her majesty's request; A century of royal fashion-and a glamorous slew of young European princesses-ignited the Paris runways.

Byline: Hamish Bowles

This year's magnificent royal weddings in Holland, Denmark, and Spain have transformed Europe's young princesses into the latest celebrities du jour, and not just among the Point de Vue and AHola!-reading classes. Those gushingly regalcentric tomes, however, have become indispensable reading in Paris's haute couture salons, where royal fashions past and present set the season ablaze.

From the nineteenth-century Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary-the sublime "Sissi," who was so memorably painted by Winterhalter in a Worth gown of spangled tulle, with a constellation of diamond stars in her hair-to the trio of commoners who wed their real-life princes this year, royal fever swept the collections.

Crowning the slim week of showings (neither Givenchy, Ungaro, nor Versace presented collections) was Valentino's dinner at his glorious Ch,teau de Wideville. Princely luxe was the theme of Valentino's glamorous show (watched by Princesses Miriam and Rosario of Bulgaria, and Princess Silvia d'Arenberg), with its lavishly beaded and fur-trimmed gowns lashed with Art Deco diamonds and maharajas' tumbled rubies and emeralds. During the celebration at Wideville-a stone's throw from Versailles, it was once a convenient setting for a mistress of the Sun King-royal-watching was honed to a fine art.

As guests stepped down to the mini- dance floor that had been specially constructed in the castle's moated ramparts, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands could be seen lip-synching to "Another Brick in the Wall" alongside his statuesque blonde bride, Princess Maxima. Later, the fashion-savvy Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, in a slither of Lanvin black satin and scarlet Louboutins, was spotted rocking with Princess Rosario (in Valentino's ash-blond chiffon and sequins) to the Black Eyed Peas' throbbing "Shut Up," as Iran's elegant ex-empress Farah Pahlavi drifted past, her hair swept into the Nefertiti French pleat that was her signature during the glory years of the Peacock Throne.

Given his penchant for well-bred drama, Valentino was the couturier of choice for royal wedding guests this year, even though the brides' own gown designers were dictated by nationalism. In Denmark, where crown prince Frederik wed a regally Uffe Frank-clad Mary Donaldson (a Tasmanian law graduate and former real-estate agent whom he had met at the Slip Inn in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics), Valentino's prize stable of regal lovelies included Mette-Marit in an ice-blue faille sheath and a fichu-collared jacket; Princess Maxima in pale-pink tiers; an expectant Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece in flattering Empire draperies; and the superb Archduchess Sophie of Austria channeling Queen Alexandra (wife of Britain's bon viveur Edward VII) in Edwardian chiffon and lace.

At the Danes' pre-ceremony dinner, Valentino's influence could also be detected in the dazzling red chiffon red-carpet sheath that the Spanish designer Lorenzo Caprile made for the telegenic Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, a divorced television anchorwoman who would soon wed Spain's crown prince Felipe. Ortiz fastened thirties ruby cocktail clips at the bodice, and her hair was fashioned into marcel waves. (Royal Spanish protocol doubtless reined in Ortiz's more flamboyant sartorial urges, however, and the bridal dress created by the distinguished 86-year-old Madrid couturier Manuel Pertegaz for her own wedding a month later was underwhelming. In fact, the bride was dramatically upstaged by her enchanting bridesmaids, her misbehaving pages, and her matrons of honor-ambulant Goyas all in yellow and ivory, the matrons complete with fichus, aprons, and chenille snoods. )