How Queen Mary made royal history by wearing this lace veil

If the bridal veil worn by Greece’s Princess Theodora at her recent nuptials looked familiar, that’s because the piece was famously worn by an Australian commoner who is now Queen.
Mary Donaldson, now Queen Mary of Denmark, was given special permission to wear the antique veil when she married then-Crown Prince Frederik 20 years ago.
She became the first non-royal bride to wear the veil and in doing so, created a now-iconic look during her fairy tale wedding in Copenhagen.
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The veil was first worn in 1905 by Princess Margareta when she married the Crown Prince of Sweden, who later became King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.
Born Princess Margaret of Great Britain and Ireland, she was the daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, and Louise Margaret of Prussia.
Her grandmother was Queen Victoria of Great Britain.
Crown Princess Margareta had five children – her daughter, Ingrid, became Queen of Denmark and later the mother of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
Made of Irish lace, the veil was given to Margareta before her wedding because she had spent some of her early years in Ireland due to her father’s military service.
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When Margareta died aged just 38, she requested the veil be draped over her body but removed before the coffin was sealed.
She had bequeathed the veil to her daughter, Ingrid, who was just 10 when her mother died.
When Ingrid married Denmark’s Crown Prince (later King Frederik IX) in 1935, she wore her late mother’s veil.
That moment began a royal wedding tradition for all of Queen Ingrid’s descendants, including her three daughters – Margrethe, Anne-Marie and Benedikte.
Anne-Marie wore the veil when she married King Constantine II of Greece, on September 18, 1964, in Athens.
In 1967, the veil was worn by then-Crown Princess Margrethe of Denmark when she married Prince Henrik. She is now Queen Margrethe II.
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And Princess Benedikte wore the veil when she married Germany’s Prince Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg in 1968.
Princess Benedikte’s two daughters, Alexandra and Nathalie, wore the veil too, as did Queen Anne-Marie’s daughters Princess Alexia and most recently Princess Theodora.
But it was Queen Mary of Denmark who became the only outsider allowed to wear the veil when she married into the Danish royal family.
Her mother-in-law Queen Margrethe granted the Tasmanian-born Mary permission to wear the veil due to her position as Crown Princess and future Queen.
For the wedding on May 14, 2004, the veil was held in place with a diamond tiara gifted by Mary’s new in-laws.
Mary’s wedding gown was created by Danish designer Uffe Frank using pearl white heavy silk duchesse fabric and antique lace.
Danish designer and dressmaker Birgit Hallstein also worked on the gown and was instrumental in bringing all of its elaborate elements together.
In May, when Queen Mary and King Frederik celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary, Hallstein spoke to 9Honey about the long process.
There was also the added pressure of upholding royal traditions and protocols around the use of the antique veil and the lace attachment to the petticoat, which was also from Queen Margrethe’s private collection.
“There are rules to follow, [you’re] not allowed to cut in it and only skilled repairs [are allowed],” Hallstein told 9Honey.
“I had to hide around two or three meters of the antique lace in between layers of organza inside the dress to make sure it was not damaged by high heels, chairs, cars and carriages during the day.”
Hallstein worked in a space at Amalienborg to deliver the gown as well as bridesmaids, page boys and flower girls’ outfits.
“The sewing took hundreds of hours, starting in January 2004 and ending right before the wedding,” she said.
There were approximately six fittings between January and May 14, 2004.
The dressmaker also revealed Mary’s gown was made up of three separate parts.
Writing on social media in May she said there was “a big tulle petticoat, edged with almost 60 yards of Chantilly lace, on this a big light blue silk bow were placed, to make sure the first born would be a son”.
“Covering the tulle there was a silk duchesse petticoat with a beautiful antique lace on top.
“The bodice with all the draped panels were looped to the two petticoats. The [six metre] long train was attached to the dress with hooks.”
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