What type of lace was used on Queen Victoria's wedding dress?

Honiton lace was used on Queen Victoria’s wedding dress. For her marriage to Prince Albert on 10 February 1840, Victoria wore a white satin gown trimmed with handmade lace from Honiton and Beer in Devon.

The choice was both fashionable and politically meaningful. Honiton lace was associated with Devon’s cottage lace-making industry, so wearing it allowed the queen to promote a British craft. The lace motifs were appliquéd onto machine-made cotton net and arranged as a deep flounce and other trimmings on the dress.

Victoria’s gown was made from satin woven in Spitalfields, east London, and designed with lace by William Dyce; dressmaker Mary Bettans constructed the garment. Orange blossom decorated the dress and wreath, while an eighteen-foot train was carried by her bridesmaids.

Victoria did not invent white bridal clothing, but her highly publicised wedding helped make the white wedding dress fashionable. Her support for Honiton lace continued: she often wore it and encouraged her daughters to use it in their own wedding clothes. The lace is therefore more specific than simply “white lace” or “English lace.”