IT’S nearly 40 years since Prince Charles and Princess Diana tied the knot.
But thanks to the return of The Crown on Netflix, the union is back in the spotlight again.
This week, one of Diana’s five bridesmaids, India Hicks, announced her wedding to her partner of 25 years.
She said: “After months of lockdown, many people were ready to kill each other – we were ready to get married.”
Celebrities including actress Naomi Watts and TV presenter Ben Fogle sent congratulations.
But what happened to the other bridesmaids and page boys on that historic July day in 1981?
From drugs and depression to an overdose and trip to “Paedo Island”, Kate Jackson brings their stories.
1. Rebel found with hash
LORD Nicholas Windsor, the youngest son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, was 11 years old when he slipped on his pageboy uniform of gold-buttoned military jacket and white trousers.
A godson of Prince Charles, Lord Nicholas was a royal rebel.
At 18 he was searched by police in St James’s Park, not far from Buckingham Palace, and cautioned for possessing cannabis.
He then dropped out of his theology degree at Oxford University to go trekking in Africa, and battled an eating disorder and depression.
Later in life he converted to Catholicism and made history by being the first member of the Royal Family to marry at the Vatican when he exchanged vows with British-born Croatian noble Paola Louise Marcia Doimi de Lupis in 2006.
The 50-year-old has three children — Albert, 13, who was the first royal child to be baptised a Catholic since 1688, Leopold, 11, and Louis, six.
2. £10million wedding gift
EDWARD VAN CUTSEM, another of Charles’s godsons, was eight at the time of the wedding.
Now a banker, he is married to Lady Tamara Grosvenor, sister of the 7th Duke of Westminster, whose father — the late Duke, Gerald Cavenish Grosvenor — is said to have given the pair £10million as their wedding gift.
Their 2004 marriage at Chester Cathedral drew thousands of well-wishers desperate to glimpse Princes William and Harry, who were both ushers.
Edward’s father Hugh, a wealthy financier, became friends with Prince Charles at Cambridge University.
Now 47, his nieces, Florence and Grace van Cutsem, were bridesmaids for Prince William and Kate.
3. In court over coat theft
NOW a mum of five, former model India Hicks, 53, was 13 at Princess Diana’s wedding.
Her mother, Lady Pamela Hicks, is daughter of the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Her father was the late David Nightingale Hicks, an interior designer.
India was kicked out of posh boarding school Gordon-stoun in Scotland “for a minor incident involving boys in my room”.
She modelled for Ralph Lauren then ran off to the Caribbean and got “up the duff”, as she once put it, to former advertising executive David Flint Wood.
They have four children together plus foster son Wesley. India has worked with the Global Empowerment Mission, which provides disaster relief, and is a partner of a food bank on Harbour Island in the Bahamas, where the family lives.
Now a writer and interior designer, in September she admitted stealing a £680 Max Mara coat and was conditionally discharged for three months. She blamed absent-mindedness.
She said of Diana’s wedding: “We helped her get dressed. She was in jeans and a tiara.”
She added: “Now, as an adult looking back, I think she was so young. So young!”
4. Sarah, the unassuming royal
AT 17, Lady Sarah Chatto towered above the other bridesmaids, but she has always had a knack of blending in.
She is the daughter of the late Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon, but Lady Sarah, nee Armstrong-Jones, is one of the most un-assuming members of the Royal Family.
The 56-year-old and her brother David, the 2nd Earl of Snowdon, have never undertaken royal engagements, though Lady Sarah became vice president of the Royal Ballet, which her mother had been a patron of, in 2004.
She made a rare appearance in a 2016 documentary about The Queen, and stole the show for her charm and genuine love for her aunt.
An artist, Lady Sarah is married to former actor Daniel Chatto, who she met while on sabbatical with her father in India in the 1980s.
The pair have two sons, Sam, an artist specialising in pottery, and Arthur, a personal trainer.
Lady Sarah is godmother to Prince Harry and Lady Louise Windsor, 17, the oldest child and only daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.
5. Sold her dress for £11,000
SARAH-JANE GASE-LEE was 11 years old when she made her entrance at St Paul’s Cathedral that day.
Her father, racehorse trainer Nick Gaselee, schooled Prince Charles as a jump jockey.
Afterwards, when Sarah-Jane was unhappy at boarding school in East Sussex, Princess Diana would send her letters and cards.
Diana also inspired her to devote herself to charity.
Now a 50-year-old mother of two, married to film producer Paul Andrews, Sarah-Jane divides her time between their plantation home in Barbados and London, where she hosts upmarket tours of Diana’s old haunts.
She sold her bridesmaid dress to Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, in 1999 for an estimated £11,000 — a decision she allegedly “bitterly regrets”.
She also regrets telling a German newspaper she once took too many paracetamol, resulting in the headline “My suicide agony”.
She said: “I definitely was not trying to kill myself.
“I had spent too much on my credit card, I just wanted some attention.
“I was young and stupid and it was an accident.”
6. Remembered as ‘the crier’
SIX-YEAR-OLD Catherine Cameron got her coveted spot because her mother, Lady Cecil Cameron, was a friend of Prince Charles.
She is the granddaughter of the 12th Marquess of Lothian.
Known as “the crier”, it was said poor Catherine, now 46, was allergic to horses and spent most of the wedding day blowing her nose on her petticoats. Lady Cecil later said her daughter was suffering from hayfever.
Her frilly bridesmaid’s dress went on display at the Clan Cameron Museum in Achnacarry, in the Scottish Highlands because her father, Donald Angus Cameron of Lochiel, is the 27th Chief of Clan Cameron.
The family own a large area of land in Scotland.
Catherine went to Edinburgh University and works as a literary agent.
7. Two trips on Epstein jet
FIVE-YEAR-OLD Clementine Hambro was one of Diana’s favourite pupils at Young England kindergarten, where she worked before she was married.
She is the great-granddaughter of former PM Winston Churchill.
In 2006 Clemmie married Orlando Fraser, son of historian Lady Antonia Fraser.
This year it was revealed that in 1999 Clemmie, who was working for Christie’s auction house, took two flights on paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s jet, dubbed the “Lolita Express”.
One trip to his ranch in New Mexico was to advise on buying art. A trip to his Caribbean island was for leisure.
The 44-year-old mum of four, who now writes gardening articles, said: “I have been horrified about the revelations of his conduct. My heart goes out to those who were abused by him.”
