David and Elizabeth Emanuel were responsible for creating Princess Diana's wedding gown, which remains one of the most famous royal wedding dresses of all time. In a new documentary, one of the designers has revealed the secret code name they gave Princess Diana, in order to keep her wedding gown a secret until the royal wedding.
Princess Diana married King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, on July 29, 1981. Diana's wedding dress was apparently inspired by a "fairytale" gown worn by supermodel Jerry Hall, which was also created by the Emanuels. In new documentary, Secrets of Diana's Wedding Dress, Elizabeth Emanuel shared (via People), "When we started to see Diana, we were just very aware of security, so we decided to call her Deborah. We called her Deborah Cornwall. Isn't that strange?"
Prior to King Charles's coronation, Queen Camilla was known as the Duchess of Cornwall, which referred to the duchy over which her husband presided.
As well as giving Princess Diana a special code name, the Emanuels took a number of security measures in order to maintain their client's privacy. Per People, the designers hired two security guards, and "put different swatches of material in the garbage bins, hoping to foil any journalists who may have been tempted to sift through the trash."
The Emanuels also created a second wedding gown, in case details about Diana's actual dress leaked to the press. Elizabeth previously told People, "I was a bit neurotic, and I thought, 'What happens if somebody breaks in and steals the dress or something spills or there's a fire or it gets stolen?'" She continued, "So I thought, 'I'm gonna make a backup dress.'"
Elizabeth spoke to People about what it was like working with the late princess. "When Diana came in for a fitting, there would be hundreds of people outside waiting to spot her," Elizabeth told the outlet. "We had to put shutters up on our windows."
