This week, the Royal Collection Trust dropped another tantalizing preview of their upcoming exhibition on the fashion and style of Queen Elizabeth II, announcing that the royal christening gown worn by the future monarch in 1926 will be among the garments on display.
The Royal Collection Trust believes that this is the first time that the christening gown has ever been displayed in public. The press release they shared explains, “The robe is among approximately 200 items from Queen Elizabeth’s fashion archive that will go on display from 10 April in the largest exhibition of her clothing ever staged, charting her style across ten decades. Its display at The King’s Gallery is especially poignant as the gallery stands on the site of the private chapel at Buckingham Palace where the future Queen was christened, before the chapel was destroyed in the Blitz.”
The gown will surely be one of the oldest garments displayed at the King’s Gallery. The RCT notes, “Made 185 years ago, the christening robe was first worn by Queen Victoria’s eldest child, Princess Victoria, for her christening in 1841. It was then carefully passed down and worn by consecutive generations of royal babies, including by Queen Elizabeth at her christening in May 1926 when she was just one month old.”
Generations of royal babies have been christened wearing the gown, which was made by Queen Victoria’s Scottish dressmaker, Janet Sutherland. The RCT shares that the garment is made of “cream Spitalfields silk from East London and overlaid with fine Honiton lace made in Devon.” Numerous reigning monarchs have been baptized in the gown, including King Edward VII (1842), King George V (1865), and King Edward VIII (1894), who are all pictured above with Queen Victoria at Edward VIII’s christening in 1894.
King George VI (1896) and Queen Elizabeth II (1926) were both christened in the gown as well. This photograph, taken after the future Elizabeth II’s christening at Buckingham Palace in May 1926, shows the baby wearing the gown with her parents, grandparents, and godparents. Two of her godparents, the Duke of Connaught and Princess Mary, were also christened in the gown in 1850 and 1897, respectively.
A generation later, the present monarch was also christened in the family gown. Here, four generations of the family pose with the future Charles III at Buckingham Palace in December 1948: Queen Mary, King George VI (1896), the future Queen Elizabeth II (1926), and the future King Charles III (1948). There’s more continuity in the picture, too. Queen Mary wore the Cambridge Pearl Pendant Brooch for the baptisms of both Elizabeth II and Charles III. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is wearing one of Queen Mary’s wedding presents, the Dorset Bow Brooch, for the occasion.
Here’s another photograph supplied by the RCT showing King Charles III wearing the gown on his christening day. This picture was snapped by Baron and shows the future monarch with his parents, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and his grandparents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother).
They’ve also offered us a photograph from the christening of the present Princess Royal. Anne was baptized wearing the family gown at Buckingham Palace in October 1950. She’s pictured here with her mother, Princess Elizabeth (1926) and her brother, Prince Charles (1948), who is gently touching the antique gown. They’re surrounded by the baby princess’s godparents (clockwise from top left): Lord Mountbatten (who was christened in the gown in 1900), Princess Margarita of Hohenlohe-Langenberg, the Hon. Andrew Elphinstone, Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother), and, standing proxy for Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (who was baptized in the gown in 1883).
The exhibition also includes a handwritten note by Queen Elizabeth II, written on Buckingham Palace stationery, recording a list of royal babies who wore the gown from 1926 through the 1970s. She also indicates that the fragile gown was repaired in 1966, probably after heavy usage during the royal baby boom of 1964, when four babies were baptized in the garment.
In total, 62 royal babies were christened in the Victorian family gown. Eventually, though, it proved too fragile for continued use. The press release explains, “Although the silks used were the finest available at the time—Queen Victoria’s wedding dress had also been made of Spitalfields silk and Honiton lace—silk is naturally susceptible to degradation. The robe became fragile over time, and areas including the central panel, perhaps where little legs may have kicked, had worn thin. Although the robe had been repaired in the 1960s, by 2004, Queen Elizabeth decided it had become too delicate and commissioned an exact replica to be made, which has been worn for every subsequent royal christening.”
The original 1841 gown has been carefully preserved. The press release quotes textile conservator Cecilia Oliver, who notes, “The robe has been lovingly cared for over the generations – we even found a note on its box instructing that it be washed in natural spring water after use, which helps explain its remarkable condition despite such frequent use. However, after 185 years and 62 christenings, it was in need of conservation. It has been an honour and a privilege to work on such a special historic garment.”
Oliver and her team put in 100 hours of conservation work ahead of the exhibition, “including meticulous repairs of holes and subtle reinforcements to delicate parts of the fabric. It was also gently handwashed section by section and was one of the most significant conservation projects of the exhibition.”
Soon, we’ll all be able to see the christening gown when Queen Elizabeth II: Fashion and Style opens at the King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace on April 10. I’m going to be making a visit to see the exhibition, so there will be plenty of content both here and over at Hidden Gems about the remarkable clothing, accessories, and jewelry on display.
And speaking of Hidden Gems—today is Wednesday, so the free mid-week newsletter will be hitting your inboxes shortly! This week’s Wednesday issue is packed with all sorts of jewelry goodness—including the playful clutch bag pictured above. Can you guess which royal lady played Queen of Hearts at the opera recently?
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