We Finally Know What Queen Elizabeth II Said to Princess Diana on the Buckingham Palace Balcony Following Her Royal Wedding Ceremony

Whenever a member of the British royal family gets married, it’s tradition for the newlyweds to make their public debut, address the crowds below them, and share a kiss from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The late Princess Diana and King Charles III were one of the many royal pairs to follow this longstanding custom in the minutes after their wedding ceremony—in fact, they actually set the precedent of exchanging a royal peck. When the couple made their official appearance from the castle’s balcony on their wedding day on July 29, 1981, the late Queen Elizabeth II shared a few words with her new daughter-in-law.

Now, more than 40 years after the royal celebration, a lip reader decoded what the former monarch said to the bride. The lip reader revealed to the Daily Mail on June 3, 2024, that while they were waving to the crowds, Elizabeth pointed to the individuals standing below them and advised Diana to “look” at the people who had “been there all day” to see her.

The lip reader also decrypted the message that King Charles gave to Princess Diana when he first saw her during their ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The groom apparently told his bride, “You look perfect.” Then, per the lip reader, Charles asked Diana for her hand and said, “Kissy.”

Charles and Diana also shared a sweet moment the evening before they exchanged vows. In the book The Duchess: The Untold Story, royal author Penny Junor wrote that the groom sent Lady Di a secret letter and a gift to alleviate her nerves and give her a boost of confidence. “The night before the wedding, which Diana spent at Clarence House with her sister, Jane, he sent her a note, along with a signet ring bearing the Princes of Wales feathers,” Junor explained in the book. According to the author, the note read, “I’m so proud of you, and when you come up, I’ll be there at the altar for you tomorrow. Just look ‘em in the eye and knock ‘em dead.”

While writing and sending Diana the note was a warm, thoughtful gesture, it contradicted the verbal message that he delivered to her on the night before they became husband and wife. “One of the most shocking things that Diana told me was that the night before the wedding, Charles told her that he didn’t love her,” said Diana’s astrologer, Penny Thornton. on the ITV documentary The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess. “I think Charles didn’t want to go into the wedding on a false premise. He wanted to square it with her, and it was devastating for Diana.” Ultimately, Charles and Diana separated 11 years after they married one another. They finalized their divorce in 1996, one year before the late princess died in a car accident.