Kensington Palace is hosting a new exhibition which features the wedding dress of Diana, Princess of Wales as part of exploration of the fine art of designing for royalty. Royal Style in the Making opens on 3 June 2021 and will run until 2 January 2022.

As Kensington Palace reopens to visitors, a new temporary exhibition, set in the newly-conserved historic Orangery, will explore the unique relationship between fashion designer and royal client. The display will feature never-before-seen items from the archives of some of the most celebrated royal couturiers of the 20th century, set alongside examples of the glittering gowns and stylish tailoring created for three generations of royal women.

Among the star items going on display will be a rare surviving toile for the 1937 coronation gown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, consort of King George VI. Visitors will also be able to experience Diana, Princess of Wales’s wedding dress displayed complete with its 25ft sequin-encrusted train, which remains the longest in royal history. The dress, on loan from The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex, is now among the most famous in bridal history, and features a fitted bodice overlaid at the centre both front and back with panels of antique Carrickmacross lace that had originally belonged to Queen Mary, the groom’s great-grandmother.

Matthew Storey, exhibition curator at Historic Royal Palaces, says: “Our summer exhibition at Kensington Palace will shine a spotlight on some of the greatest talents of British design, whose work has been instrumental in shaping the visual identity of the royal family across the twentieth century. We’ll be exploring how the partnership between each designer and client worked and revealing the process behind the creation of a number of the most important couture commissions in royal history.”

This exhibition will be included in admission to Kensington Palace. Advance booking will be required to help Historic Royal Palaces manage capacity and to allow everyone to enjoy their visit. If you have a Travel Trade account, you can book your time slot via the B2B portal.

For further information, please contact groupsandtraveltrade@hrp.org.uk