Ranging from fancy to casual, Queen Elizabeth II donned many dresses through the years. However, according to an expert, one proved to be more “important” than the rest. No, it wasn’t the wedding dress she wore to marry Prince Philip in 1947 that had a six-figure price tag in today’s dollars. Instead, it was the dress Queen Elizabeth wore to her 1953 coronation.
Queen Elizabeth wore a ‘regal and magnificent’ dress to her 1953 coronation
June 12, 1953, marked a major moment in royal fashion history. That day, Queen Elizabeth was officially crowned at Westminster Abbey. She turned to designer Sir Norman Hartnell for the occasion after wearing one of his designs on her wedding day six years earlier.
Queen Elizabeth paid for her wedding dress, per the royal family’s website, with clothing ration coupons. It cost a reported $42,000 at the time, the equivalent of about $1.6 million today.
After going viral on TikTok for a video about the queen’s coronation dress, celebrity stylist and royal fashion expert Miranda Holder discussed the garment with Newsweek.
“The queen’s coronation dress was undoubtedly the most important dress she would ever wear in her lifetime,” Holder said, calling it a “beautiful work of art.”
“Painstakingly made by her couturier and confidant Sir Norman Hartnell, the historic garment took 8 months to conceive and construct, and is regarded today as one of the most important examples of twentieth-century fashion design,” she explained.
Holder continued, saying the queen’s coronation dress is “utterly regal and magnificent” while at the same time not “ostentatious or gaudy.” It featured the “finest duchesse satin” tailored to resemble Dior’s popular fit and flare silhouette of the time.
Additionally, Queen Elizabeth’s coronation dress had “gold and silver embroidery,” supposedly done at her “specific request,” as well as a hidden four-leaf clover as a good-luck charm from Hartnell.
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The final garment showcased the embroidery detailing and other features such as a border of “seed pearls and diamantés” as well as the “emblems of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales but also the Commonwealth too.”
Queen Elizabeth wore her coronation dress again
Despite being one-of-a-kind, the queen didn’t stow her coronation dress away, never to wear it again after being crowned. She wore the dress again approximately six times.
The queen wore her coronation dress to the 1954 parliament openings in Sri Lanka, Australia, and New Zealand. She wore it again in 1957 to Canada’s parliament opening. Now part of the Royal Collection, the queen’s coronation dress has been displayed multiple times.
‘The Crown’ borrowed a reproduction of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation dress
Netflix’s The Crown reportedly spent thousands of dollars — nearly $50,000 — on the queen’s wedding gown recreation. However, that wasn’t the case with her coronation dress.
Costume designer Michele Clapton got an exact replica commissioned by Swarovski for Queen Elizabeth’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee (via Vanity Fair). Meaning in The Crown Season 1 Episode 5: “Smoke and Mirrors,” Claire Foy wore a borrowed dress when she portrayed the queen at her coronation.
King Charles III, will walk in the queen’s footsteps on May 6 when he has his own coronation ceremony.
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