The Queen reportedly has the final say on this major element of all royal weddings

Protocol dictates that the Queen has the final say on a big (possibly the biggest!) element of all royal weddings – meaning some of the most iconic weddings in history could have looked very different.

• According to royal protocol, the Queen has final say on certain major aspects of a royal wedding.
• There are also a number of rules that royal brides must follow for their big day.
• In other royal news, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's daughter is rumored to receive this title when she's born

Over the years we’ve seen many a beautiful royal wedding. Prince William and Kate Middleton will celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary this year, having got married in April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. How time flies!

Then in 2018, both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank tied the knot at St George’s Chapel, Windsor – in May and October respectively.

The most recent royal bride, however, was Princess Beatrice, who married her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a low-key ceremony last July during the ongoing pandemic.

But all of these royal wedding photographs could have looked very different indeed, as the Queen has the final say on the bride’s gown. While the bride will usually choose her dress and designer initially, the monarch reportedly has to give her final approval before the wedding day. 

Harper's Bazaar reports that Duchess Catherine showed the Queen her Alexander McQueen dress (designed by Sarah Burton) during the design process, as well as the final gown ahead of her big day.

Meghan's Markle's wedding dress would have been shown to the monarch ahead of her wedding day, as would Princess Eugenie for her beautiful dress designed by Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos. Princess Beatrice’s wedding dress was in fact lent to her by her grandmother. 

According to HELLO! there are also some royal restrictions surrounding a bride's choice of wedding gown.

Rules around royal brides’ wedding dresses exclude short hemlines, low necklines and having one’s shoulders on display.

However, there is clearly some flexibility for the evening reception, as Meghan Markle’s simple and elegant high-necked second gown showed off her shoulders.

Just think, all those royal weddings could have looked so different if Her Majesty had said no to the iconic dresses!