See (the Other!) Princess Charlotte of Wales' Wedding Dress from 1816 Displayed at Palace

Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians, which just opened at Buckingham Palace, explores what the Georgians wore, from practical dress of laundry maids to the gowns worn at court

The wedding dress of Princess Charlotte of Wales has gone on display — but not the Princess Charlotte you're likely thinking of!

Before Kate Middleton and Prince William's daughter held the title, the daughter of King George IV wore the silk embroidered silver gown for her 1816 wedding. The bridal dress is the centerpiece of a new exhibition that opened Friday at Buckingham Palace.

"Style and Society: Dressing the Georgians" explores how fashions reflected the period named after the various King Georges, which was notable for both its social and political revolution — not least, the American Revolution that started in 1775.

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Around 200 works from the Royal Collection are included in the exhibit, such as paintings that illustrate the fashion of the time. Princess Charlotte's wedding dress and other items, like a billowing white shirt that belonged to King George III, are also displayed as physical evidence of what the artists captured with their own eyes.

On display for the first time ever is a portrait of Princess Charlotte's wedding ceremony to Prince Leopold Leopold of Saxe-Coburg at Carlton House in 1816.

Princess Charlotte's dress was silver, keeping with the time and following her mother Caroline of Brunswick's taste too.

Later in the century, white started being used more, becoming mainstream when Queen Victoria chose a white dress for her wedding ceremony.

Princess Charlotte was the only legitimate child of King George IV, but she tragically died in childbirth in 1817, only a year after her wedding.

The 400-year-old dress also shows signs of being altered — proof, curators say, of the Georgians' recycling and restoring of their clothing.

Launching the exhibit, Anna Reynolds, the curator at Royal Collection Trust, said, "Dress is so much more than just what we see on the surface, and it's fascinating what we can learn about a period when looking at it through a fashion history lens."

"Visitors might be surprised to learn how much the Georgian period has in common with the fashion landscape we know today, from influencers and fashion magazines to ideas about the value of clothes and how they can be recycled and repurposed," she added.

Other curios include pages from French periodicals of the time that portrayed ideal looks inspired by men's riding dress and military uniforms. They went on to become popular styles for women.

On show, too, is a silver-gilt traveling toilet service (containing 100 different pieces) that the future George IV bought as a gift for his Private Secretary at a cost of £300, the equivalent of more than £20,000 ($24,000) today.

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The exhibit runs from April 21 to Oct. 8 at The Queen's Gallery in Buckingham Palace.

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