Today would have been the 40th wedding anniversary of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
A little after 11.20am on July 29, 1981, millions of people around the world watched as Lady Diana Spencer, then 20, arrived at London's St Paul's Cathedral to marry Prince Charles, then 32, the heir to the British throne.
Of course, we now know their love story was not always a happy one. But less than a year after their wedding, they welcomed their first child, son Prince William on June 21, 1982. Two years later, Prince Harry was born, on September 15, 1984.
In 1981, the "wedding of the century", as it was dubbed, gripped the British nation and the world. It is estimated that 750 million people, in 72 countries, watched the ceremony when it was televised; a further 250 million listened to the events unfold on the radio.
It wasn't the first royal wedding to be aired on television – that honour was bestowed upon Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones 21 years earlier, on May 6, 1960. However, it was an occasion steeped with hope and celebration; at the time The New York Times described it as symbolising "the continuity of the monarchy".
The couple eschewed Westminster Abbey, the traditional location of British royal weddings, for St Paul's Cathedral, as it sat more guests and allowed a longer procession through the city. More than 3,500 people made up the wedding congregation, notably Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, the groom's parents, and international royalty, including then-kings and queens of Belgian, Sweden and Tonga.
Margaret Thatcher, UK prime minister, and Robert Muldoon, prime minister of New Zealand, were two politicians in attendance, while Nancy Reagan, US first lady, represented the country at the wedding.
There were also a number of entertainers on the guest list, including Irish actor Spike Milligan and Welsh comedian Harry Secombe.
Princess Diana's dress
The dress worn by Princess Diana on the day has gone down in wedding history.
Designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel, the gown featured a fitted bodice overlaid with panels of antique Carrickmacross lace, which originally belonged to Queen Mary, Prince Charles’s great-grandmother, and the veil boasts 10,000 mother-of-pearl sequins. At 7.6 metres, the sequin-encrusted train is the longest in British royal history to date.
"The dress had to be something that was going to go down in history, but also something that Diana loved," designer Elizabeth Emanuel said in Diana: The Portrait, a 2004 book by Ros Coward.
"And we knew it was going to be at St Paul's, so it had to be something that would fill the aisle and be quite dramatic."
At the time the ivory silk taffeta gown was was valued at £9,000 ($12,500), which is worth roughly $41,000 today.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana's unconventional nuptials
While the wedding ceremony was certainly steeped in heritage, it also featured some significant breaks from tradition.
Princess Diana did not promise to "obey" Prince Charles, as is traditionally said in Christian wedding vows – after the groom promises to "love, cherish, and worship" and the bride to "love, cherish, and obey". The couple omitted the word from their vows, which caused a "sensation" at the time, according to Canadian-American political commentator, David Frum.
The couple also made mistakes in their vows. Princess Diana muddled Prince Charles's full name, calling him Philip Charles Arthur George, instead of Charles Philip Arthur George. Prince Charles also got his slightly wrong when he referred to "thy goods", not "my worldly goods".
The reception: balcony kiss, fireworks and 27 cakes
Following their nuptials, the couple went to Buckingham Palace for an "intimate" wedding breakfast with 120 guests. The breakfast was followed by a balcony appearance when the duo greeted the gathered crowd with other members of the royal family. The couple kissed on the balcony, which sparked a tradition of newly wed royal couples kissing for the crowd.
On the day there was a staggering total of 27 wedding cakes, but the official cake was made by David Avery, head baker at the Royal Naval cooking school in Chatham, Kent.
Standing tall at more than 150 centimetres and weighing more than 100 kilograms, the cake Avery made was a layered fruitcake and took 14 weeks. They created two in case one got damaged. Both the Prince of Wales's coat of arms and the Spencer family's crest were incorporated into the design.
On the night of the wedding, there was a fireworks display above London's Hyde Park and 100 beacons of light were shone across the country.
The years since Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding
Forty years on, we know that their marriage was not to last.
The couple separated in 1992, 11 years after their wedding. It was announced on December 9, 1992, by then-prime minister John Major, that the couple were separating “amicably”. They ultimately divorced in 1996, one year before Princess Diana's tragic death on August 31, 1997.
In their divorce agreement, Princess Diana was given the right to keep her Kensington Palace apartments and the title, the Princess of Wales. However, she relinquished Her Royal Highness title and a future claim to the British throne.
In the years following the wedding, Princess Diana did not speak of the day fondly. She once described feeling as though her younger self was a "lamb to the slaughter" on her wedding day.
"I don't think I was happy," she says in audio recorded for her biography, which was later used in documentary, Diana: In Her Own Words. "I never tried to call it off, in the sense of really doing that, but I think [it was] the worst day of my life."
In her controversial BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir in 1995, she said: "The day I walked down the aisle at St Paul's Cathedral, I felt that my personality was taken away from me, and I was taken over by the royal machine."
Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder
Started: October 2021
Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Industry: technology, logistics
Investors: A15 and self-funded
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8 UAE companies helping families reduce their carbon footprint
Greenheart Organic Farms
This Dubai company was one of the country’s first organic farms, set up in 2012, and it now delivers a wide array of fruits and vegetables grown regionally or in the UAE, as well as other grocery items, to both Dubai and Abu Dhabi doorsteps.
www.greenheartuae.com
Modibodi
Founded in Australia, Modibodi is now in the UAE with waste-free, reusable underwear that eliminates the litter created by a woman’s monthly cycle, which adds up to approximately 136kgs of sanitary waste over a lifetime.
www.modibodi.ae
The Good Karma Co
From brushes made of plant fibres to eco-friendly storage solutions, this company has planet-friendly alternatives to almost everything we need, including tin foil and toothbrushes.
www.instagram.com/thegoodkarmaco
Re:told
One Dubai boutique, Re:told, is taking second-hand garments and selling them on at a fraction of the price, helping to cut back on the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothes thrown into landfills each year.
www.shopretold.com
Lush
Lush provides products such as shampoo and conditioner as package-free bars with reusable tins to store.
www.mena.lush.com
Bubble Bro
Offering filtered, still and sparkling water on tap, Bubble Bro is attempting to ensure we don’t produce plastic or glass waste. Founded in 2017 by Adel Abu-Aysha, the company is on track to exceeding its target of saving one million bottles by the end of the year.
www.bubble-bro.com
Coethical
This company offers refillable, eco-friendly home cleaning and hygiene products that are all biodegradable, free of chemicals and certifiably not tested on animals.
www.instagram.com/coethical
Eggs & Soldiers
This bricks-and-mortar shop and e-store, founded by a Dubai mum-of-four, is the place to go for all manner of family products – from reusable cloth diapers to organic skincare and sustainable toys.
www.eggsnsoldiers.com
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
