Wedding is a rite that has a very long tradition and it should be pointed out that it is actually one of the rites that goes deep into the history of people and their culture. In general, for a wedding, we can say that it is a solemn act through which two people become spouses who form a marital union and by this act acquire common and equal rights before the law. Weddings have always been considered very important, both for young people entering into a marriage and for their families, friends and the people around them.
Do you think that today's weddings of the British royal family are lavish and huge? When you see these weddings that have happened throughout history you realize that it is nothing!
The last royal wedding to capture the attention of the global public was that of British Prince Harry and American actress Megan Markle from 2018. The wedding attracted huge international attention. It is estimated that the broadcast was watched by tens of millions of television viewers worldwide. British Prince Harry and American actress Megan Markle were married in St. Djordja's Chapel in Windsor Castle.
Still, although everything seemed grandiose and extravagant, it was actually a rather modest wedding, especially when it comes to the number of guests in question… At least in relation to these historical examples:
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette:
The French king known for his extravagant lifestyle organized one of the most lavish weddings of the 18th century. When he and Marie Antoinette said a fateful "yes" in 1770, about 5,000 guests were present, and that was the reunion of the two largest European families - the Habsburgs and the Bourbons.
The wedding was celebrated in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. Before the wedding, Marie Antoinette received a large collection of diamonds that traditionally belonged to the French crown and which was estimated at around 2 million pounds.
King Ludwig I and Princess Teresa:
The future Bavarian king married Princess Teresa in 1810, and the celebration was attended by literally the whole country! How's that ?!
Festivals were organized that lasted for days, and to which everyone was invited, and the celebration was so successful that it settled down and was repeated on each of their wedding anniversaries.
We know this event today as Oktobarfest.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip II:
Immediately after the end of the Second World War, in 1946, the then young Queen Elizabeth married Prince Philip II in the presence of 2,000 guests.
Yet it is believed that over 200 million people followed every step of the beloved queen to the altar as the wedding was broadcast over the radio. Elizabeth's wedding dress wore 10,000 pearls.
Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly:
In many ways, it was the wedding of the century! The heir to the throne and the Hollywood diva were a "winning combination" for journalists who rushed to the small principality to attend this spectacle in 1956.
Then 26-year-old Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier, and among more than 600 guests were famous names such as Carrie Grant, Aristotle Onassis, Ave Gardner and Conrad Hilton.
John and Jackie Kennedy:
John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier stood on a crazy rock in 1953. There were so many wedding guests at the wedding that the newlyweds spent two hours shaking hands with the guests.
The future president of America was a senator at the time, so the wedding was attended by a large number of senators, congressmen and politicians, but in a Hollywood family accompanied by a crowd of journalists and photographers.
Prince Charles and Diana Spencer:
The son of Queen Elizabeth surpassed his mother in the grandeur of his wedding. If millions listened to her wedding carefully, they had the opportunity to see his!
The magnificent wedding on July 29, 1981, was broadcast on television around the world, and it is estimated that there were 750 million people watching television throughout the ceremony!
King Alexander I Karadjordjevic and Queen Mary:
On the list of the most luxurious weddings, I would add one domestic one - the wedding of King Alexander with the Romanian princess Maria. The princess had a very high origin - she was born as the third child of the Romanian King Ferdinand, her maternal grandmother was the sister of the Russian Tsar Alexander III, and her maternal grandfather was the second son of the British Queen Victoria.
On the other hand, King Alexander was at the head of the newly formed great state of the South Slavs and a hardened warrior who emerged from the First World War as a victor and liberator.
That is why it is not surprising that their wedding on that June day in 1922 was the number one world event. Just 24 hours before the wedding, more than 20,000 people arrived in Belgrade! Many countries sent their envoys to the royal wedding in Belgrade. Representatives were even sent by Persia, and even distant Japan, and a guest from Austria arrived, with whom Serbia was at war until four years ago. The only ones banned from coming were Bulgarians,
As we live in the modern contemporary world, weddings often become an event through which the power and status of the individual is emphasized. Weddings express the material status of an individual, so that the trend is growing that weddings must be as lavish as possible. In this context, we can refer to the wedding as a spectacle. A wedding that has become a spectacle has moved away from a traditional Christian wedding in which the most important thing is love between two people and the spiritual value acquired through marriage.
All these royal glamorous weddings are 90% a matter of prestige, politics, etc. Most of these marriages were unhappy. Most of these weddings are an attempt to show how strong, rich the state is, how much their kingdom is valued ... But I am not in favor of something like this at all. Marriage is sacred, not advertising.