Princes Harry and William allow Diana’s wedding dress to star in show

Exhibition at London's Kensington Palace will explore relationships between fashion designers and royals

Princess Diana on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on her wedding day in 1981. The wedding dress is to go on public display for the first time in more than 25 years. Getty Images

The dress - with its billowing sleeves, bows and lace flounces - will be the star attraction. Royal Collection Trust

A detailed view of the neckline of the wedding dress. Royal Collection Trust

It will be displayed with Diana’s 7.6-metre sequin-encrusted train, the longest in British royal history. Getty Images

Princess Diana and Prince Charles pose for the official photograph by Lord Lichfield at Buckingham Palace on their wedding day. Getty Images

The gown was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel. Getty Images

A Historic Royal Palaces conservator prepares Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's coronation gown toile for display. Historic Royal Palaces

The famous wedding dress worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, is to go on public display for the first time in more than 25 years.
It will be displayed with Diana's 7.6-metre sequin-encrusted train, the longest in British royal history.
Princes William and Harry have agreed to lend their mother's full-silk taffeta bridal gown to Historic Royal Palaces for a temporary exhibition at Kensington Palace in the UK's capital.
The dress – with its billowing sleeves, bows and lace flounces – will be the star attraction.

“Our summer exhibition will shine a spotlight on some of the greatest talents of British design, whose work has been instrumental in shaping the visual identity of the royal family across the 20th century,” said Matthew Storey, exhibition curator at Historic Royal Palaces.

“We’ll be exploring how the partnership between each designer and client worked and revealing the process behind the creation of a number of the most important couture commissions in royal history.

"While one of the highlights will undoubtedly be Diana, Princess of Wales's, show-stopping Emanuel-designed wedding dress – which goes on show at the palace for the first time in 25 years – we've got some real surprises up our sleeve for fashion fans."
The Royal Style In The Making exhibition will open in the orangery at the palace on June 3 and run until January 2.
It will be closed on July 1, which would have been Diana's 60th birthday, when her sons are due to attend the unveiling nearby of a statue in her memory.
The gown, designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel for Lady Diana Spencer's wedding to the Prince of Wales in 1981, features a fitted bodice overlaid at the centre, both front and back, with panels of antique Carrickmacross lace, which originally belonged to Queen Mary – Prince Charles's great-grandmother.

The bride’s ivory silk tulle featured 10,000 mother-of-pearl sequins.

Royal Style In The Making will feature items displayed for the first time, including the surviving toile for the 1937 coronation dress of the Queen Mother.
See photos of William and Harry: