Princess Diana's secret wedding dress revealed

Princess Diana's secret wedding dress has been revealed.

Although the late Princess of Wales wore an ivory silk taffeta gown with lace detailing for her wedding to Britain's Prince Charles in 1981, her designer Elizabeth Emmanuel has revealed the design team was so worried the dress would be revealed before the big day that they created a reserve just in case.

Elizabeth said: "At the time we wanted to make absolutely sure that the dress was a surprise. Had the secret of the real dress got out it's possible that Diana would actually have worn this one.

"We didn't try it on Diana. We never even discussed it. We wanted to make sure that we had something there; it was for our own peace of mind, really."

Elizabeth added she feels sorry for the mystery designer of Kate Middleton's wedding dress - for when she marries Charles' and Diana's eldest son Prince William in April - because keeping the gown a secret is even more difficult now.

She told People magazine: "They're keeping quiet on the designer this time, probably to avoid all the hassle that we had. It was really difficult and we didn't have to contend with cameras in phones etc like you have today. How do you keep something secret like that? I have no idea."

Kate has admitted she hopes to keep the dress a secret to surprise William on their big day on April 29.