MANY schools celebrate royal occasions, but few have matched the pupils of Queen Emma’s Dyke School in Witney.

They captured all the glitz and glamour of the day when Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey 30 years ago this month.

They had the lot – bride, bridegroom, best man, bridesmaids, ushers, church ceremony, photographer, two-tier cake and even embossed invitations.

No expense was spared as the school put on the style and staged its own glittering version of the real event.

An invitation to attend the school celebration was sent to the future Duke and Duchess of York, who politely declined.

Our sister paper, The Oxford Times, reported: “The bride, seven-year-old Charmaine Edwards, wore an exact copy of Sarah Ferguson’s wedding dress. The bridegroom, Matthew Faulkner, was dressed in a red and black guardsman’s outfit.

“The rest of the 60 seven- and eight-year-olds wore equally impressive costumes as best man, bridesmaids and ushers.

“Their parents, too, turned out in their best clothes as guests after receiving properly embossed invitations from the children.”

The school hall was converted into a church for the ceremony, which was performed by Witney vicar, the Rev Christopher Jennings.

Local photographer Arthur Titherington was booked to take the ‘official wedding’ pictures.

One of them, reproduced above, shows the ‘bride and groom’ getting ready to cut the cake before the ‘guests’ sat down to a buffet prepared by the pupils.

Class teacher Sylvia Everett said: “It was quite an occasion. The children did virtually everything themselves from sending out the invitations to preparing the food.

“We paid a lot of attention to detail to make it as real as possible and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.”

The mock wedding was part of a project the children were doing on the Royal Family.

The letter from Buckingham Palace, saying the Royal couple could not visit the school, nominated a charity for the collection made at the school’s ceremony.

As a result, £50 was sent to the Jubilee Sailing Trust, a charity that encourages people of all abilities to sail.

The ‘best man’ was Steven Kenee and the ‘bridesmaids’ were Katie Slater, Lisa Morgan, Rachel Savage, Helen Bell and Fay Parkes.

* Any memories of this and other school Royal occasions to share with readers? Write and let me know.