The King said an exhibition of his late mother’s clothes on the eve of the centenary of her birth ‘brought back memories’.
As he viewed a new exhibition at the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace devoted to Queen Elizabeth’s fashion, Charles, 77, smiled wistfully at the memories it evoked.
He pointed at the late monarch’s riding clothes and then, amused by an old black and white picture, beckoned his relative, Lady Sarah Chatto, Queen Elizabeth’s niece, over for a closer look.
Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style exhibition, the largest and most comprehensive presentation of the late Queen’s fashion featuring more than 300 items, many on display for the first time.
Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, were welcomed by shouts of support from well wishers and tourists gathered outside with one saying ‘We’re from Bronx, New York.’ Another shouted: ‘Camilla, you’re my favourite’.
Inside they were joined by Lady Chatto, Queen’s Companion, Dame Sarah Troughton, and Tim Knox, director of the charity Royal Collection Trust, which is responsible for the exhibition.
In memory of the late Queen, two of her former ladies in waiting, Lady Sarah Hussey and Dame Annabelle Whitehead, were also invited to view the exhibition.
Camilla seemed thrilled to see items from the late Queen’s childhood, pointing to a pair of well-preserved ballet shoes. In the Nash Gallery, she went on to admire the needlework of the late Queen’s coronation gown, saying: ‘The skill is extraordinary’.
Pointing at the late Queen’s wartime uniform, the King joked: ‘You never throw anything away.’
Speaking afterwards, Caroline de Guitaut, curator of the exhibition who had given Their Majesties the tour, said they were there ‘To look at the evolution of her style, through the different pieces on display, and also, obviously, there were many pieces that brought back memories.’
She said: ‘I think the sense of preservation, which, of course, began with Princess Elizabeth’s mother, Queen Elizabeth, understanding that these pieces were very important, and should be kept, and should be carefully preserved, that really was something that His Majesty remarked upon and the condition of everything being so pristine, and I explained about some of the conservation treatments that we have undertaken, which, of course, is a subject that His Majesty is very interested in.’
The King and Queen met contemporary fashion designers Erdem and Christopher Kane, who both have an outfit on display in the exhibition which was inspired by the late Queen’s fashion.
Charles and Camilla also spent time talking to Edith Miller, 22, a needlework student currently on a course at Highgrove through the King’s Foundation.
She said that she has told the King that she worked on the embroidery of his anointment screen for his Coronation ‘and he gave me a little thumbs up.’
The exhibition is is running from April 10 to October 18 and is described as shedding ‘new light’ on her ‘close involvement in the creation of her wardrobe’.
It features some uniquely personal pieces.
There is a specially-designed maternity evening dress created to elegantly disguise what would be the future King Charles III in 1948, a pair of check trousers she wore privately on estates such as Balmoral and Sandringham and a remarkable see-through 1960s plastic coat that none of the curators can even find a photograph of her wearing.
The Royal Collection Trust team, led by de Guitaut, Surveyor of the King’s Works of Art, were given full run of Queen Elizabeth’s 4,500 piece-strong wardrobe, which was carefully conserved throughout her long and extraordinary life.
It forms a remarkable display – 18 months in the making and the largest ever devoted to the late Queen and her clothes.
The first few weeks of the exhibition ‘Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life In Style’ have been a sell-out.
The late monarch, de Guitaut concedes, was not a woman obsessed with fashion, but after finding herself hailed a style icon became determined to make it work as a tool of her trade.
‘Queen Elizabeth took a deep and thoughtful interest in every aspect of her wardrobe, using fashion as diplomacy while consistently championing the UK’s fashion industry,’ she said.
Among the exhibits are Elizabeth’s breathtaking wedding and coronations gowns, including, for the first time, the fan she used in 1953.
Her wedding gown is reunited, for the first time in more than 20 years, with the glittering Queen Mary’s Diamond Fringe tiara.
There are eye-catching items, too, such as the Queen’s ‘poodle skirt’ worn for a square dance in Canada, an extraordinary embroidered coat and matching slippers which she wore in Malaysia in 1989 and a purple dress that actually conceals, extraordinarily, a pair of culottes.
A maternity evening dress made by Hartnell, dating from around 1948, is a rare example of its type. De Guitant says she was ‘very excited’ to have found it and that the tailoring is so clever that from the front you wouldn’t even have known she was pregnant. ‘It’s quite a rare survival,’ she says.
The display of evening gowns and day dresses for State Visits and banquets is almost overwhelming, many featuring specific colours or national symbols in honour of the countries she was visiting, as well as accessories from her many tours over the years including binoculars, sunglasses and suitcases.
The Queen was apparently very much involved in the process of creating her outfits, examining sketches submitted to her and commenting back on the silhouette, or sleeve or skirt length.
‘The Queen would want to see the fabric samples too, she was absolutely insistent on having at her fingertips every single piece of information about how this finished garment might look,’ de Guitaut explained.
‘She became an active master at dressing in a very appropriate way, paying compliments to the host country, honouring the craftsmanship of the place she was visiting.
‘The wearing of this wonderful couture on the global stage was really the greatest possible advert for British production, design and manufacture.
‘She took diplomatic dressing to a whole other level of sophistication which no other monarch had really done to the same degree. She was a trailblazer.’
King Charles will address the nation tomorrow to mark his mother’s birthday.
Charles has reportedly penned personal reflections on what he considers his mother’s greatest achievements.
This will be accompanied by a touching video montage of poignant moments from her life played on screen.
That is expected to include footage from her service during WW2 in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, memories from royal tours around the world and duties at home, and moments from her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.
Charles is said to have invested considerable time curating the list of invitees to the reception, prioritising representatives from organisations and charities with which his mother formed deep connections.
