ROYAL WEDDING!!

The wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Frances Spencer took place on
Wednesday, 29 July 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral, London, United Kingdom. Their marriage
was widely billed as a "fairytale wedding" and the "wedding of the century". It was
watched by an estimated global TV audience of 750 million. The United Kingdom had a
national holiday on that day to mark the wedding. The couple separated in 1992 and
divorced in 1996.

There were 3,500 people in the congregation at St Paul's Cathedral. It was held at St Paul's
rather than Westminster Abbey because St Paul's offered more seating and permits a
longer procession through the streets of London. The service was a traditional Church of
England wedding service, presided over by the Most
Reverend Robert Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
and the Very Reverend Alan Webster, the Dean of St.
Paul's Cathedral.

Some say 750 million people watched the ceremony

worldwide, and this figure allegedly rose to a billion
when the radio audience is added in, however, there are
no means of verifying these figures. Two million
spectators lined the route of Diana's procession from
Clarence House, with 4,000 police and 2,201 military
officers to manage the crowds.

All of the Queen's Governors-General, as well as

Europe's crowned heads, attended (save for King Juan
Carlos I of Spain, who was advised not to attend because
the newlyweds' honeymoon involved a stopover in the disputed territory of Gibraltar).

Lady Diana arrived at the cathedral in the

Glass Coach with her father, John Spencer,
escorted by six mounted metropolitan police
officers. She arrived almost on time for the
11:20 ceremony. She made the three-and-a-
half minute walk up the red-carpeted aisle
with the sumptuous 8 m train of gown
behind her.

The music and songs used during the

wedding included the Prince of Denmark's
March, I Vow to Thee, My Country and the
British National Anthem.