Inside The Dress Codes At Some Of The Biggest Modern Royal Weddings

While most weddings have a dress code of some sort, whether semi-formal, cocktail, or black tie, royal nuptials have very particular rules as far as what guests can and cannot wear. Something as simple as showing a bit too much skin can land you on the list of worst-dressed royal wedding guests of all time. For most attendees, erring on the conservative side are common expectations, but many of the biggest modern royal weddings had even stricter rules. 

According to the invitations for Prince Charles and Princess Diana's 1981 nuptials, guests were expected to wear a "Uniform, Morning Dress, or Lounge Suit," and we can see the same guidelines applied throughout the years. For instance, Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011, had stylists advising guests to wear sleeves to the ceremony. Clearly the royal family was trying to discourage attendees from accidentally making headlines for something as minor as baring their shoulders.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had similar dress code requirements for their guests, but their invitations included another instruction specific to women. Female attendees were expected to wear a day dress and hat to the event. For royal nuptials, a day dress should be relatively conservative, with covered shoulders, no sheer panels or cut-outs, and a modest hemline. The color should neither be black nor white, and wacky patterns should be avoided. For royal marriage ceremonies, it is safe to assume that less is more (unless, of course, we're talking about hats).

Even though Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, tried to keep their 1999 wedding as low-key as possible, they inadvertently caused scandal with one shocking dress code rule — no hats. Formal events in the U.K. usually require guests to wear a hat. While the style of cap depends on the particular event, headwear of some sort is generally expected for men and, especially, women as wedding guests. Though just a few years later Sophie was called out for dressing inappropriately as a guest at another wedding, the Duchess of Edinburgh was firm about the no-hat rule at her own nuptials.

While most attendees respected Edward and Sophie's wishes, one guest (perhaps one of the most important, at that) ignored this dress code detail. Refusing to break the long-held tradition, the queen mother paired her light blue dress with a lavender hat , ignoring the wedded couple's request.

While none of the other guests violated the rule so blatantly, a few more prominent attendees did skirt the line of what is and is not considered a hat. Princess Anne and Queen Elizabeth II both wore feathered headpieces of varying drama, which still gave the effect of a fascinator without technically breaking the rules.