Blood Princess is Wed on Telly

The first televised British Royal wedding was Princess Margaret’s in 1960. As recently as the late 1930s though, ardent Royalists even argued against broadcasting Royal weddings over the radio as the etiquette had not yet been sorted... It was posited that some men might rudely listen irreverently with their hats on! — “Princess Margaret and her husband, Lord Snowdon, share a big smile as they dance at a charity ball in the London, Hilton Hotel. The ball was in aid for the Invalid Children’s Association, of which Princess Margaret is President.-1963”

Princess is Wed in Pomp, Popularity

LONDON (UPI) The Princess and the commoner were married today. Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong Jones were as nervous as any other couple, and the Queen Mother wept. And while the bells of London still were pealing their congratulations, the newlyweds sailed away for a tropical honeymoon. In late afternoon, the Royal yacht Britannia, spick and span from an overhauling, took the bride and bridegroom aboard and headed for the Caribbean. There was a family farewell in the graveled court of Buckingham Palace, to which the wedding party had returned after the ceremony at the Abbey. And hundreds of thousands of cheering Britons proved beyond doubt, they approved this marriage performed before Westminister Abbey’s great altar, even if most of Europe’s Royalty stayed home. 

Stricken once with stage fright, the little Princess stumbled over the lines “for better, for worse,” and had to repeat them again after the Archbishop of Canterbury. When she promised to love, cherish and obey the man of her choice, her voice barely was audible. Armstrong-Jones rubbed his thumbs together and nervously fingered his upper lip until the Duke of Edinburgh whispered to him and his serious face broke into a smile. 

Queen Is Serious 

As the Archbishop pronounced them married “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,” a tear trickled down the face of the Queen Mother. Near the Queen Mother sat Queen Elizabeth, far more serious than usual. Once she heaved a deep sigh, and she smiled only twice. That was when Margaret curtsied to her before leaving the Abbey and when Prince Phillip called her attention to the eight little bridesmaids sitting primly on cushions in the aisle of the nave. A wedding day is supposed to belong to the bride. And this one did from the moment when she left Clarence House in the celebrated glass coach, to the time when a cheering crowd ol half a million roared its demand that the newlyweds appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Appear Before Crowd

“We want Margaret and Tony!” the thousands chanted. They appeared on the balcony then. Margaret, a tiny figure, waved, her right hand held high, Armstrong-Jones stood smilingly at her side, obviously amazed at this outburst of affection for the Princess who could have had Kings or Princes, but instead chose a boy from the middle-class neighborhood of Pimlico Road. It was a double triumph for Margaret whose wedding was spurned by most of the top echelon of European Royalty, amid whose happiness during the weeks of the engagement was clouded by gossip and inuendo. Prime Ministers of the British Commonwealth attended the wedding, as well as, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Sir Winston Churchill. A great roar of cheers greeted him as he alighted from his car to enter the Abbey for the wedding. 

Two thousand guests were seated in the Abbey where television sets had been installed to assure that all could see. Never was a wedding watched and listened to by so many persons. In addition to the throngs along the curbstone of London, there was a 13-nation European television broadcast which may have been seen by as many as 350 million Another estimates 250 million listened to a radio broadcast. This was a marriage that ignored many Royal traditions. 

It was the first time a commoner had married a Princess of the ‘Blood Royal’ at the great altar which for 1000 years has been the crowning place of Britain's Kings. Near Queen Elizabeth sat the divorced parents of Armstrong-Jones: Another first for Royalty, which frowns on divorce. Not since Edward VIII abdicated for the love of Wallis Warfield Simpson, has there been so much whispering about a Royal romance. Among top-rank European Royalty, only Queen Ingrid of Denmark accepted the wedding invitation. — May 6, 1960

💍Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia