Princess Diana Accidentally Called Prince Charles by This Name During Their 1981 Wedding Vows
Princess Diana Accidentally Called Prince Charles by This Name During Their 1981 Wedding Vows
Hannah MalachWed, July 29, 2026 at 7:28 PM UTC
0
Princess Diana and Prince Charles on their wedding day.Credit: Getty ImagesThe Gist -
Princess Diana married Prince Charles—now King Charles—on July 29, 1981.
Both of them misspoke during their vows.
Diana called him “Philip Charles Arthur George,” while his birth name is Charles Philip Arthur George.
Princess Diana’s fairytale wedding to then-Prince Charles wasn’t without a few mishaps. The former couple famously exchanged vows at St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981—with Diana later calling it the “worst day of my life.”
According to the BBC, both Diana and Charles misspoke during their widely publicized vows. She referred to him as “Philip Charles Arthur George,” while his birth name is Charles Philip Arthur George. The king’s first middle name comes from his father, the late Prince Philip.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles kissing on their wedding day.Credit: Getty
Charles, meanwhile, used the phrase “thy good” as opposed to “my worldly goods” in his vows to Diana. He also forgot to kiss his bride at the altar, per Smithsonian Magazine, though he made up for it when they got to the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
The nuptials were seemingly plagued with issues; before the ceremony, Diana spilled perfume on her wedding gown, according to her makeup artist Barbara Daly. In Rosalind Coward’s 2004 book Diana: The Portrait, Daly recounted the incident that nearly ruined Diana’s dress, which was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel.
Advertisement
Princess Diana and Prince Charles on their wedding day.Credit: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images
“One thing that happened that Liz and David Emanuel never found out about was Diana saying, ‘I’ve just put my perfume on, and I’ve just spilled some on the front of the dress. They’ll kill me,’” Daly said in the book.
Diana asked if she could hide the stain by tucking in the front of the gown. “I said, ‘Yes absolutely—you and every bride in the country has done that.’ [And] we put her in the coach and off she went,” Daly recalled.
Princess Diana and her father, Earl John Spencer, on her wedding day.Credit: Getty Images
While Elizabeth managed not to notice the stain, she admittedly “felt faint” after seeing that Diana’s wedding dress was wrinkled. The designer believes that the gown got bunched up during Diana’s carriage ride to the church.
“We did know it would crease a bit, but when I saw her arrive at St. Paul’s and we saw the creasing, I actually felt faint,” Elizabeth told ITV, according to Marie Claire. “I was horrified, really, because it was quite a lot of creasing. It was a lot more than we thought.”
on InStyle
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
