KATE MIDDLETON'S wedding dress follows in a long line of royal brides and - as the senior curator of the royal ceremonial dress collection, Dr Joanna Marschner, explains - there are certain conventions a royal bride must follow.

"The dress has to be able to carry the day and must be appropriate to the scale of the venue," Marschner told us. "It also has to speak of its time - rather than being timeless; royal wedding dresses usually have deep messages that are important to their era - and, most importantly, it has to be chosen by the bride."

SEE THE HISTORICAL ROYAL DRESSES 

From Queen Victoria's lace and silk dress, which popularised white wedding dresses, to Princess Margaret's stunningly tailored Sixties gown, royal wedding dresses have both mirrored and set the trends of the day. So, with all her royal wedding nous, which does Dr Marschner feel is the most memorable?

"For me it is the Queen's," Marschner admitted. "It is so beautifully made - and was really a national investment. It was definitely a product of the time, so hopeful in the period following the war, and my own mother's dress was so similar; people really aspire to royal wedding dresses. The Queen's is now in her private collection."

From Queen Victoria to "feisty tomboy" Princess Charlotte - see the royal wedding dresses here.

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