[citation needed] After being invited to stay with the royal family at Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House, he proposed to her on 20 November 1921 at York Cottage.

[1] It was the first wedding of the child of a monarch to be held at Westminster Abbey since Margaret of England married John II, Duke of Brabant.

[citation needed] Many spent the night on the streets despite the cold weather to catch a glimpse of the couple on the wedding day.

There was "a stir and hurrying whisper" when Prime Minister David Lloyd George moved himself across the aisle to a prominent seat.

[6] Vandyk took the formal photographs and Frank O. Salisbury was commissioned by the King to paint a picture of the ceremony at the abbey which took years to complete.

[5] The bride's attendants were:[4][2] This was the first royal occasion in which Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, a friend of Princess Mary, participated, as one of the bridesmaids.

It was designed to reflect "Britain's position as ruler of a vast empire; emblematic lotus-flower motifs embroidered in India featured alongside a domestic, yet equally symbolic, trellis work of roses in pearls and crystal beads.

[4] The train was four yards in length and of brocade embroidered with lotus flower for India, maple leaf for Canada, wattle for Australia, and fern for New Zealand.

The carriage carrying the bride and the groom stopped at The Cenotaph, where Mary handed a bouquet of flowers to a Grenadier guard who placed it at the memorial's foot as crowds stood silent.

[15] In the afternoon the couple left for Paddington station and boarded a train to Weston Park, the ancestral seat of the groom's maternal family.