Queen Elizabeth II Wedding Anniversary: Looking Back At The Royal Wedding (PHOTOS)

Before Prince William and Kate were even born, the world celebrated another "royal wedding" -- the union of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Tuesday marks the royal couple's 65th, or Blue Sapphire, wedding anniversary. The Queen and her husband (who was born Prince Philip of Greece) are the first British royals to celebrate this milestone, so we wish them a heartfelt congratulations!

Elizabeth and Philip, who began exchanging letters in 1939 when Elizabeth was 13 years old and Philip was 18, were married at Westminster Abbey in 1947 in front of 2,000 guests. Another 200 million people listened to the radio broadcast of the nuptials and thousands lined the streets of London to watch the spectacle.

Elizabeth's gown was designed by Norman Hartnell and featured a long train with rose, wheat and star appliques. The ceremony began at 11:30 a.m. with a procession of eight bridesmaids and two pages, and after the service, which was conducted by the Dean of Westminster, the couple traveled by horse-drawn carriage to Buckingham Palace for a celebratory wave to the crowds.

The newlyweds received 2,500 wedding gifts and honeymooned at Birkhall on the Balmoral Estate in Scotland.

The couple's children, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, were born between 1948 and 1964, and the family now includes eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

We've rounded up some of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's wedding photos in the slideshow below, take a look!

• Princess Elizabeth II and Philip The Duke of Edinburgh

  The Princess Elizabeth II of England and Philip The Duke of Edinburgh on their wedding day, November 20, 1947 in Buckingham Palace.

• The Ceremony

  Westminster Abbey during the wedding

• Just Married

  The happy couple leaves Westminster Abbey after their wedding ceremony.

• Leaving The Ceremony

  The newlyweds ride in a coach to Buckingham Palace after the ceremony.

• Crowd Watching The Festivities

  A large crowd watches the couple as they pass in a horse drawn carriage during their wedding day.

• The Happy Couple Today

  65 years later, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are still going strong. Elizabeth is 86 years old and Philip is 91 years old.

Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Weddings on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Earlier on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/queen-elizabeth-ii-wedding-anniversary_n_2168235.html

michigan primary school shooting daytona 500 winner cleveland plain dealer barry sanders barry sanders john scott