Spice Girls’ Mel B Wants to Get Married in the Same Place Princess Diana Did

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 11 September 2023

The Spice Girls’ Mel B is hoping to get married at St. Paul’s Cathedral, but, as famous as she definitely is, she wouldn’t be the most famous bride to get married there: that honor goes to Princess Diana, who married Prince Charles at that location on July 29, 1981. Mel B told Australian radio station 2DayFM, per People, that she too hopes to marry inside the prestigious St. Paul’s, but “I’m still waiting to hear back,” she said. “Because I’ve got an MBE [Member of the Order of the British Empire], I can get married at the same place as Princess Diana got married, so we’ve put all our forms in and we’re waiting on them to give us a date.”

Mel B is planning her wedding to Rory McPhee and said of the occasion “I’m going to do it properly, by the book, in church.” She also revealed that, appropriately, former Spice Girls bandmate (and now prolific fashion designer) Victoria Beckham will design one of her wedding dresses. “Once I get the date, then I’ll go wedding dress shopping,” Brown said. “But I already know that Victoria wants to make me a dress. I’m probably going to have many different wedding dresses, so it’s probably going to be a two-week wedding,” she laughed.

Victoria Beckham attends the screening of "Cafe Society" at the opening gala of the annual 69th Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 11, 2016 in Cannes, France.

Brown and McPhee, a hairstylist, got engaged last October after three years of dating. “He said, “I love you, you’re my best friend, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you,’” Brown said, recalling his proposal during an appearance on the U.K.’s Celebrity Gogglebox that same month. McPhee proposed while the couple were on a getaway in Berkshire, she said: “There were rose petals everywhere, a log fire, a hotel—which was Cliveden,” Brown said. “It was very romantic. I love flowers.”

This will be Brown’s third marriage; she was married to film producer Stephen Belafonte from 2007 to 2017, and they have a daughter, Madison. Brown is also mom to daughter Phoenix Chi, who she shares with her first husband, Jimmy Gulzar, who she was married to from 1998 to 2000. She also has a daughter, Angel Iris, from a prior relationship with Eddie Murphy.

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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