wedding. The wedding went off without a hitch and was watched by millions, and Kate has very much since solidified her position in the royal family. William and Kate also share three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, whom they welcomed in the years after their marriage.
