The Duke of Anjou and the Portuguese Duchess: A fairytale royal wedding

by Wendy Davidson, Posted Jun 25th 2008 8:00AM

Last Friday there was yet another fairytale royal wedding for us to sigh over.

Prince Charles-Philippe d'Orleans, a member of France's deposed royal family, married his Portuguese bride, Doña Diana Alvares Pereira de Melo, the duchess of Cadaval, at the 15th-century Evora Cathedral in Portugal.

The bride arrived in a horse-drawn carriage (but what else?), accompanied by nine flower girls and page boys, dressed in white and wearing extremely quaint hats. All very olde-worlde and utterly romantic.

Diana wore an elegant, high-necked, full-skirted Carolina Herrera gown, inspired by the fashions of the long-gone Court of Versailles. Her blonde hair was swept up into an elegant chignon and she wore an exquisite diamond and pearl tiara, a family heirloom that was also worn by her grandmother at her wedding years before. The groom, looking quite dashing, was kitted out in a Christian Dior morning suit.

After exchanging their vows in front of 400 guests, amongst which were many European blue bloods, the newlyweds left the cathedral in a shower of white flower petals and then continued on to their reception which was held at the family's home, Cadaval Palace.

The entire wedding was highly traditional, which is in stark contrast to their daily lives. Both bride and groom are seen as really modern, likeable royals and are deeply involved in humanitarian causes and charities.