And it was all down to ‘wedding nerves’…
Princess Diana is still one of the most talked about royals, with everything from her iconic style moments to her determination to be human during her life still making news.
With today marking what would have been her 40th wedding anniversary to Prince Charles, the late Princess of Wales and her 1981 wedding have once more become headline news.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married in July 1981, reciting their vows in front of a congregation of 3,400 at St Paul’s Cathedral, and an estimated TV audience of 750 million across the globe.
It’s hardly surprising, therefore, that both Charles and Diana suffered with wedding nerves on the big day.
A biography about Prince Charles, written by royal writer Sally Bedell Smith, has revealed just how much the wedding nerves affected the young couple, with both of them reportedly stumbling on their vows.
In Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable life, Sally Bedell Smith revealed a mistake that not many people will remember, that Princess Diana actually called Charles the wrong name at the altar.
The BBC referred to the error at the time as an easy mistake, stating: ‘Wedding day nerves were apparent during the ceremony. Diana mixed up the Prince’s names, calling him Philip Charles Arthur George, rather than Charles Philip’.
Prince Charles also stumbled on his words during the ceremony, mistakenly saying ‘thy goods’ instead of ‘my worldly goods’ in his vows.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles' 40th wedding anniversary would have been today.
