The Royal Wedding

Tomorrow is the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In celebration, let's take a look at royal weddings through the ages. In no particular order:

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, February 10, 1840

This was the first wedding of a reigning monarch since Queen Mary I. Victoria was crowned in 1837, when she was 18, and she was married barely three years later. Victoria represents another first. Brides today search for the perfect dress, and whether a mermaid silhouette or a ball gown or a sheath dress, it's usually white or off-white. But that was rare before Victoria wore her elegant white silk satin gown.

Queen Mary I and Prince Philip, July 25, 1554

Queen Mary I was crowned after her father Henry VIII died in 1553, and she immediately searched Europe for a husband. She settled on a cousin once removed, Prince Philip of Spain. Talk about a whirlwind romance -- they married just two days after they first met. (The marriage had been brokered by negotiators, like the merger it was.)

King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, April 19, 1768

Skipping across the channel, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are another example of marriage as merger. They were rather young, also not unusual for royalty through the ages. They married before he was king, but their marriage was alliance between France and Austria. Philip had met Mary only two days before their marriage; Marie didn't meet her husband until two years after the wedding! She recited her vows to a proxy.

Peter I and Catherine I of Russia, fall 1707

While most royal weddings through the ages were alliances rather than love relationships, Peter and Catherine were known to be affectionate toward each other. Another unusual aspect of their marriage was that they married in secret! No record exists of their wedding, but it happened sometime in the fall of 1707 in St. Petersburg.

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History is all well and good, but we're all more interested in tomorrow's celebration. Will you be tuning in?