Entertainment Princess Diana's wedding dress featured a secret detail - exclusive interview with David Emanuel

© @Copyright HELLO! Hello! Magazine

Royal fans have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of season 4 of The Crown on Netflix – and the day is finally here. The new series sees actress Emma Corrin recreating the moment Princess Diana walked down the aisle of St Paul's Cathedral in her incredible ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown.

DISCOVER: 22 of the most iconic royal wedding dresses of all time

A few months ago, HELLO! sat down with the late Princess of Wales' wedding dress designer David Emanuel to discuss her July 1981 wedding to Prince Charles, which remains one of the most iconic moments in royal history – and certainly the most memorable dress!

Princess Beatrice living with stepson Wolfie?

Princess Beatrice's husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi co-parents Wolfie alongside his ex-partner Dara Huang. Wolfie has split his time between his mother and father since they separated in 2018 after three years together. SEE: Inside Princess Beatrice's stunning London home where she is staying with Edoardo MORE: Princess Beatrice and Edoardo to move into Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's home? Loading the player...

David Emanuel reveals he designed a second wedding dress for Princess Diana just in case the first dress According to Hello, David Emanuel , who designed Princess Diana ' s lavish wedding gown , created a The original wedding gown featured a ruffled v-neck and puff sleeves, 10,000 pearls

David Emanuel , who designed Princess Diana ' s wedding dress , says he ripped up the design. David , along with his wife, Elizabeth, first designed for Diana before she was in the public eye. Suddenly, he spotted her on television with Prince Charles wearing a silk taffeta dress they designed.

With its record-breaking 25-foot train and 10,000 mother of pearl sequins and pearl embellishments, the beautiful design – valued at £151,000 last year – will go down in history.

WATCH: The Crown season 4 is FINALLY here

Speaking from the launch of The Wonder Room at Bromley Brides boutique in south east London, the Say Yes To The Dress host spilled the beans about working with Diana, from the design process, to the royal's "sweet" personality – and also revealed a little known fact about the gown.

Here are some of David's wonderful insights into what it was really like designing Diana's wedding dress…

© Provided by Hello! princess-diana-prince-charles

All eyes were on Diana when she wed Prince Charles in July 1981

Remember Kate Middleton's gorgeous The Vampire's Wife dress? It's now available in gold

The Duchess of Cambridge wowed royal fans back in March when she wore an emerald green dress from The Vampire's Wife – and it's now available in gold!

PRINCESS Diana ' s wedding dress is possibly the most famous royal gown of all time. With its ivory silk taffeta and 25-foot train, it Designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel were petrified of the details getting out, wanting the dress to stay secret until Diana ' s wedding to Prince Charles on July 29, 1981.

David Emanuel on how he and Princess Diana kept her wedding dress a secret : the designer revealed details behind the ivory silk gown while on I'm A Celebrity in Australia.

Working with Princess Diana was a dream

"You've got the most beautiful woman, inside and out. It's not just the look and the frocks and the fashion. She genuinely was just sweet. She was very young", David said, recalling her charming and shy personality.

"There are so many quotes about Diana and a lot of them are nonsense. Diana was so sweet, she was young, she used to blush."

The designer was a 'natural' choice for Princess Diana

The Princess of Wales contacted David and his ex-wife and former design partner Elizabeth Emanuel after discovering their clothes on the set of a Vogue shoot.

VA-VA-VROOM: The most jaw-dropping royal wedding cars

DID YOU KNOW? 19 eye-opening royal wedding facts

David said: "I did a few gowns for her before the wedding, the first one you saw in public was the strapless black dress with the sweetheart neckline as she got out of the limousine with Prince Charles - everyone gasped.

Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi shop for groceries in London

Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi were spotted picking up groceries from a supermarket in London on Tuesday

PRINCESS Diana ’ s close friend David Emanuel has accused her “rock” Paul Burrell of exaggerating his Designer David , who made her 1981 wedding dress , also laid into her former butler for selling her private In an exclusive interview , he said: “There’s always a periphery of people who do that.

Who designed the wedding dress ? Princess Diana ’ s wedding dress was created by design duo David and Elizabeth Emanuel . The gown also featured a 25-foot train, which became crumpled “Had the secret of the real dress got out it’s possible that Diana would actually have worn this one.”

"The next day, I got a phone call from Buckingham Palace's press office. "Mr Emanuel, are you responsible for Lady Diana? Thank the Lord. The whole world is ringing up!"

The most watched royal wedding has changed - who takes the top spot?

Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and Princess Diana's wedding days were watched by millions – but who is now in poll position?

© Provided by Hello! princess-diana-dress-train

Who can forget the 25-foot train as Diana entered St Paul's Cathedral?

"That was the start of seven gowns, and then out of the blue, she rang my studio and said, 'Would you do the honour of designing my wedding gown?'"

ROYAL WEDDINGS: All the royal weddings we can look forward to in 2021

"It happened very naturally, I was blown away. About a year later she said, 'You know, every designer in the world sent in a portfolio'. We didn't!"

Princess Diana didn't have a big entourage

The late icon was modest during the fittings and always went alone – until the very end. "It was just three of us, myself, my ex-wife and Diana. It happened very organically," David explained.

© Provided by Hello! princess-diana-black-dress

Diana in David and Elizabeth Emanuel's famous black dress

"Finally, she said, 'Can I bring somebody?' I said, 'Who?'. She said, 'My mother'." When you think about it, you've got all these people with big entourages and the Princess of Wales just had her mother! As soon as Mrs Shand Kydd saw it and she loved it, we ripped up the design as we didn't want people to see it."

WOW: The most breathtaking royal engagement rings revealed

Princess Diana was touched by David's secret gesture

Sharing a little known fact about the dress, David revealed the Princess of Wales was moved when he revealed he had enlisted a jeweller to sew a tiny gold horseshoe into the dress for good luck.

Princess Beatrice to mark very special milestone this Christmas

The Duke of York's eldest daughter married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in July

© Provided by Hello! princess-diana-wedding-dress-sketch

A sketch of the Princess of Wales' dress

Of the surprise gesture, David said: "We only told her on the wedding day. She didn't know about the horseshoe for good luck, she was very touched. She was traditional."

The dress was made of antique lace (something old), material from a British silk farm (something new) and she had a small blue bow sewn into the waistband (something blue). The Spencer family tiara was of course her something borrowed.

David shares other secrets in his book, A Dress for Diana, which is available to buy on Amazon.

© Provided by Hello! bromley-brides-david-emanuel

David was speaking at the launch of The Wonder Room at Bromley Brides

David wouldn't change a thing about the dress

Designers David and Elizabeth wanted drama – and royal fans certainly got it. "We wanted drama, we wanted her to look young and fresh. She was going in as Lady Diana Spencer and coming out as the Princess of Wales. I wanted it light, we did sparkles in the veil. St Pauls is vast, so it couldn't have been a quiet little dress", he explained.

DISCOVER: Princess Diana's £50k London flat revealed

He believes the trend is still prevalent to this day. "We introduced romance into bridal dresses. And now women are coming in asking for ballgowns, they want to make a statement. A full-blown dress, you want to be noticed."

David was launching The Wonder Room at Bromley Brides in south east London, a gorgeous Alice In Wonderland themed space where brides-to-be can treat themselves. To find out more, visit Bromley Brides.

Make sure you never miss a ROYAL story! Sign up to our newsletter to get all of our celebrity, royal and lifestyle news delivered directly to your inbox.