The big fashion question heading into the coronation of King Charles III was whether or not the women — and one princess in particular — would wear a tiara.
That it wasn’t a given was telling. The crowning of a sovereign has historically been a festival of jewels, the best and most obvious occasion for women from the royal ranks down to pull out their finest. But instead of one of the scores of sparklers in the royal family’s collection, Catherine, the Princess of Wales, turned up at Westminster Abbey on Saturday morning wearing a silver embroidered headpiece. In its colour, shape, and positioning, it resembled a tiara — but that it was not stood for a great deal more.
Other European monarchies have found lower-key ways to crown their monarchs, but the House of Windsor remains committed to this unique display of British pomp, staggering in its scale. By staging an elaborate and ancient ceremony in modern times, and in the depths of an ongoing cost of living crisis, the royal family was walking an incredibly fine line. This coronation, the first in seven decades and one of only 40 to have happened in the last thousand years, needed to feel special but not flashy, nodding to history with an eye towards the future.
The fashion followed suit, with Princess Catherine’s glittering headpiece leading the charge. Made of bullion, crystal and silver thread, the three-dimensional design was a collaboration between Jess Collett and Alexander McQueen. It was a statement piece without the weight, price, or provenance of jewellery, and its leaf motif grounded the rest of Princess Catherine’s ensemble, the traditional robes and mantels she and Prince William wore at the request of the king and queen. It was also a nod to the new king — Collett began her millinery business with a loan 25 years ago from the Prince’s Trust, the charity that King Charles spent decades building.
Nature was infused into the royal ensembles at Westminster Abbey, underlining the king’s life-long love of the British countryside and his commitment to environmental issues. It had the added benefit of tempering the heaviness of the moment with a more romantic and soft expression of power, echoing the design of the coronation emblem.
The four emblems of the UK (a rose for England, a thistle for Scotland, a daffodil for Wales, and a shamrock for Northern Ireland) were used repeatedly, from the Stole Royal worn by the 74-year-old king to the ivory Alexander McQueen cape donned by his eight-year-old granddaughter, Princess Charlotte.
Queen Camilla’s gown, designed by occasionwear designer Bruce Oldfield and made of a silk fabric called peau de soie, featured garlands of wildflowers cascading down from the shoulders. Embroidered in metallic thread, there were daisy chains and forget-me-nots intertwined with what the release from the palace called “celebratory bunting”. The 75-year-old queen’s royal cypher was added near the hem, along with a pair of Jack Russell terriers in honour of Queen Camilla’s two rescue dogs, Bluebell and Beth.
Insects, too, were given a fashion moment in the royal history books — a first for coronation attire. Queen Camilla’s purple velvet Robe of State was embroidered with a caterpillar and a beetle as well as bees and butterflies. Designed by the Royal School of Needlework and worn for the queen’s departure from Westminster Abbey, the robe also featured some two dozen plants, all selected for their symbolism. There was lily of the valley, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth II, along with delphinium, which the king is said to love and is also the flower of July, the month in which Queen Camilla was born.
The attire worn by the audience watching the king and queen be crowned looked nothing like the tiaras and long gowns worn by the lords and ladies attending Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. Instead, camera pans of the crowd of 2,000 gathered in Westminster Abbey reflected a colourful array of modern daywear — nary a sparkle in sight, even by other royals in attendance.
Queen Letizia of Spain wore a saturated pink dress by Carolina Herrera, while Queen Rania of Jordan wore a soft yellow design by Tamara Ralph Couture. American First Lady Jill Biden wore a soft blue Ralph Lauren design, while her granddaughter Finnegan Biden wore Markarian in buttermilk yellow. The pair were seated by Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska in a seeming nod to that country’s flag.
The most sartorial praise for someone outside of the royal family went to Penny Mordaunt, who was the talk of Twitter. As the first female Lord President of the Council, she carried the sword of state in a custom teal dress by Safiyaa and matching headpiece by Jane Taylor. In an interview with Politico, she said she “felt it wasn’t right” to wear the black-and-gold court ensemble the Marquess of Salisbury wore in 1953, wanting something more modern instead.
Modern too was Prince Harry’s suit. The Duke of Sussex was asked to wear that rather than a military uniform, showing up in his capacity as the monarch’s son. His choice of designer brought his mother with him, too, turning to Dior, a brand that famously dressed Diana, Princess of Wales. His three-piece suit, including a black wool peak lapel tailcoat, by Dior’s British men’s artistic designer Kim Jones, was paired with a grey tie, which was slightly sombre compared to the more colourful ties sported by other members of the royal family. Seated in the third row, Harry was at times obscured from the cameras by the feather atop the hat of his aunt, Princess Anne.
Far more prominent in the proceedings was Princess Charlotte, who in a silver headpiece and snow-white McQueen dress was a miniature of her mother. The eight-year-old even wore her hair up in a similarly elaborate updo. Her older brother, who at age nine was the youngest heir-to-the-throne to participate in a coronation, wore the traditional page boy outfit as he helped his grandfather with his robes. His younger brother, five-year-old Louis’s outfit, was made by Savile-row tailor Dege & Skinner, featuring a navy tunic and black trousers with a Garter blue stripe. Taken together, the three Wales children — with George in red, Charlotte in white, and Louis in blue — made up the colours of the Union Jack flag.
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