For more than 70 years, Queen Elizabeth has reigned over England, making her the country's longest-serving monarch in history. And through that time, her style choices have been closely scrutinized (like many other women in the royal family). From marriage to motherhood to life as an older royal and even in the year since Prince Philip's death, the Queen's clothing has remained a hot topic of conversation. Because what she's wearing is never just an outfit — there's almost always a reason behind it — and sometimes, there's even an interesting story or secret to go along with it.
Recently, Bethan Holt, author of the new book The Queen: 70 Years of Majestic Style, shared some of the most interesting stories behind the monarch's most iconic looks with People. These details are fascinating and offer so much insight into who Elizabeth is away from the public eye.
Read on for the stories behind nine of Queen Elizabeth's most unforgettable outfits. There are so many details we're hearing for the first time!
The Coronation Dress
At the time, the designer of the Queen's 1953 coronation dress, Norman Hartnell, said that the dress incorporated embroidery that referenced all of the areas over which she would reign, and took more than 3,000 hours to complete over the course of nine weeks.
"My mind was teeming with heraldic and floral ideas … everything heavenly that might be embroidered upon such a dress," he said.
It Was a Bit Heavy
Considering the fact that the coronation dress was adorned with pearls, diamonds, amethysts, and other crystals (along with a taffeta lining and three layers of crinoline), it makes sense that it was quite heavy — and hot. Reportedly, Elizabeth said wearing it felt like wearing a radiator.
Out on Tour
Also in 1953, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip embarked on a royal tour of Bermuda, Jamaica, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, the Cocos Islands, Uganda, Malta, Gibraltar, and what are now known as Yemen and Sri Lanka. According to the author, the Queen's commissioned designers created as many as 150 outfits for her and Philip to wear, making sure they remained appropriate for the job.
A Grueling Schedule
The book also pointed out that although the monarch looked effortlessly glamorous in the photos from the tour, things weren't so easy on her behind the scenes. Not only did her tour mean leaving her children behind for six months, but it also included long work days and a lot of tiring travel.
Touring the Middle East
"Her Majesty's trip to the Middle East in 1979 was designed to enhance relations with nations that formed one of the UK's most significant export markets and were its source of oil," Bethan writes. "Against this high-stakes backdrop, it was important for the Queen's clothing to be pitch-perfect and adhere to the area's custom of modest dressing."
That meant that designers Hardy Amies and Frederick Fox were tasked with making sure the Queen was totally covered up, and by the looks of this photo, they succeeded.
Outfit Repeater
Kate Middleton isn't the only royal who wears her outfits more than once. According to Bethan, the Queen's long dresses designed for the tour were later shortened, and she wore them again to Royal Ascot. We love that they didn't go to waste after this tour.
Prince Charles' Investiture
The day that Elizabeth was able to crown her eldest son, Charles, as the Prince of Wales was obviously a big one for her, and when Charles' investiture came around in 1969, Norman Hartnell and Simone Mirman teamed up to design the perfect outfit for her for the occasion.
"That was a huge labor of love because everything was done by hand; it took hours and hours and hours," Mirman's daughter, Sophie, said of creating the Queen's hat, which was covered in pearls and bugle beads.
William & Kate's Wedding
Another big day in royal history: April 29, 2011, the day that Prince William and Kate Middleton got married. With all eyes on proud grandma Elizabeth, of course she dressed to impress in a yellow dress created by Angela Kelly, which "seemed to symbolize the hope that this union gave for the future of the monarchy."
Yellow Dress Makes a Comeback
The Queen would wear the same dress she wore to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding a second time later that same year. The yellow look reappeared during her tour of Australia, which was an appropriate choice considering that yellow is the country's national color.
Gone Hollywood
In 1952, Elizabeth turned heads when she attended the premiere of Because You're Mine in a dress designed by Norman Hartnell. Her blazer-style dress ended up getting a lot of media attention — so much so that there was high demand for similar dresses immediately afterward.
The Magpie
The dress the Queen wore to the premiere was dubbed The Magpie — it was that popular that it earned its own nickname! But perhaps the popularity and accessibility about the design made it a bit less desirable to the royals, since she never wore it again.
Her Boldest Look Ever
November 1999 brought one of the monarch's boldest, most unforgettable outfits: the gown she wore to the Royal Variety Performance that year, which was nicknamed the "harlequin dress." As you can see, it definitely makes an impression, and even though the Queen is known for wearing bright colors, this was a lot even for her.
The Harlequin Dress' Impact
As designer Karl-Ludwig Rehse told The Telegraph (via Holt and People), the public was "thrilled" with the harlequin dress.
"She's like all ladies — she'll go for something new. She's fun to work with and very knowledgeable about fabrics. She knows how the clothes have to behave, how they have to move," he said.
Off Duty
This outfit that the Queen wore to the Windsor Horse Show in 1988 inspired Max Mara creative director Ian Griffiths so much that, decades later, he even based some of his 2020 designs on her off-duty style.
"It looks good on anyone, but no one does it better than the Queen," he said of these types of outfits. "She looks completely at ease in what she's wearing, unselfconscious and nonchalant, and I've always thought that's the key to looking good."
Wearing the Pants
The Queen hasn't worn pants often during her long reign, but she did so in 1970, when she and Philip visited New Zealand, and again in Zambia during a tour a decade later. This type of royal style could end up changing when Kate becomes queen consort — she's been known to wear pants quite often.
