Regal in Red: the Queen Leads the Royal Family at the Sandringham Christmas Service

First of all, let me say a big Merry Christmas to all of you who are celebrating today!
We're back with our traditional Christmas Day post here at Books, Birkins & Beauty (you can read about last year's Christmas here, 2013 here and 2012 here), for a recap of what the Royals wore in years past!

As usual, the Royals are spending the festive period in Norfolk. The Queen is reportedly hosting at least 29 family members at Sandringham this year (although, unfortunately, no chances of a white Christmas, as the weather has been remarkably mild this year!), while the Cambridges are staying nearby at their newly-refurbished residence at Anmer Hall to celebrate their first Christmas as a family of four.
The whole family gathered for the Christmas Day service at the diminutive 16th century church of St Mary Magdalene, within walking distance of the big house and where Princess Charlotte was christened earlier this year.

 

As was to be expected, there was no sign of either George or Charlotte at church this year, as they're both much too young to sit still through the 45-minute service (Prince William attended for the first time in 1986, when he was 4.5 years old).

 

Senior members of the Royal family made their way to church early this morning for Holy Communion. The Queen wore a bouclé off-white suit and repeated an old favourite, a sumptous mink coat with shawl collar:

 

 

 

Fur proved to be rather popular this year with the Queen, who appeared later, for the main 11 o'clock service, wrapped up warm in a new festive red coat with fur cuffs and collar, and a matching fur-trimmed hat:

 

 

The Duchess of Cambridge was sporting a new outfit, too: she wore a long belted coat by Italian label Sportmax in appropriately Christmassy shades of green, swapping the original belt for a mock-croc one already in her wardrobe and topped off the look with a matching dark green felt hat with flower trim (both pieces I can definitely see recycled to upcoming St Patrick's events). Most exciting of all, though, she wore her acron and oak leaves brooch, thus allowing us a proper look at the piece after its debut in 2012 at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee luncheon:

 

 

The Duchess of Cornwall repeated a well-loved grey coat with Greek key trim and accessorized with pearls and her butterfly brooch:

 

The Countess of Wessex continued the fur theme in a striking pale grey coat with fur collar and geometric hat. I breathed a sigh of relief in seeing her daughter Lady Louise dressed in more age appropriate clothes for once and finally ditching her white thights in favour of less dowdy dark grey ones! You go, Lady Louise! I think there's a real beauty hidden behind those 1930s clothes she usually favours! Also, it was the first time Viscount Severn joined his parents and big sister at church on Christmas Day:

 

 

The Princess Royal was in a pistachio tweed coat and dress with a well-loved feather trimmed hat she most recently wore on 16 June this year at the Ascot races:

 

 

I think both Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie looked very stylish this year:

 

 

At 3 o'clock this afternoon it was time for that veritable British Christmas tradition that is the Queen's Speech (you will find a transcript of the speech here). The Queen selected a white dress she had first worn on a visit to Wales during the 2012 Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK and diamond and aquamarine clips that belonged to the Queen Mother:

 

 

So, which Royal look did you like best this Christmas? Be sure to drop me a comment and let me know! Personally, it's a tough choice between the Countess of Wessex and the Duchess of Cambridge!

Bridal Tiaras in the British Royal Family, Part III

Today brings us to the last instalment in our recent post series about tiaras worn by British royal brides in the past century or so.

So, after finishing last Monday with a look at the Countess of Wessex's wedding tiara, let's pick up where we left, with a closer look at the next royal bride, Autumn Phillips née Kelly.

The blonde Canadian married the Queen's eldest grandchild, Peter Phillips, in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on 17 May 2008. The bride chose a relatively simple gown (at least by royal standards. The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendour tells us that the dress reportedly costed about £ 2,500) and borrowed the Festoon tiara from her mother-in-law, the Princess Royal.

It is quite a dainty and delicate piece, and I was somewhat surprised to learn it's relatively modern, having been a gift to Princess Anne from the World Wide Shipping Company when she christened one of their ships in 1973 (more on the tiara itself can be found here).

Alas, it is not a particular favourite of mine, too spiky for my taste!

 

Next, of course, are the big guns, the tiara (and indeed the wedding!) that absolutely everyone will remember: that of Catherine Middleton to Prince William, on (do I even need to remind you of the date?) 29 April 2011.

 



As is widely known by now, the Duchess wore Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's Halo tiara.

The marvellous "The Queen's Diamonds" book by Hugh Roberts has some background information on it: it's a piece by Cartier, which was purchesed by the Duke of York on 18 November 1936 as a present for the Duchess of York, who was to become Queen just a few weeks later. In fact, she first wore it in public while still Duchess of York.

It is made up of 16 graduated scrolls with a large brilliant cut diamond at the centre.

The tiara was then given to Princess Elizabeth on her 18th birthday in 1944. The Queen has since loaned it to Princess Margaret and Princess Anne.

At the time of Catherine Middleton's wedding, it was reported in the press that the Queen had offered her a choice of tiaras to choose from; the Duchess' choice, reportedly the most simple among those on offer, is of course now widely recognized (and replicated!) the world over.



Later that same year, the tiara took centre stage at an exhibithion of the wedding dress and jewellery
at the Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace.


A few months later, on 30 July 2011, it was Zara Phillips' turn to wed Mike Tindall in Edinburgh, so another splendid opportunity for some tiara-watching!

Zara borrowed from her mother the Princess Royal a piece which had been in her great-grandmother possession, the Meander tiara.

It has a Greek key design, with diamonds in the shape of a laurel wreath as a centrepiece. I have to say I was not a fan of this style on Zara, maybe her hair should have been dressed differently, but as it was the tiara looked as though it were sitting on top of her head without particular purpose (it didn't even serve to keep her veil in place).

 

 

 

Much prettier when worn by Princess Anne, who has much bigger hair and so suits the tiara best, in my opinion!

So, now we've gone through all the most significant recent royal Weddings, if I were to rank my favourites, first would be Princess Diana's Spencer tiara, followed by Sarah Ferguson's tiara and Princess Margaret's Poltimore tiara! Special mention to the Strathmore tiara, which isn't tecnically a bridal tiara, as the Duchess of York didn't wear it on her wedding day, but made it on this list as it's a special favourite of mine!

Least favourites? The Meander tiara as worn by Zara Phillips, the Countess of Wessex's tiara and Autumn Phillips' Festoon tiara.

Have you got a special favourite yourself? Or a piece you utterly dislike and don't want to see out in public ever again? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know!

Bridal Tiaras in the British Royal Family, Part I

So, tiaras being one of my favourite subjects (ah!), today we take a closer look at tiaras worn by British royal brides over the decades, beginning, with a slight historic inaccuracy, with Queen Elizabeth's Strathmore tiara, which wasn't worn exactly on her wedding day, but was indeed a wedding present, and it's a particular favourite of mine, I feel justified in adding it to this list!

The highly informative The Queen's Diamonds book by Hugh Roberts, Surveyor Emeritus of The Queen's Works of Arts, reveals that the tiara is late nineteenth century and made up of pavé-set diamonds, mainly rose-cut in silver-gilt on a gold frame, that form a garland of wild roses.

Technical details aside, the tiara was famously given to the then Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon by her father, the Earl of Strathmore, on her marriage to the Duke of York (later King George VI) in 1923.
Hugh Roberts informs us that "the tiara was retailed by the jewellers Catchpole & Williams, of 510 Oxford Street, and was supplied with two alternative frames, one invisible (for wear as a bandeau over the brow), the other padded (for wear on the head). It could also be dismantled to form five individual brooches", which apparently could be substituted with single sapphires.

When Duchess of York, Queen Elizabeth was photographed a number of times wearing her tiara in the 1920s style, fashionably low over her forehead.

Although it was inherited by the Queen on the Queen Mother's death in 2002, this piece has not been worn since (nor, indeed, it had been worn in public for many decades since its early days).

 

Fast forward a few years, and here comes Princess Elizabeth's wedding to Prince Philip in 1947.

For her "something borrowed", the woman who was to become Queen in a matter of years choose Queen Mary's Fringe tiara, a 1919 piece by E. Wolff & Co. for Garrard & Co.

 

 

The jewel was originally made especially for Queen Mary, in the Russian style which was especially fashionable at the time (Tsarina Alexandra had had a tiara in exactly the same style, reminiscent of the traditional Russian headdress kokoshnik).

 

Hugh Roberts reports that in was given in 1936 by Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth, from whom it was subsequently borrowed by Princess Elizabeth to be worn on her wedding day (and on a number of occasions since she inherited it from her mother in 2002, most famously in one of the Diamond Jubilee portraits).

 

 

The it was Princess Margaret's turn, with her marriage to Anthony Armstrong-Jones in 1960. This time the bride choose the Poltimore tiara, a splendidly intricate piece made by Garrard & Co. in 1870 for Lady Poltimore.

 

 

Princess Margaret bought it herself, at auction in 1949 for £ 5,500. Upon her death in 2002, it was auctioned again, together with other pieces in her collection, to help pay estate duties. This time, the tiara sold for £ 926,400, against a top estimate of £ 200,000.

 

The Princess was later famously photographed by her husband while wearing the tiara in the bathtub.

 



 

Then, on 14 November 1973, the Queen's daughter Princess Anne married her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips (it should be noted that for her second marriage, to Commander Timothy Lawrence, the Princess Royal opted not to wear a tiara, choosing instead to adorn her hair with a simple sprig of orange blossom, which matched her bouquet and complemented perfectly her cream suit).

 

Anyway, back to 1973...Princess Anne chose a rather unusual, stunning white silk gown in the Elizabethan style, inspired by Tudor court dress (more on the dress itself can be found at The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor).

 

Nothing new on tiara side this time, though, as Princess Anne got married in Queen Mary's fringe tiara, the same piece her mother the Queen had chosen to wear to her own wedding 26 years earlier.

 

 

I just couldn't resist adding this photo of the bride with her father the Duke of Edinburgh...so beautiful!

Could she have chosen something else, perhaps something more delicate and prettier, in keeping with the fairy tale style of her wedding? She definitely should have, in my opinion...after all, she had a lot of other options to choose from in the extensive British royal family collection: her grandmother's Strathmore tiara would have been a spot on choice, given also its Rose of York motive, which would have complemented perfectly the Tudor theme of the wedding dress.

 

 

To be continued...