Thirty-two years ago, on 24 September 1994, Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and Sibilla Weiller married in the Cathedral of Saint-Louis in Versailles. The wedding went down in fashion history for two reasons: the bride was the first princess for whom Valentino Garavani made a wedding dress, and - almost scandalous at the time - she married without a tiara.

Until then, the romance had been extremely discreet. He is the youngest son of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium. She is the daughter of Princess Olimpia Torlonia and Paul-Annik Weiller, and on her mother's side a second cousin of King Felipe VI of Spain. They kept the relationship so quiet that the engagement became official only five months before the wedding.

The wedding itself was anything but discreet. First a civil ceremony, on 8 September 1994, in Sélestat, France. Then, on 24 September, the church wedding - in the baroque cathedral in Versailles, a historic monument since 1906, full of paintings and sculptures. There were 1,200 guests at the banquet, many of them members of Europe's royal houses, which makes it one of the best-attended royal weddings of the nineties. Queen Sofia and the Infantas Cristina and Elena came, as did aristocrats such as Alessandro Lequio, the bride's first cousin - their shared grandmother is Infanta Beatriz of Bourbon.

No tiara, all Valentino

Royal brides have worn tiaras at their weddings for centuries - jewels that signal status and lineage. Sibilla gave it up so that all the attention would stay on the dress. Valentino, who was also a guest at the wedding, made her a gown with long sleeves, a fitted bodice and a boat neckline, with a full A-line skirt ending in a voluminous flounce. The long veil with lace details was attached to a simple half-up hairstyle, and the bouquet was a cascade of white roses.

Others followed. Marie-Chantal, wife of Greece's Crown Prince Pavlos, married in Valentino in 1995, and Máxima of the Netherlands in 2002. But Sibilla was the first. The Greek connection is interesting for our region too: the Greek royal family lost its throne long ago, yet it still makes its way into fashion history through its brides' dresses.

A story with hard moments

The fairy tale later had its hard chapters. The most tragic was a car crash in Paris in 2000, after which Guillaume fell into a coma and Sibilla was left with a broken leg. Both recovered. Last spring their residence was burgled, but the losses were only material.

They have four children: Paul-Louis (27), twins Léopold and Charlotte (25) and Jean-André (21). At a time when every royal wedding is measured by the value of the tiara and the number of cameras, the most modern gesture of 1994 may well be the one that looked like an omission back then - walking up to the altar without a crown.