AS The Queen has said of herself, 'I have to be seen to be believed', which is why the iconography of what she wears is such an integral element of her enduring success. Her Majesty's distinctive wardrobe has performed a vital role in conveying a powerful visual message, making her instantly recognisable during a lifetime of constant public scrutiny. In doing so, The Queen has never followed fashion, but has created her own unique style, embodying majesty, modesty, mystery and myth.
All this has taken place during a tumultuous era, over which the representation of royalty evolved from highly controlled portraiture to instantaneous digital imagery, capable of being shared around the world in a split second. Yet from the moment the then Princess Elizabeth became heir to the throne, at the time of her uncle's abdication in 1936, it was clear that her parents understood the importance of re-establishing a pictorial sense of stability and consistency.
Following Edward VIII's momentous decision to marry the twice-divorced Wallis Simpson, the new King and Queen would evoke a more traditional era in their sartorial choices, both for themselves and their daughters. In contrast to the hard-edged Modernist chic of Simpson's attire by Schiaparelli and other fashionable Paris couturiers, the young princesses and their mother wore matching outfits in gentle, feminine colours. Indeed, George VI specifically asked The Queen's favoured designer, Norman Hartnell, to evoke the decorative dresses in the royal portraits by 19th-century Court artist Franz Xaver Winterhalter. 'His Majesty made it clear in his quiet way that I should attempt to capture this picturesque grace,' wrote Hartnell in his memoir, recalling his tour of Buckingham Palace with the King.
Denne historien er fra May 25, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra May 25, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
