Record numbers visit palace to see Kate’s wedding dress

THE Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress helped attract a record number of visitors to Buckingham Palace this summer.

More than 600,000 people bought tickets costing up to £65 over 73 days to see the palace’s state rooms, which this summer featured exhibits from the Royal Wedding such as Kate’s dress.

When the intricately decorated dress by Alexander McQueen designer Sarah Burton first went on display, the Queen reportedly described it as “very creepy”, “horrible” and “horrid” because it was on a headless mannequin.

But despite the reservations, the previous record of 420,000 visitors over 57 days in 1994 has been broken by 180,000 additional people from 23 July to 3 October this year.

A spokeswoman for the Royal Collection, the name given to the Royal Family’s art collection, said: “The dress has clearly been a massive draw.

“We’ve enjoyed welcoming visitors from all over the world to Buckingham Palace in record numbers this summer. It has been an incredibly busy few months and we’re delighted that it’s been such a huge success.”

Buckingham Palace’s state rooms first opened to the public in 1993 to help raise money to pay for repairs to Windsor Castle after a fire.