Candid photos of royal wedding reception up for auction

The photos were left out of Charles and Diana’s wedding album.

Some of the images show the bride holding the five-year-old Clementine Hambro, her youngest bridesmaid, while another shows the royal couple on the Buckingham Palace balcony overlooking the crowds gathered on the Mall below.

A fascinating glimpse into the official wedding portraits of Diana is provided by several snaps showing the princess’s wedding dress and train being arranged around her as she takes her position in the throne room.

Eagle-eyed followers of the Royals will also be able to spot the Queen Mother, Princess Michael of Kent, Mark Philips, Prince Andrew, Earl Spencer, the Duke and Duchess of York, and Baroness Fellows, as well as a host of other well-appointed guests dressed in their finest. In another, she and Prince Charles are captured from behind on the palace balcony as they greet an adoring crowd outside.

A dozen candid and unpublished photos of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding reception are the featured items at a Boston-area auction scheduled for next month. “The colour photographs were printed by a trusted laboratory that did the Lichfield studio colour work”, Henrietta said in a statement of authenticity. These are photos that did not go into that album. “Very few people have ever laid eyes on them”. “These are the prints that didn’t make it into the books and they’ve never been seen before”, said Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, which will hold the event September 24.

Two years ago his company, which has a long record of selling royal memorabilia, sold a pre-marriage photo of Diana with a male friend labelled “not to be published” for US$18,000. “In the States there is still great interest in Princess Diana”.