British royal bride-to-be Kate Middleton may be keeping her wedding dress designer under wraps, but Charlene Whittstock’s gown will be designed by famed fashion icon, Giorgio Armani.
The announcement actually came from Armani himself when he was questioned by reporters at his Men’s Fashion Collection in Milan.
“Yes, I want to declare, I will make the wedding dress,” he confirmed on Sunday.
Whittstock is set to marry Prince Albert of Monaco this July, and will then gain the title and style of Her Serene Highness, The Princess of Monaco and only Princess Consort of the Principality since Albert’s mother, movie star turned Princess Grace Kelly died in 1982.
Whittstock, a former Olympic backstroke swimmer from South Africa, first met the prince in 2000 at a swimming competition held in Monaco. The couple announced their plans to marry on June 23 2010, and she has since been seen wearing a 3 carat Pear shaped diamond engagement ring, said to be worth about $100,000.
Although a civil ceremony, which will be witnessed by about 100 family members, close friends, and presided over by the Principality’s royal register Phillipe Narmino, is to be held on July 8th 2011, the pomp and circumstance will take place during the religious ceremony the following day on the 9th.
A spokesperson for the palace revealed that the Catholic Service will take place outdoors, at 5pm, in the Court of Honor, with the palace gates open and giant monitors set up so that around 4,000 people may witness the proceedings. Just how many of those 4,000 witnesses will be invited to the following reception is still in talks, according to “People Magazine.”
The ceremony will also be televised internationally, as is the tradition set by Albert’s parents, Rainier and Grace, in 1956.
Since the couple announced their engagement this past summer, Whittstock has kept busy learning the Monégasque dialect, European court protocol, and the French language, as is required by the Constitution of Monaco.