This Saturday, May 19, Prince Harry will wed American actress Meghan Markle in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Markle will be the first woman of color in the modern era to marry into the British royal family. This will be the actress’ second marriage; the first, to film producer Trevor Engelson, only lasted two years.
The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be rather small in comparison with Prince William and Kate Middleton’s ceremony, which had 1,900 attendees. Only 600 people are invited to the ceremony and reception, and even fewer are invited to a more intimate post-reception evening party to be held at Frogmore House, which has been a royal residence since 1792.
Receiving an invitation to a wedding is a big deal, especially if those getting married are near and dear to you. On average, 120 people get the save-the-date card to a typical American wedding. Imagine, though, if you had to invite the heads of state of nearly every monarchy, members of your nation’s government, and all of your extended family. When you hail from royal blood, the guest list must not disappoint.
24/7 Wall St. sifted through a wealth of news sites to identify the royal weddings with the largest by attendance in the past century.
Click here to see the largest royal weddings.
It’s important to note that our compilation of largely attended weddings, while impressive, is not comprehensive. Of the hundreds of royal weddings of the past century, it’s likely only a handful have made their guest list and attendance numbers available to the public.
Among the largest royal weddings, several nations and monarchies are represented including smaller countries like the Polynesian kingdom of Tonga and the southeast Asia nation of Brunei. The range of attendees at each of these weddings spans from a couple hundred to tens of thousands.
Interestingly enough, quite a few of these glamorous weddings did not lead to a sustainable marriage. Several of these marriages ended in divorce just a few years after the wedding. Other large weddings were downright controversial. Take the Prince of Tonga, for example, who denounced familial disapproval and took his cousin’s hand in marriage in the summer of 2012, claiming, “Love before protocol.”
The most publicized royal weddings are those of British royalty. The marriage of Prince Charles to the late Diana Spencer is perhaps the most famous royal wedding of all time. Not only did 3,500 people attend the wedding at Westminster Abbey, but also more than half a million people lined the streets of London that same day in an attempt to spot the newlywed royal couple. And a reported 750 million people had tuned in to watch the couple’s apprehensive kiss atop the balcony of the Buckingham Palace.
> Date: Feb. 18, 2000
> Attendance: 40,000
King Letsie III of Lesotho married Karabo Motsoeneng at a soccer stadium in the nation’s capital of Maseru.
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> Date: 1981
> Attendance: 20,000
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi and Princess Salama were married in an arena built for the event. With a price tag of roughly $100 million, their wedding remains one of the most expensive ceremonies to date.
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> Date: July 12, 2012
> Attendance: 4,000
Prince Tupouto’a ‘Ulukalala of Tonga and Sinaitakala Tu’imatamoana ‘i Fanakavakilangi Fakafanua were married at Centenary Church in Nuku’alofa, Tonga.
> Date: July 29, 1981
> Attendance: 3,500
Princess Diana and Prince Charles of the United Kingdom were married at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in a televised ceremony viewed by 750 million people worldwide.
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> Date: Sept. 23, 2012
> Attendance: 3,000
Princess Hajah Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah of Brunei and Pengiran Haji Muhammad Ruzaini were married at the sultan of Brunei’s 1,700-room palace.
> Date: Nov. 14, 1973
> Attendance: 2,000
Princess Anne of the United Kingdom and Captain Mark Phillips were married at Westminster Abbey in a televised ceremony viewed by 500 million people worldwide.
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> Date: Sept. 9, 2004
> Attendance: 2,000
Crown Prince al-Muhtadee Billah Bolkiah of Brunei married Princess Dayangku Sarah at the Sultan of Brunei’s 1,700-room palace.
> Date: Nov. 20, 1947
> Attendance: 2,000
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony broadcast on radio to 200 million people.
> Date: May 6, 1960
> Attendance: 2,000
Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom and Antony Armstrong-Jones were married at Westminster Abbey, the first British royal wedding broadcast on television.
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> Date: April 29, 2011
> Attendance: 1,900
Prince William of the United Kingdom married Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey. The wedding cost about $34 million.
> Date: May 24, 2002
> Attendance: 1,800
Princess Martha Louise of Norway married Ari Behn at Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway.
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> Date: Feb. 2, 2002
> Attendance: 1,700
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Máxima Zorreguieta were married at the 600-year-old Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.
> Date: May 22, 2004
> Attendance: 1,700
King Felipe VI of Spain married Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano at the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid.
> Date: March 10, 1966
> Attendance: 1,600
Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands and Claus von Amsberg were married in a civil ceremony at Amsterdam city hall and the marriage was then blessed in the Westerkerk.
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> Date: April 12, 2003
> Attendance: 1,500
Prince Laurent of Belgium and Claire Coombs were married in a civil ceremony at the town hall in Brussels that was officiated by the mayor. This was followed by a ceremony at Saint Michael and Gudula Cathedral.
> Date: March 21, 2002
> Attendance: 1,500
King Mohammed VI of Morocco and Lallas Salma Bennani were married in a ceremony described as low key at the royal palace in Rabat.
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> Date: April 24, 2004
> Attendance: 1,400
Prince Johan Friso of the Netherlands and Mabel Wisse Smit were married in a civil ceremony at the town hall of Delft.
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> Date: March 18, 1995
> Attendance: 1,300
Princess Elena of Spain and Jaime de Marichalar were married at the cathedral in Seville, Spain.
> Date: June 19, 1976
> Attendance: 1,200
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden married Silvia Sommerlath at Stockholm Cathedral.
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> Date: July 1, 1995
> Attendance: 1,200
Prince Pavlos of Greece and Marie-Chantal Miller were married in a Greek Orthodox ceremony at St. Sophia’s Cathedral in London.
> Date: Aug. 14, 2017
> Attendance: 1,200
Princess Tunku Tun Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah of Malaysia married Dennis Muhammad Abdullah at Istana Besar, the royal palace of the Sultanate of Johor.
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> Date: June 19, 2010
> Attendance: 1,100
Princess Victoria of Sweden and Daniel Westling were married at Stockholm Cathedral.
> Date: May 17, 2001
> Attendance: 1,000
Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands married Laurentien Brinkhorst in a civil ceremony at the Oude Raadzaal, Javastraat, in The Hague. The church wedding was held at the Grote of St Jacobskerk, also in The Hague.
> Date: June 27, 2016
> Attendance: 1,000
Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore, and Trishika Kumari Singh were married at the city palace in Mysore.
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> Date: July 2, 2011
> Attendance: 850
Prince Albert of Monaco married Charlene Wittstock at the prince’s palace.
> Date: Aug. 29, 1968
> Attendance: 850
Prince Harald of Norway married Sonja Haraldsen at Oslo Cathedral.
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> Date: July 9, 2016
> Attendance: 800
Prince Franz Albrecht of Oettingen-Spielberg noble family in Germany and Baroness Cleopatra von Adelsheim von Ernest were married at St. Jacob Church in Oettingen, Bavaria.
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> Date: May 14, 2004
> Attendance: 800
Frederik, crown prince of Denmark, and Mary Donaldson were married at Copenhagen Cathedral.
> Date: Aug. 25, 2001
> Attendance: 750
Crown Prince Haakon of Norway married Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby at Oslo Cathedral.
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> Date: Dec. 4, 1999
> Attendance: 750
Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium and Princess Mathilde were married at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels.
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