Happy 101st Wedding Anniversary to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

On this day in 1923, Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon married Prince Albert, the Duke of York, a loving union that would have a profound and joyful consequences for the British monarchy

The Duke and Duchess of York after their wedding ceremony in Westminster Abbey on April 26, 1923

A year ago today, on the centennial of this glorious occasion, I wrote my 20th post for Royals Extra, which I had launched on March 20th, 2023. I won’t reprise what I observed then, nor do I intend to mark the day in this way every year! But over the past twelve months, more than seven thousand subscribers have signed up—to my everlasting gratitude—and I want to offer some additional thoughts and rare photographs to augment what I previously published. For those of you who upgrade to paid subscriber, you can see my original post, along with my archive of more than 80 posts, as well as this one in its entirety. A comprehensive description can be found in George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy, published in paperback two weeks ago.

It also seems fitting to commemorate his grandparents’ wedding anniversary on the day King Charles III announced he would be resuming public duties next week following nearly three months of treatment for cancer. In a statement, Buckingham Palace declined to say how much longer the seventy-five-year-old King would be receiving treatment but added that his medical team is “very encouraged by the progress made so far and remain positive about the King’s continued recovery.”

In that optimistic spirit, here’s a rare view of the marriage ceremony, which was witnessed by 1,780 guests in London’s Westminster Abbey. It shows twenty-two-year-old Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon and twenty-seven-year-old Prince Albert (“Bertie”), the Duke of York, at the Abbey altar, being blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with the two youngest of her eight bridesmaids behind them. To the right in the Sacrarium, seated in the front row among the groom’s family are his parents, King George V and Queen Mary.

A little-seen view of the wedding of the Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon

Last year I featured three pages from The Illustrated London News showing an array of wedding gifts to the royal couple—jewelry and home furnishings—that filled newspapers and magazines before the ceremony. Here’s another page showing some special portraits (two by the masterful artist John Singer Sargent) and a bust of Lady Elizabeth with captions naming those who commissioned the artworks.