Royals

Duchess Catherine and Princess Diana wore the same scent on their wedding days

Both Princess Diana and Duchess Catherine wore luxurious, floral perfumes on their wedding day, with one very specific similarity.
Loading the player...

They say smell plays a huge part in evoking memories . The smell of freshly cut lawn smells like a hot Australian summer; mango body butter smells like your teenage years and many of us would be able to recognise the smell of our mother’s perfume on a stranger.

So you can imagine that the fragrance one would wear on their wedding day would take a lot of consideration. This is going to be the scent that transports you back to the magical moment where you say “I do”. Do you choose something special and new, maybe a bit luxurious and reserved for that day and anniversaries only? Or do you choose something familiar, your signature scent, that smells “just like you”? Or perhaps do you honour your mum and borrow her scent?

WATCH What Prince William and Duchess Katherine’s body language says about their love. Article continues after video…

Loading the player...

Duchess Catherine may have never met Princess Diana, but she subtly honoured her late mother-in-law on her wedding day when she wore a now-famous perfume that had a nod to the fragrance Princess Diana wore during her wedding to Prince Charles. While both women wore equally luxurious, floral scents, there was one very specific similarity in the perfumes.

Princess Diana’s wedding day perfume

It’s been said that Princess Diana, was extremely nervous to walk down the aisle to meet her future husband, Prince Charles in front of the eyes of millions the wold over. The 20-year-old, who had reportedly only been on 12 dates with her future husband, turned to her faithful fragrance, Quelques Fleurs by Houbigant Paris for the big day. As the story goes, Princess Diana was so nervy that just as she was due to leave for the ceremony, she spilled the perfume all over her iconic wedding dress.

The luxurious fragrance, which still available today, earns it pretty floral scent from an extravagant amount of blooms used in its creation. In just 28 grams of the royally favoured liquid is 15,000 different flowers; some of the most notable flowers being lily of the valley, rose and orange blossom.

Duchess Catherine’s wedding day perfume

On April 29, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, was going to marry the love of his life, Catherine Middleton. It was the love story that captivated the entire world and no detail was spared.

For the big day, the Duchess chose a scent that had a subtle nod to her future-husband’s late mother, Princess Diana.

Like her mother-in-law, The Duchess chose a floral fragrance, Illuminum’s White Gardenia Petals, which sold-out almost immediately when word got out that this was this was the scent worn by the royal on her wedding day.

Perhaps the biggest hint that the bride’s perfume was chosen with Princess Diana in mind is scent’s make-up. The perfume carries “top notes of lily” which is one of the florals predominantly used in Quelques Fleurs.

Related stories