In August 1980 the Queen joined the nation in celebrations of her mother's 80th birthday.

Just a year later, on 29 July 1981, it was the turn of her son, Prince Charles, to become the focus of intense public interest when he married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral. Watched by a worldwide television audience of 750 million viewers, the bride wore an intricately embroidered puffball dress, with frilly neckline and puffed sleeve. The Queen looked elegant in a short-sleeved aquamarine dress, with matching pleated coat, and hat, all designed by Ian Thomas.

In April 1982, at the outbreak of the Falklands War, the Queen watched anxiously as her son Prince Andrew joined the crew of HMS Invincible as a helicopter pilot of the 820 Sea King Squadron, which saw active service in the South Atlantic.

She once again became a grandmother, with the birth of the Prince and Princess of Wales's two sons, William and Harry, in 1984 and 1986 respectively.

Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey on 23 July 1986. Just 90 minutes before the service, the Queen conferred him with the title of Duke of York.

With two glamorous daughter-in-law constantly in the media spotlight, the Queen was forced to accept that her private life was becoming a public soap opera. Newspaper editor Donald Trelford wrote in The Observer of 21 September 1986: "The royal soap opera has now reached such a pitch of public interest that the boundary between fact and fiction has been lost sight of..."

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