The Wedding of the Century premieres in July on BritBox
June 15, 2021
BritBox, the streaming service offering the largest collection of British boxsets will be premiering The Wedding of the Century on July 15th. BritBox North America will be launching the documentary on July 29th 2021.
On July 29th 1981, a record 750 million people in 74 countries tuned in to see Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles exchange vows at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. At the time, video technology couldn’t quite capture the details in all of their glory, and all except for one media outlet captured the event on poor quality standard definition video tape.
British Movietone shot the ceremony on 35mm film, a format that is capable of being upgraded to today’s 4k resolution, and the footage has now been lovingly restored to a much clearer version than was ever thought possible. A highlight of this new version is the ability to see every detail down to the creases in Diana’s iconic gown as she steps out of the royal carriage.
This beautifully restored film is the jewel in the crown of a new feature-length documentary from Touchdown Films, which also includes never-before-heard anecdotes from the day and interviews with key insiders involved in planning the record-breaking event. These include the chief royal florist David Longman who met with Diana to create a bouquet fit for a princess, musical director Barry Rose who conducted the choir inside St. Paul’s Cathedral, Royal Navy head baker Dave Avery who met with Diana before spending 14 weeks creating the wedding cake, and royal photographer Kent Gavin who captured the ceremony inside St. Paul’s and whom Diana later chose to photograph Prince William’s christening.
Touchdown Films founder John Osborne said: “We are delighted to be working with BritBox on this new feature-length documentary that reframes one of the most iconic days in history like never before.”