We’ve been waiting for this to open for months and how amazing is it! We love a fashion exhibition and this one is quite literally the show of the century, as it charts the late Queen’s wardrobe over the past 100 years.
To celebrate the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth on April 21 and her enduring fashion legacy, the exhibition, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, opened at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, on Friday. It is the largest display of the late Queen’s fashion ever mounted and includes 300 items – incredibly, half of which are on display for the first time – covering fashion from every decade of her life.
It’s beautifully-curated and reminds us of the Dior and Chanel exhibitions recently held at the V&A – the colour-coded double-decker racks of dresses and hats, for example, plus evening gowns shown in the round, are very reminiscent of some of the best fashion exhibitions put on recently, so it’s done super-well.
The Queen had some wonderful fashion, especially in the early part of her reign – we love the display of velvet coat dresses. In fact, her wardrobe has become one of the largest and most important British fashion collections of the 20th century. There’s lots of couture evening wear by the late Queen’s most famous designer, Norman Hartnell, including a fabulous, green gown worn for a state banquet given for President Eisenhower in Washington, in 1957, her Coronation Gown and wedding dress.
There’s also her christening gown; a blue gown and matching jacket worn at Princess Margaret’s wedding in 1960 – the last time full-length dress was worn for a royal wedding; a Harris tweed jacket and Balmoral Tartan skirt by Norman Hartnell in the 1950s and as expected, lots and lots of glorious hats.
It’s selling out fast, so book now. FYI: Charles and Camilla will be visiting the exhibition on April 20. It runs until October, rct.uk
There’s another legal case coming Harry’s way. Sentebale, the Botswana-based charity cofounded in 2006 by him and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in honour of their late mothers to help young people with HIV and AIDs, is bringing a libel case against him in the High Court in London. Harry and Seeiso resigned from the charity last year following a bitter dispute with Sophie Chandauka, the chair of the charity’s board.
On Friday, the charity’s claim was made public, revealing Harry is being sued for ‘defamation – libel and slander’ . Sentebale claims its action is in response to a “co-ordinated adverse media campaign” by Harry and Mark Dyer, a former trustee of the charity, which led to “an onslaught of cyber-bullying”. Needless to say, Harry and Mark said “categorically reject” the claims, labelling them “offensive and damaging”. Watch this space!
There’s been another Andrew scandal and this time, The Royal List was in the middle of it. Kerry interviewed biographer Andrew Lownie recently for Woman’s Day magazine and during the chat, the author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York said he thinks Andrew isn’t the son of Prince Philip. “He was the favourite, he was spoilt. He has a very different character to Edward and Charles and that’s because I think he has a different father,” he told Kerry. “I think he’s the child of Lord Porchester and Lord Porchester was like that. Also he’s a narcissist, on the spectrum in some respect, and just not a very nice person.” This chat – see video above – has been getting lots of attention around the world, not least from Richard Eden in the Daily Mail, who wrote, “Viewers of Netflix’s popular but wildly inaccurate drama series The Crown will already be familiar with innuendo about the Queen’s friendship with Porchie, but it’s controversial, to say the least, that Lownie should spread such rumours. After her record-breaking reign and a life devoted to duty, I would say the Queen deserves far better.”
Ain’t no party like a centenarian’s party! We’re sure the late Queen will be delighted with the news that Charles will be celebrating her 100th birthday by inviting 100-year-olds who share her birthday to a party at Buckingham Palace. A small number of centenarians, who were all born on the same day as Queen Elizabeth II, will receive their birthday cards from the King in person. Other guests will include representatives from a selection of the late Queen’s patronages, including Cancer Research UK, British Red Cross Society, Jockey Club, Royal Kennel Club and the Army Benevolent Fund. That day will also see Charles delivering a nationwide message, remembering and celebrating his mother’s life and legacy – the longest-reigning monarch in British history.
We’re big fans of the Tindalls, especially Mia, the 12-year-old daughter of Zara and Mike. So it was great to see her all dressed up in a snappy suit, just like Mum (in Me + Em), for a public outing with her parents for Aintree’s Ladies’ Day – and she has certainly inherited the Windsor ‘wild about horses’ gene. Looks like Prince Louis has a royal rival for stealing the limelight. We’re totally on board for the Mia and Louis show!
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source theroyallist.substack.com ’
