What Prince William Wore to Keep Him From ‘Passing Out’ on His Wedding Day and Where Kate Needed Padding in Her Dress
Many royal fans recall when Prince William and the Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton) tied the knot. Their royal wedding took place on April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey in front of 1,900 guests and millions more who tuned in from around the world.
The prince wore his red tunic of a colonel of the Irish Guards uniform while the bride stunned in a beautiful Alexander McQueen dress designed by Sarah Burton. What many aren’t aware of is that William’s attire kept him from fainting and the princess’s dress had some padding added to a certain area.
Here’s more on that and what Kate had creativingly hidden in her gown.
Prince William’s outfit kept him from ‘passing out’ and padding was added under Kate’s dress
The Prince of Wales initially wanted to wear his Irish Guards frock coat on his wedding day, but after conversations with his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, he agreed on the red tunic of a colonel of the Irish Guards. And something a little extra was added to keep the groom from passing out while donning the heavy material.
According to Guides for Brides, “April can be an unpredictable month for weather but Kate and William’s big day proved to be warm and sunny. Fearing that the warm weather combined with the heavy woolen military attire would leave [him] sweaty or even at risk of passing out, Prince William’s military tailors Kashket and Partners confirmed that they added sweat pads to the arms and material to absorb heat.”
But the prince wasn’t the only one who had something added to his outfit that day. There was some padding in Kate’s gown. The dress featured a V-neckline and long sleeves with lace. It was then appliquéd with individual flowers, which were hand-cut and later hand-engineered onto ivory silk tulle.
The Guides for Brides experts revealed: “Inspired by corsetry and a signature look of Alexander McQueen, the waist of the dress was narrowed and the hips and bottom were padded out to create more of a dramatic shape.”
What else was hidden in Kate’s wedding gown
The princess’s dress included another thing that was important to her and followed tradition.
“Kate reportedly wished for her dress to combine tradition and modernity, as well as the creativeness of the Alexander McQueen brand,” the bridal experts explained. “Designed by Sarah Burton, the dress was made with white and ivory satin gazar and was also complete with 58 buttons covered in gazar and organza. These were fastened by Rouleau loops.
“But to give Kate her ‘something blue,’ the team secretly stitched a small blue ribbon into the interior of the dress. Her ‘something borrowed’ was the queen’s Cartier tiara, her ‘something old’ [was] the lace in her dress, and her ‘something new’ was custom-made Robinson Pelham earrings from her parents Michael and Carole Middleton.”
