There was not a hair out of place, not a shoe unpolished. Not a speck of lint to be seen on one jacket. For the grandest and most lavish occasions, the dress code was resplendent solemnity, with pearls and top hats, high heels, and elegant tailoring.
For the royal family, this was, as the Archbishop of Canterbury noted, a portrait of pain in the brightest spotlight. The Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex found a bit of privacy under wide-brimmed hats, veils or both. And while Britain was looking at the royal family, the rest of the world was looking at Britain.
The Princess of Wales in the ceremonial procession. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA
The ruffled white collars of the clergy and rich scarlet and gold military uniforms contrasted with the simplicity of the black-clad mourners, a reminder that the Queen’s death has put not just present-day Windsors, but the entire notion of the British under the spotlight. .
It’s been a busy 10 days for milliner Stephen Jones, who, after the Queen’s death, converted his central London shop to sell black hats only in anticipation of funeral orders.
“Everyone wanted to be dressed appropriately, not dressed fashionably,” Jones said. “The hats were a symbol of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, because she always wore them herself.” The most popular styles have been understated black hats, in neutral textures.
The arcane rules that decreed that, as a non-working royal Prince Harry, he could not wear a military uniform, despite having served more actively than most of the family, are the kind of things that make the monarchy seem petty and meaningless in the eyes of its critics
Dapper: Princess Anne and Prince Harry after the queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey. Photograph: Hannah McKay/AP
But Harry defused the tension, issuing an advance declaration that he would wear a normal suit, and today it was Princess Anne, decked out in her dapper white hat and starched gloves, who looked most elegant in military gear.
At Britain’s last state funeral, that of Winston Churchill in 1965, mourners turned out in top hats and mink coats, while Lady Churchill was dramatically submerged under yards of black lace.
Modernity has been done with the full-length veil, with a “birdcage” length that covers the upper half of the face, the one preferred this time by Kate and Camilla. Other modern touches included Carrie Johnson’s nod to sustainability with a rented Karen Millen wrap dress.
Boris and Carrie Johnson, who wore a rented Karen Millen wrap dress. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
Kate and Meghan were dressed in almost mirror-image harmony, a quiet response, or at least no comment, to prurient interest in the rift between the Sussexes and the New Wales. Both women wore saucer-shaped hats: Kate’s softened with a small veil, Meghan’s with a wave at the brim.
Both chose simple, clean-lined tailoring from British designers, with Meghan in Stella McCartney and Kate reverting to a favorite Alexander McQueen wrap dress. Only Kate’s sensational four-strand pearl choker and matching bracelet from Queen’s latest collection, which rather overshadowed Meghan’s simple pearl drop earrings, hinted at the discrepancy between her positions.
Outside the circle of close mourners there were touches of individual glamour. Jacinda Ardern wore a kākahu, a traditional Maori cloak made of feathers, which is a symbol of ritual and prestige in New Zealand.
Jacinda Ardern, wearing a traditional Maori feather cape, and her fiance, Clarke Gayford. Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters
Princess Charlotte’s old-fashioned black hat was reminiscent of the boater worn by Madeline Fogg, the schoolgirl protagonist of Ludwig Bemelmans’s children’s books in the 1940s, while the diamond horseshoe brooch on her coat made a sweet reference to love for the horses he shared with his great-grandmother. grandmother.
Source: www.theguardian.com