Who designed Princess Elizabeth’s wedding dress for her 1947 marriage to Philip Mountbatten?
Answer
Norman Hartnell
Norman Hartnell designed Princess Elizabeth’s wedding dress for her 1947 marriage to Philip Mountbatten.
The dress was created for the future Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding at Westminster Abbey on 20 November 1947. Its ivory satin design featured a fitted bodice, a heart-shaped neckline, floral embroidery, and a long train. Hartnell drew inspiration from Botticelli’s painting Primavera, using motifs such as star flowers and orange blossoms.
The dress was made during postwar austerity, when Britain still had clothing rationing. Princess Elizabeth saved clothing coupons to help pay for the dress, although thousands of women sent her their own coupons. Those coupons were returned because sending them was illegal. Hartnell later designed the Queen’s 1953 coronation dress, a separate commission often confused with the wedding gown.