Royal Style

Do you love the royals, hate them, or are you supremely indifferent? Or do you, in fact, eat up every word written about them in the Metro in exactly the same way as you follow Brangelina’s latest exploits in the adoption market, BoJo’s gaffs, and Russell Brand’s love troubles? Whichever category you fit into, I bet you watched the Royal Wedding last year, and I’ll bet you’re going to catch a glimpse (perhaps with one eye shut, almost, one might say, like a horror flick) of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

The last year and a half in the life of the royals has sounded like a trilogy of bad Danielle Steele novels. First it was The Ring (Princess Di’s, inherited by the now Duchess of Cambridge); then The Dress (the Duchess of Cambridge’s); then the last in the series Two Steps Behind (that one’s Pippa. Sorry Def Leppard.) But now, here is the sequel, the Mummy of them all: The Queen. (Really, what else was I going to call it?) So, to celebrate all this royalness, let’s look at some royal women and their signature style.

Queen Elizabeth II

In the State Opening of Parliament this year, the Queen recommended that men and women should share childcare, and that employers should change their policies to facilitate this. In her time as sovereign, the Queen has offered to start paying income tax, reformed the monarchy so that the eldest child succeeds to the throne regardless of gender, and introduced ‘walkabouts’ (mingling with the public, that is, not to be confused with the rite of passage undertaken by Nullah in the film Australia.) So, whether or not you are taken by the Queen’s favourite outfit where everything has to be one colour from the feather in the hat down to her toenails, well, you have to admit, she knows what she stands for, and that’s always something to admire.

Princess Diana

Her son William has inherited that shy, you’re-the-most-special-person-in-the-world glance that Princess Diana was famous for. But her contribution, surely, was her rebellion. Her struggle to make the monarchy more human and more humane, her attempts to make compassion and generosity part of her job description, and her fight to live a normal life. Throw in her white Elvis outfit – right now on view at the Victoria and Albert – well, then, you have it all.

Queen Victoria

The first thing you know about Queen Victoria is that her 63 years on the throne were amongst the most peaceful that Britain has ever known. This is not to say, however, that the British Army wasn’t busy creating mayhem everywhere else in the world. Okay, let’s not start a discussion on colonialism. Let’s just say that Queen Victoria was horrified at the violence, religious discrimination and bloodshed commonly inflicted on colonial natives, and she openly advocated peace and tolerance. And, let’s face it, she has left us her greatest legacy of all – the Victorian period drama, with all the corsets, crinolines, hoops, flounces and bustles that we so love.

Queen Elizabeth I

Bet you didn’t know that this Queen could speak Latin, Greek, French, Spanish and Welsh. She was a patron of the arts, and people including William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh all rose to fame under her rule. Literacy increased, as did an interest in science, world exploration and the arts. Her outfits included her signature powdered face (made up with white lead and vinegar), an enormous neck ruff, a corset stiffened with wood or iron, a quantity of petticoats, a farthingale, stockings, and many accessories. One of these was a prayer book attached to her girdle.

So, there you have it. Enjoy the Diamond Jubilee weekend, and don’t forget the strawberries and cream and the bubbly!

Image by Luigi Crespo Photography courtesy of Flickr