Royal Weddings
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50 free Royal Weddings trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
A royal wedding is part state occasion, part family party, and the details are what people remember: the dress kept secret for months, the slip in the vows, the hat everyone talked about the next morning. The biggest ceremonies have been watched live by hundreds of millions of people. This quiz covers the famous British weddings of the last hundred years, from Princess Elizabeth's post-war ceremony to William and Kate and Harry and Meghan, along with the customs royal brides still follow. It also travels further: to Monaco, Scandinavia, Vienna and Saint Petersburg, and back to the Tudors and Stuarts. It works as a party round for a royal wedding viewing, a warm-up for a pub quiz, or a test for anyone who follows the royals. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will pick up a story or two along the way.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which famous festival began as the public party for Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria's 1810 wedding?
Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest started as a celebration of Ludwig's marriage to Princess Therese, held on fields outside Munich. The site still carries the bride's name: Theresienwiese, Therese's Meadow.
Q 02What broke as Princess Elizabeth dressed for her 1947 wedding, sending the court jeweller off under police escort?
Her tiara
Her tiara snapped while she was getting ready at Buckingham Palace. The court jeweller, who was standing by in case of an emergency, was rushed to his workroom to mend it before she left for the ceremony.
Q 03On which website did Princess Beatrice auction her much-mocked Philip Treacy hat from the 2011 royal wedding?
eBay
eBay bidders pushed the looping headpiece, nicknamed the pretzel hat, past £80,000, and Beatrice gave the money to charity.
Q 04Which ABBA hit got its first live performance at a gala on the eve of the King of Sweden's 1976 wedding?
Dancing Queen
Dancing Queen was sung at the Royal Swedish Opera in honour of King Carl XVI Gustaf and his bride-to-be, Silvia Sommerlath, who married the next day. The single did not reach the shops until later that summer.
Q 05What did Princess Elizabeth need to buy the fabric for her 1947 wedding dress, with 200 extra from the government?
Ration coupons
Ration coupons still governed clothing two years after the war, even for a future queen. Brides-to-be across the country posted her their own, which had to be sent back because giving them away was illegal.
Q 06Which make of car did Prince William drive out of Buckingham Palace after marrying Kate Middleton in 2011?
Aston Martin
Aston Martin built the blue DB6 Volante convertible, which belonged to his father, a 21st birthday present from the Queen. The best man and friends had fitted it with a JUST WED number plate.
Q 07Which wife did Henry VIII agree to marry after sending Hans Holbein to paint her portrait in Germany?
Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves became his fourth wife in January 1540, and the marriage was annulled six months later. She did well out of it, with a generous settlement and the title of the King's Beloved Sister.
Q 08Which traditional word did Lady Diana Spencer leave out of her vows when she married Prince Charles in 1981?
Obey
Obey was cut from the bride's promises at the couple's own request, a change that caused a sensation at the time.
Q 09Which soul classic did the Kingdom Choir sing at Windsor Castle during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's 2018 wedding?
Stand by Me
Stand by Me was performed by the gospel group, led by Karen Gibson, while the couple sat and listened. Ben E. King co-wrote the song with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
Q 10What did Prince Charles and Lady Diana add to the Buckingham Palace balcony appearance in 1981, starting a tradition?
A kiss
A kiss on the balcony delighted the crowd below, and royal newlyweds have been expected to do the same ever since. Prince William and Kate Middleton obliged twice in 2011.
Q 11In which London church did Prince Charles marry Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, chosen because it could seat more guests?
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral held a congregation of 3,500 and allowed a longer procession through London than the traditional choice for royal brides, Westminster Abbey.
Q 12Which Oscar-winning actress retired from films at 26 to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956?
Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly had won the Best Actress Oscar for The Country Girl before she gave up the screen for her duties as Princess of Monaco. She and Rainier had three children.
Q 13Which American did the former King Edward VIII marry at a French château in 1937, months after giving up the throne?
Q 21Which designer at Alexander McQueen made the lace-sleeved dress Kate Middleton wore to marry Prince William in 2011?
Sarah Burton
Sarah Burton gave the ivory satin gown a nine-foot train, and she also dressed the maid of honour, the bride's sister Pippa.
Q 22Which unusual decoration lined the aisle of Westminster Abbey for Prince William and Kate Middleton's 2011 wedding?
Living trees
Living trees, six field maples and two hornbeams each 20 feet tall, formed an avenue on either side of the congregation's route to the altar.
Q 23Which dukedom did the Queen give Prince William on the morning of his 2011 wedding to Kate Middleton?
Cambridge
Wallis Simpson
Wallis Simpson became the Duchess of Windsor that day but was never allowed to share her husband's style of Royal Highness. The Château de Candé was lent to the couple by a millionaire, Charles Bedaux.
Q 14Which colour of wedding dress did Queen Victoria help to popularise when she married Prince Albert in 1840?
White
White satin trimmed with Honiton lace made her look more like a bride and less like a queen. She did not invent the fashion, since other women already wore it, but the press coverage spread it.
Q 15Meghan Markle was best known for her role in which legal drama before she married Prince Harry in 2018?
Suits
Suits cast Markle as Rachel Zane, a paralegal at a New York law firm who develops feelings for her colleague Mike Ross. Several of her co-stars were guests at Windsor.
Q 16Which Austrian archduchess was married by proxy in Vienna before she had met her husband, the future Louis XVI?
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette was 14, and her brother stood in for the groom at the Vienna ceremony in April 1770. A second wedding, this time with the real one present, followed at the Palace of Versailles a month later.
Q 17Which knighted singer performed for guests at the reception after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's 2018 wedding?
Elton John
Elton John played at the lunchtime reception the Queen hosted in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. He had been a close friend of Harry's mother and sang at her funeral in 1997.
Q 18Which pet did Princess Elizabeth hide under rugs in the carriage as she left for her 1947 honeymoon?
A corgi
A corgi called Susan, an 18th birthday present from the King, came along because the princess did not want to be parted from her. The Queen went on to own more than thirty of Susan's descendants.
Q 19Which Indian leader sent Princess Elizabeth a piece of lace made from yarn he had spun himself as a 1947 wedding gift?
Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi had the slogan Jai Hind worked into the centre of the crocheted cotton lace. India had become independent only three months before the ceremony.
Q 20Which Hollywood star dances on the walls and ceiling in Royal Wedding, the 1951 musical set in London in 1947?
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire shot the number in a set built inside a revolving barrel that turned as he danced. The plot follows an American song-and-dance duo in town as Princess Elizabeth marries Philip Mountbatten.
Cambridge came with two more titles announced that morning: Earl of Strathearn, a Scottish one, and Baron Carrickfergus, from Northern Ireland.
Q 24Which flavour of groom's cake, made to a Royal Family recipe, did Prince William request for his 2011 wedding?
Chocolate biscuit
Chocolate biscuit cake by McVitie's was served at the Buckingham Palace reception alongside the official eight-tier wedding cake.
Q 25British royal brides' wedding rings have been made since 1923 from gold mined in which part of the United Kingdom?
Wales
Wales supplied the gold from the Clogau mine in its northern mountains, a custom that began with the ring of the future Queen Mother.
Q 26Where do British royal brides leave their wedding bouquets, a custom begun by Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923?
Tomb of the Unknown Warrior
The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is where she laid her flowers on her way into Westminster Abbey, a tribute to her brother Fergus, killed at the Battle of Loos in 1915.
Q 27Which plant has given a sprig to British royal wedding bouquets since Queen Victoria's day, Kate Middleton's included?
Myrtle
Myrtle, long a European wedding flower, sat in Kate Middleton's bouquet beside lily of the valley, hyacinth, ivy and sweet William.
Q 28Prince William wore the scarlet tunic of which regiment, as its colonel, to marry Kate Middleton in 2011?
Irish Guards
Irish Guards full dress was the Queen's choice: William, made colonel earlier that year, had meant to wear the regiment's frock coat until she insisted.
Q 29What did the Queen order for the whole United Kingdom on 29 April 2011, the day Prince William married Kate Middleton?
A public holiday
A public holiday gave the country that Friday off, and more than 5,000 street parties were held across the United Kingdom.
Q 30Which headpieces, popular with guests at Prince William's 2011 wedding, did Royal Ascot bar from its Royal Enclosure?
Fascinators
Fascinators, decorative pieces fixed to the hair by a comb, band or clip, were ruled out in 2012, when Royal Ascot said women in the enclosure must wear hats.