Princess Diana’s wedding-dress train measured 25 feet for her 1981 wedding to Charles, Prince of Wales.
David and Elizabeth Emanuel designed the ivory taffeta gown, which Diana wore at St Paul’s Cathedral on 29 July 1981. Its dramatic train extended down the cathedral steps and became one of the most recognizable features of the televised ceremony. The design also included antique lace, a fitted bodice, puffed sleeves, and thousands of mother-of-pearl sequins and pearls.
The 25-foot train was unusually long even for a royal wedding. It required careful planning because the fabric had to be arranged inside the glass coach and then spread behind Diana as she entered the cathedral. The scale suited the ceremony’s grand setting and the huge global television audience.
Some accounts describe the train as the longest in royal wedding history, but comparisons depend on which royal weddings and detachable extensions are counted. The secure fact is the published measurement of Diana’s train: 25 feet. The dress remains an important example of early-1980s romantic bridal fashion.