With the nuptials between Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29th fast approaching, royal wedding fever has begun to infect us at Mary Evans Picture Library.

While this newest royal couple may want to do things their way, they will nevertheless be aware of the tradition and history underscoring their big day.

Many of Prince William's ancestors and relatives have walked down the aisle at Westminster Abbey, and we've trawled the archive to unearth photographs, drawings and paintings, including a mass of unseen images from the Illustrated London News archive, to give a unique perspective on 19th and 20th century royal marriages.

Wedding Belles

Who has been chosen to design Kate Middleton's dress remains a closely-guarded secret, but whoever it is, they follow in the footsteps of some auspicious designers.

19th century royal brides carefully observed traditions with heirloom lace and orange blossom an essential part of any bridal ensemble.

By the 20th century, court dressmakers such as Reville and Rossiter and couturiers such as Molyneux were invited to design dresses. Norman Hartnell is perhaps the most famous, creating wedding gowns for the Duchess of Gloucester, the Queen and Princess Margaret.

In 1981, when David and Elizabeth Emanuel were asked to design THAT dress for Lady Diana Spencer, they found themselves at the centre of a media frenzy, forced to endure photographers camped outside their studio.

We've found some wonderfully detailed illustrations and photographs of royal bridal dresses over the years, proving that wedding fashion never seems to lose its fascination!

Wishing them well

For some people, watching the royal wedding from the comfort of their own home simply isn't enough. Historically, the streets of London have been lined with hundreds of thousands of well-wishers all hoping to catch a glimpse of the royal newlyweds, though a good view usually requires camping out the night before.

The crowds that turned out to cheer Princess Patricia of Connaught on her wedding day in 1919 seem staggering for a relatively minor member of the royal family. Familiar to many of us will be the scenes from July 1981 when two million spectators lined the route to St. Paul's Cathedral to see Prince Charles and his fairytale bride.

Our collection of photographs from this day, particularly by John Benton-Harris, capture the humour and spirit of the public determined to have a right royal knees-up, however tired they might be.

Honeymoon staycations

You would think that members of the royal family would have had enough of grand houses and stately homes but in fact, during the 20th century, most royal honeymooners stayed at the homes of nobility or family members who had loaned their house for the benefit of the newlyweds.

The Duke and Duchess of York stayed at Polesden Lacey in Surrey, while his brother the Duke of Kent stayed at Himley Hall, home of Lord Dudley, and then Trent Park in New Barnet. The Queen and Prince Philip spent their honeymoon at Mountbatten's home, Broadlands in Romsey (where crowds mobbed them when they attended Sunday service at the Abbey) before moving on to the comparative privacy of Birkhall on the Balmoral Estate.

Not all newlywed royals opted for a staycation. Princess Mary and her new husband Viscount Lascelles spent their honeymoon in Paris and Italy (at the Villa Medici at Fiesole). The stylish Mountbattens enjoyed an extended six month honeymoon in Europe and Hollywood in 1922 and jet-setter Princess Margaret sailed around the Caribbean in the Royal Yacht Britannia for her honeymoon in 1960. Click here for a selection of royal honeymoon pictures.

Hell's bells

Not all royal weddings were a roaring success (and even if the day itself went smoothly, the resultant marriages began to quickly show cracks). Pity poor Princess Alice who made do with a wedding in the dining room at Osborne, her marriage to Grand Duke Louis of Hesse coming just a few months after her father, Prince Albert's premature death. A happy union, the poor princess caught diphtheria nursing her family and died aged 37.

Or what about Princess Ena of Battenberg, who married King Alfonso XIII of Spain in Madrid in 1906. The couple were almost blown up by a terrorist bomb on their way back from the church, two of their sons were haemophiliacs and they were forced to flee Spain in 1931 - hardly a marriage made in heaven.

Other royal weddings ended in divorce or annulment such as that of Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein whose marriage to Prince Aribert of Anhalt was annulled, or the unhappy Princess Victoria Melita and Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt whose marriage had been down to their matchmaking grandmother. Victoria Melita had fallen in love with Grand Duke Kirill of Russia but the mismatched couple felt obliged to stay together until the old Queen popped her clogs in 1901.

There is even the wedding that never happened. Princess May of Teck was engaged to Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, heir-presumptive to the throne, who unfortunately caught influenza and died shortly after his 28th birthday in January 1892. In May's case, it was still a happy ever after story. She married Albert Victor's younger brother, Georgie, and became Queen Mary after all.

Click here for a selection of images of the weddings that didn't work out.

Cover stories

The magazines in the Illustrated London News and National Magazine Company archives loved a royal wedding, and were well-known for their lavish special wedding numbers complete with decorative front covers.

The Tatler, The Queen, The Sphere, The Sketch and Illustrated London News reported on almost every minute aspect of each royal wedding from detailed descriptions of wedding gifts to fashion editors' critiques of wedding guests' outfits, but their cover designs stand out as an admirable homage to royal weddings past.

For a selection of covers from these Royal Wedding special editions, please click here.

Please do browse our website www.maryevans.com to discover more about past royal weddings or follow this link to see a general selection of 200 chosen images.

And if you can't find what you're looking for, give us a call on 020 8318 0034 or email us at pictures@maryevans.com and we'll be happy to search the archive for you.

Let us know what you think

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Best wishes,

Mary Evans Picture Library