9 Royal Bridesmaids Through the Years
May 10, 2018
Meghan Markle won't have a maid of honor when she marries Prince Harry on May 19, but she will have bridesmaids — all of whom will be children, per royal tradition. (Duchess Kate's sister Pippa Middleton was the exception, not the rule.) Here's a look at some other royal bridesmaids through the years, from then-Princess Elizabeth to her great-granddaughter Princess Charlotte. (Photos via PA Images via Getty Images + Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images + Dan Kitwood/Getty Images + Kirsty Wigglesworth/Pool/Getty Images)
Princess Alexandra of Kent, Princess Margaret, and Princess Elizabeth: Prince Philip's cousin Patricia Mountbatten asked then-Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and Princess Alexandra of Kent to join her younger sister, Pamela Mountbatten, as bridesmaids at her wedding to Captain Lord Brabourne on October 26, 1946. (Photo via PNA Rota/Getty Images)
Princess Margaret and Princess Alexandra of Kent: Although royal weddings typically feature children as bridesmaids, then-Princess Elizabeth had several who were around her age when she married Prince Philip on November 20, 1947. Princess Margaret and Princess Alexandra of Kent were two of eight members of the bridal party, which also included Lady Caroline Montagu-Douglas-Scott, Lady Mary Cambridge, Pamela Mountbatten, Margaret Elpinstone, and Diana Bowes-Lyon. (Photo via PA Images via Getty Images)
Princess Anne: Anne, Princess Royal, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, was one of several bridesmaids at the wedding of her aunt, Princess Margaret, to Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960. (Photo via Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Princess Anne (Again!): Anne served as a bridesmaid again at the wedding of the queen's cousin Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, to Katharine Worsley. The wedding took place on June 8, 1961, in York, England. (Photo via Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones: When it was Princess Anne's turn to be a bride at her wedding to Mark Phillips in 1973, she asked her cousin Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones to stand beside her on the big day. Phillips, whom Anne divorced in 1992, chose his soon-to-be brother-in-law Prince Edward as a page boy. (Photo via Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (Again!): Lady Sarah, the daughter of the Earl of Snowdon and Princess Margaret, played bridesmaid again for Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding in July 1981. At 17, she was just three years younger than the bride.
Others in the bridal party included India Hicks, Catherine Cameron, Sarah-Jane Gaselee, and Clementine Hambro. (Photo via PA Images via Getty Images)
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie: Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's daughters wore traditional white dresses and flower crowns to serve as bridesmaids at former royal nanny Alison Wardley's wedding to royal bodyguard Ben Dady. The couple married on April 24, 1993. (Photo via Tim Graham/Getty Images)
Pippa Middleton: Arguably the most famous royal bridesmaid ever, Pippa Middleton nearly stole the show at her sister Kate's wedding to Prince William in 2011. (Photo via Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Princess Charlotte: Prince William and Duchess Kate's daughter looked positively angelic in her white dress and flower crown at aunt Pippa Middleton's wedding to James Matthews in 2017. (Photo via Kirsty Wigglesworth/Pool/Getty Images)