For most of us deciding what to wear each morning is a quick and simple process. You stand in front of your wardrobe, check what’s ironed and maybe consider whether you have an important meeting you need to dress up for.
In the case of those who leave for work early, you might have laid your clothes out the night before, knowing that by the time you’ve finished doing your make-up you’ll have approximately three minutes spare before you have to run for the bus.
But for the Queen it’s a whole other process which is fittingly complex and fascinating.
Former royal butler Paul Burrell has opened up to Yahoo UK about how Her Majesty chooses her outfits, revealing that the Queen has her outfits “brought down to her; all her clothes are kept on the top floor.”
Let’s stop to consider that for a moment. That’s a lot of clothes when they need an entire floor to be stored – and with the Queen’s penchant for wearing brightly coloured outfits that floor would be a vibrant rainbow-hued feast for the eyes.
The Queen in pink Source: Getty
Rather than sift through outfit after outfit the Queen’s dresser brings down two sketches of outfits for the Queen to choose from.
Burrell explained that “pieces of material” are clipped to the sketches “so that the Queen can remember whether it’s silk or cotton or wool”.
Once she’s made her selection the outfit is brought downstairs for her.
Burrell revealed that the Queen refers to her outfits as “costumes”, which gives us quite an insight into how she views her public appearances.
Gorgeous in green Source: Getty
As we’ve mentioned, the Queen has a penchant for brightly-coloured, monochromed outfits but there is a very thoughtful reason for that; it’s to ensure that members of the public can spot her in a crowd.
Her daughter-in-law Sophie, Countess of Wessex, once explained in the documentary The Queen at 90, “She needs to stand out for people to be able to say ‘I saw the Queen’.
“Don’t forget that when she turns up somewhere, the crowds are two, three, four, 10, 15 deep, and someone wants to be able to say they saw a bit of the Queen’s hat as she went past.”
The Queen favours shades of pink, green or blue. In fact, blue is said to be her favourite colour.
There is a lot of thought that goes into her hats.
Caroline de Guitaut, the curator at the Royal Collection Trust, told the New York Times, “Almost every hat she wears is strategic, ensuring her face is fully visible but also framed in a range of styles over the years that were often considered very avant-garde for their day.”
She has a brooch for every occasion.
And in the case of shoes and handbags, the Queen always goes for black. In fact, the monarch has carried the same black Launer handbag for decades and is said to own around 200 of the exact same bag.
Gloves are typically white or black.
