Wedding Wednesday: Queens and their Pre-Wedding Style

A few weeks ago we took a look at some of the pre-wedding outfits of our current crop of crown princesses. Now, it's time to pop back a generation - well, actually, just step up a level and mostly back a generation - to a few sovereigns/sovereign consorts and their pre-wedding ball attire. This is even better, if you ask me, for two reasons: 1. old school glamour, and 2. TIARAS. 'Nuff said, right?

Best First Impression

Fabiola de Mora y Aragón (Queen Fabiola of the Belgians) and Silvia Sommerlath (Queen Silvia of Sweden)

These two ladies didn't just marry into a royal family, they married straight into being queens. Trial by fire! As such, their pre-wedding appearances had a statement to make, and Fabiola wins with her tiara/crown which was a wedding present from General Franco. That's like pinning on a big ol' name tag that says: "HELLO! I am Your Queen!" Silvia obviously needed a little experience before she'd reach her full tiara hair potential, but this outing - her very first tiara appearance ever, friends, this is history in the making - of the Connaught Diamond Tiara is respectable enough. Everything else ended up taking a backseat to the fact that ABBA serenaded her with the first ever performance of "Dancing Queen" that night anyway.

Best of the Things We Need More Of

L to R: Crown Princess Margrethe of Denmark (now Queen, with and without coat), Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark (Queen Anne-Marie of Greece), Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands (now Queen, with and without fur)

Let's count the ways these appearances are so much better than what we see today, shall we?

1. Multiple tiara appearances. All of these ladies donned a tiara on more than the occasions shown here before getting hitched. (For the record, Margrethe is wearing the romantic heart-shaped Baden Palmette Tiara, Anne-Marie is wearing the Emerald Parure Tiara, and Beatrix is wearing the Antique Pearl Tiara.) More multiple tiara event occasions, please.
2. Matching coats. Forget throwing a shawl over it and calling it a day! This is how we do evening glam!
3. Opera gloves. Somebody needs to bring the long glove back. Who should we start writing letters to?

Best of the Way Things Change

Princess Grace of Monaco, Princess Charlene of Monaco

My, my, how things do change. From tiaras and gowns and fur wraps to strapless palazzo pants, all in the course of a generation change. (Obviously these sovereign consorts are the exception to our queens and Charlene is our generation exception!)

Best of the Best

Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark (now Queen Sofia of Spain)

She's Glinda the Good Witch! This dress is some serious fairy godmother business, plus Sofia's already got the fairy godmother smile to boot, that's just the way she rolls. Can you see all the detailing and the petal effect on the skirt? It's amazing. Also, she gets double bonus points for wearing not one but two tiaras, both of which were given to her as wedding gifts: the Mellerio Shell Tiara on her head and the floral tiara around her neck. My absolute favorite of this lot.

Who did pre-wedding the best?

Photos: Corbis/Daylife/Hola