The Honeymoon of Princess Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth II)

Today, we continue our look at royal honeymoon fashions with Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II).

Date:  November 1947
Place:  England and Malta
Event:  Honeymoon of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip

As one looks farther back to royal fashions, the less is known about specific designers.  That is the case with Princess Elizabeth's honeymoon fashions.  Nonetheless, they're worth looking at--her fashion sense has remained timeless over the past six decades!

Here, the Prince and Princess set out for Waterloo Station from whence they traveled to Broadlands for the first leg of their honeymoon.

Once at Broadlands, the couple were photographed walking and enjoying the grounds.

In 2007, for their 60th wedding anniversary, the Queen and Prince had a second honeymoon returning to the Broadlands (and also Malta; see below) as pictured here.  Notice that she's wearing the same jewelry and Philip's suit is very similar.  Perhaps we can guess that her 1947 suit was blue, as well.

Following their time at Broadlands in 1947, the royal couple traveled to Balmoral in Scotland just as her parents had twenty-four years previously.  Sadly for us, there are no public photos of the couple at Balmoral in 1947.

Philip was on active duty as an officer in the navy.  So, as his honeymoon ended, he returned to service.  He was posted to Malta and Elizabeth followed him there.  Before she became Queen in 1952, she spent much of her time in Malta and it is considered the last leg of their honeymoon.

Save for some changes in button and pocket styles, these clothes could well be worn in the twenty-first century.  While the Queen has rarely taken fashion risks, she is still undeniably a solidly fashionable woman!

Stay tuned to Fashionably Royal for more royal honeymoon fashions in the days to come!

Queen Elizabeth's Wedding Day (or rather, Princess Elizabeth's Wedding Day)

In 1947, the United Kingdom, like most of Europe and the World, was recovering from World War II.  In July of that year, it was announced that there was to be a royal wedding!  The secret engagement of Elizabeth and Philip of more than a year was finally made official.  Their wedding later that year served a boost of morale for a war-weary nation (and world).

Date:  20 November 1947

Place:  Westminster Abbey, London

Event:  Wedding between Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Denmark and Greece

Princess Elizabeth's dress, like her sister Margaret's dress thirteen years later, was designed by Norman Hartnell, the royal dressmaker to the then Queen Elizabeth (to become the Queen Mother when her daughter became Queen Elizabeth II).

The dress was made from ivory silk and was decorated with crystals and over 10,000 seed pearls that Hartnell traveled to the United States to find. (There was quite a shortage of materials following the war.) It had some pintucking on the bodice, somewhat like her daughter Anne's dress had 26 years later. It also had a drop-waist and sweetheart neckline.

The motif on her dress and 13-foot-long train was inspired by Botticelli's Primavera (a figure, covered in flowers, representing spring). This motif was meant to symbolize rebirth and growth after the devastation of World War II. From a distance, the motif looks like five-pointed stars, but they are in fact flower blossoms.

Also in common with her daughter Anne, Elizabeth wore the "fringe" tiara originally made for her grandmother Queen Mary, wife of King George V. The veil was made of silk tulle.  Her pearl jewelry are from the collection of crown jewels dating back to the middle ages.

Visit Fashionably Royal tomorrow for more build up the the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton when we look back at the most trend-setting wedding ever, that of Queen Victoria.  And, you guessed, we're not afraid of a bit of hyperbole around here.  Until then!

Princess Anne's Wedding Day

Today we look back at a wedding that purportedly drew over 500 million television viewers nearly 40 years ago.

Date: 14 November 1973
Place: Westminster Abbey, London
Event: Wedding between Princess Anne and Mark Phillips

The dress is said to have been designed ostensibly by Princess Anne and executed by a team led by Maureen Baker.

The dress was made from silk with tight pintucking in the bodice to show her trim figure and included a high, collared neckline.

The sleeves of this dress were (and are!) a real talking point. They included enormous trumpet sleeves on the outside and puffed sleeves inside gathered at the wrist.

A nine-year-old Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (now Chatto), Princess Anne's first cousin, served as bridesmaid and also wore a medieval inspired outfit.

Anne wore a tiara loaned to her by her mother the Queen. In fact, it was the tiara that the Queen wore on her wedding day. Anne's veil was relatively short (for a royal bride) and the train had a silk gauze overlay

Tune in tomorrow to Fashionably Royal for more in our lead-up to William and Kate's wedding on Friday with a look back at Princess Margaret's 1960 wedding fashions.