TL;DR:
- Kate Middleton toured a Buckingham Palace exhibit featuring her wedding dress with Queen Elizabeth II in 2011.
- The queen described a display of Kate’s wedding dress as “horrid.”
- Queen Elizabeth’s reaction to the wedding dress display exemplified her “dry sense of humor,” according to a royal expert.
Kate Middleton’s wedding dress is among the most popular in royal wedding history. Since donning it in 2013 to marry Prince William, it’s inspired countless recreations. However, Queen Elizabeth II didn’t quite have the same reaction when she saw the now-Princess of Wales’ wedding dress on display. Ahead, what the queen had to say about Kate’s wedding dress.
Kate Middleton saw her wedding dress on display during a 2011 tour with Queen Elizabeth
Shortly after the Prince and Princess of Wales married on April 29, 2011, Kate and the queen revisited the wedding day via a special exhibit. In July of that year, they toured exhibitions for the summer opening of Buckingham Palace.
Queen Elizabeth famously spent the summer months at her beloved Scottish estate, Balmoral Castle, leaving the palace open to the public. Prior to the exhibit’s official opening, Kate and the queen got a preview.
Thanks to a TikTok video, Queen Elizabeth’s reaction to the exhibit — and Kate’s wedding dress display — has gone viral.
Queen Elizabeth didn’t like the ‘horrid’ wedding dress display
“Horrid.” That’s how Queen Elizabeth described the Kate wedding dress display featuring the bride’s Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen gown on a headless mannequin. Above it was Kate’s veil and Cartier tiara.
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Featured in a TikTok video, the queen’s shown sharing her first impression of the display with Kate. “Horrid, isn’t it!” she told her grandson’s wife (via Newsweek).
Kate, now 41, followed up with a question for the queen. “Without my face there?” she asked to which the queen replied, “Horrible…dreadful.”
At that point, things got a little awkward for Caroline de Guitaut, who was then introduced to Queen Elizabeth. As deputy surveyor of The Queen’s Works of Art for the Royal Collection Trust, she curated the so-called “horrid” display.
Queen Elizabeth’s ‘dry sense of humor’ came out ‘straight away’ because of the Kate Middleton wedding dress exhibit
According to royal expert Christine Ross the exhibit brought out Queen Elizabeth’s sense of humor.
“The queen famously had a very good sense of humor, but it was undeniably a dry sense of humor,” she said. “The lighting and headless mannequin gave this display a macabre feeling, which the queen pointed out straight away. Kate and the queen joked about the nature of the display.”
Ross continued, saying both the queen and Kate looked past the “slightly bizarre nature” of the exhibit. “I think both women see the slightly bizarre nature of putting your clothes out for thousands of people to see,” she said. “But ultimately [they] understand the historical value and significance.”
April 29, 2023, William and Kate’s wedding anniversary, marks 12 years since the now-mother-of-three walked down the aisle in her wedding dress.
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