Charles and Diana wedding 1981 Photo: Wikipedia
The 1981 wedding between Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer was widely billed as the "wedding of the century", and the highly-anticipated event at St Paul's Cathedral in London was watched by an estimated global TV audience of 750 million people.
Here in New Zealand - we weren't immune to the hype. According to ratings held by Neilsen TAM, the wedding was watched by 54 percent of the country's total population at the time - with about 1.6 million people tuning in. To add to the excitement our very own Kiri Te Kanawa performed 'Let The Bright Seraphim' while the newlyweds signed the register.
Long-time royalist Shirley Piddington joins us from her home in Timaru to reflect on the wedding which happened 39 years ago this week.