Wedding of Princess Alexandra of Kent

The Wedding of Princess Alexandra of Kent and the Hon. Angus Ogilvy, son of the Earl of Airlie at Westminster Abbey on this day in 1963 . The only daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, Princess Alexandra is the only paternal female cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, and so her Wedding was a major State Occasion, including a Ball at Windsor Castle, with a King and eight Queens among Royal Guests and Relatives in attendance, many more than at the Wedding of Princess Margaret three years previously. Princess Alexandra and the late Sir Angus had two children, and were happily married until his death in 2004.

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Princess Alexandra left Kensington Palace for Westminster Abbey by car with her brother, the Duke of Kent, driving along a crowd-lined route. Meanwhile, at the Abbey, Princess Marina, arrived with her younger son, Prince Michael, and daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Kent. The Queen Mother arrived with King Olav of Norway and Queen Frederica of Greece. Behind them came Queen Louise of Sweden, her step daughter, Queen Ingrid of Denmark, and her daughter (and Queen Frederica’s soon-to-be daughter-in-law), the then Princess Anne Marie of Denmark. Princess Margaret arrived with Lord Snowden, while the Queen (wearing a stunning Norman Hartnell dress and coat) walked up the aisle with the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles, and Princess Anne served as a Bridesmaid.

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Princess Alexandra was escorted up the aisle by her elder brother, the Duke of Kent, as their father, Prince George, had died in 1942, during the Second World War. ceremony was officiated by the Rt Hon. Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury and by The Very Rev. Eric Abbott, Dean of Westminster, following the traditional wedding service according to the Book of Common Prayer. Following the ceremony, the couple went to Edward the Confessor’s Chapel, to sign three registers, first the ordinary one, another for the royal family, and a third for the Abbey.

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Afterwards, Princess Alexandra and the Hon. Angus Ogilvy emerged from the Chapel, curtsying to the Queen and members of the Royal Family, as well as the King and six Queens among the Foreign Royal Guests in attendance, before they walked down the aisle to the strains of Widor’s “Toccata” from Symphony for Organ No. 5 and Walton’s Crown Imperial. The bride and groom were closely followed by members of the Royal Family and Royal Guests.

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While the Royal Guests and members of the Royal Family departed Westminster Abbey, Princess Alexandra and the Hon. Angus Ogilvy rode through the streets of London in the Glass Coach to St. James’s Palace, for the Wedding Breakfast hosted by the Queen, where they then posed for official photographs.

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Princess Alexandra wore a John Cavanagh Gown made with a piece of Valciennes lace from her late grandmother, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, Princess Nicholas of Greece, and worn with Lady Patricia Ramsey‘s wedding veil, topping her ensemble with the Kent City of London Fringe Tiara, borrowed from her mother.

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In addition to the extended British Royal Family and many members of the British Aristocracy, Royal Guests and Relatives in attendance included King Olav V of Norway, Queen Frederica of Greece, Queen Louise of Sweden, Queen Ingrid of Denmark, the soon-to-be Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, Queen Helen of Romania, Crown Prince Constantine of Greece, Crown Prince Harald of Norway, Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofia of Spain, Prince Paul and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, Princess Irene, Duchess of Aosta, the Margrave and Princess Theodora, Margravine of Baden, the Prince and Princess of Hesse, the Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Princess Sophie of Greece and Prince George William of Hanover, Princess Irene and Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, Princess Irene of Greece

Following the Wedding Breakfast, Princess Alexandra and Angus Ogilvy were seen off by all the Royal Guests and Relative from the courtyard of St. James’s Palace, as they departed for their honeymoon at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate.

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