The future queen in Romsey in 1947

It was was a big, exciting, unforgettable - and unfortunately wet day when the eldest daughter of Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, Patricia Edwina Mountbatten, married in Romsey.

Guests included the King and Queen, three princesses as bridesmaids and some of the most famous figures of the Second World War.

Among the crowds in Romsey Abbey, which had never been so packed, was the young soldier bridegroom Capt Lord Brabourne and the bridesmaids – the bride's second cousins – Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret Rose and Princess Alexandra of Kent.

The bridesmaids wore full skirted dresses of pale blue with tight-fitting bodies, square necks and short sleeves.

All the ushers were naval lieutenants – two of them first cousins of the bride. They included Prince Philip of Greece.

Everywhere in the abbey that there was space for a chair, a chair had been put and every chair was occupied.

There were the rich and famous, the poor and unknown. There were women in furs that cost a small fortune and women in homemade frocks, men whose clothes had a Savile Row look about them and men in their threadbare Sunday best. Then there were diplomats and tradesmen, famous soldiers and farm workers.

The congregation was a cross-section of the English people. And that was exactly how it was intended to be.

Echo (Image: Echo)

Miss Mountbatten wore with grace a gown made of material given to her mother when she was touring India to inspect Red Cross and St John War Organisation establishments. Classical in line, it had a close-fitting body, square neck and full skirt, trailing away to form a train.

Little did two of the guests, Prince Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, know they would be back to Romsey the following year to celebrate another wedding – their own.