Latest news with #King'sGallery
Telegraph
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Windsor Ramadan dinner and LGBT art event part of King's diversity drive
A Ramadan meal and an LGBT+ history month lecture at Windsor Castle this year have been hailed as exemplifying the King's 'momentous' commitment to diversity. The Royal Collection Trust – which oversees the upkeep of the royal palaces – said in its annual report, released on Tuesday, that 'inclusion and diversity was a key priority this year' as it hosted a series of religious and LGBT+ celebrations. For the first time in its 1,000-year history, Windsor Castle hosted an Open Iftar meal in its state apartments to mark the breaking of fast for Muslims during Ramadan. Last autumn, it hosted an inaugural Diwali Family Day including prayers from the head priest of the Slough Hindu Temple. The King's Gallery in Buckingham Palace also hosted its first event to mark LGBTQ+ History month in October, 'exploring some of the Queer figures represented within the Royal Collection'. Writing in the Royal Collection Trust report, Tim Knox, the director, said the Iftar meal had been held 'with the King's permission'. He said: 'Such momentous events, alongside initiatives including the £1 ticket offer at The King's Galleries, and its trial scheme at Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, go some way to achieving our aim of finding welcoming and inclusive ways for everyone to enjoy the collection. 'Our ambitions continue to grow with ongoing audience development and learning and community projects helping us to understand more about the audiences who don't currently visit our sites and how we can encourage them to do so.' The Iftar meal, in March, was organised in collaboration with the Ramadan Tent Project and saw 350 guests eat in St George's Hall, with two reciters from Maidenhead Mosque leading the call to prayer from the balcony of the hall. Simon Maples, the visitor operations director at Windsor Castle, said at the time that the King had been ' championing religious diversity and encouraging inter-faith conversation' for many years. Omar Salha, founder and chief executive of Ramadan Tent Project, added: 'The King is an excellent ambassador for this cause and is committed to community cohesion. We are incredibly grateful for his support towards the British Muslim community.' For LGBT+ history month, in February, the trust hosted an online lecture on 'Queer Art and Artists in the Royal Collection'. Alice de Quidt, assistant curator of Prints and Drawings, told the audience: 'Diverse forms of love and identity have always existed but they have all too often been left out of history or rewritten entirely. February gives us an opportunity to resurrect this history, bring it to the fore and celebrate it.' Among the artists picked out was Leonardo Da Vinci, who was accused of sexual acts with a male goldsmith's apprentice in 1476, though charges were later dropped. While same-sex relationships were common in 15th century Florence, they were not tolerated and sodomy was punishable by fine for the first four occasions and by death on the fifth. Accompanying literature also picked out Sappho, Michelangelo, Chevalier D'Eon, Rosa Bonheur, Oscar Wilde, and David Hockney for the trust's LGBTQ+ stories. The trust – an independently funded department of the Royal Household, which receives no public funds – is reliant on the income generated by visitor admissions and donations. Its income is spent on visitor access, retail, exhibitions, ongoing conservation of artworks and outreach programmes, including travel subsidies for schools. The trust recorded a total income of £89.9 million last year – an annual increase of more than £5m on the back of record visitors to Buckingham Palace. The trust's report said it had participated in a Royal Household-wide campaign to encourage the sharing of 'personal experiences of inclusion and diversity in the workplace', including 'training on inclusive leadership and recruitment'. Of the cohort offered a new seasonal role at Buckingham Palace last year, 45 per cent were from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Queen Elizabeth's clever reason for dressing in bright colours and matching coat and hat
A major new exhibition, opening in in Buckingham Palace next Spring, will feature around 200 garments and accessories from across her life, nearly half of which have never been displayed publicly She once said of herself, 'I have to be seen to be believed'. And during her 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II used her wardrobe, and impeccable sense of fashion, to ensure exactly that. From her stunning evening gowns and countryside chic to her love of silk headscarves and vibrant colour-blocking outfits with matching hats, Britain's longest-reigning monarch was also one of the world 's greatest style icons. Through seven decades of public duty, the Queen used the way she dressed to be seen, to subtly express her thoughts, and to brilliantly conduct diplomacy on the world stage. Now, the sartorial elegance for which she will forever be remembered is to be celebrated in a major new exhibition in Buckingham Palace next Spring, marking what would have been her 100th birthday. Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style at the King's Gallery will feature around 200 garments and accessories from across her life, nearly half of which have never been displayed publicly. Among outfits on show for the first time will be a bridesmaid dress eight-year-old Elizabeth wore for the 1934 wedding of her uncle, the Duke of Kent - one of the earliest surviving pieces of couture from the Queen's childhood wardrobe Royal biographer Ian Lloyd says the display will help people remember just how in tune the Queen was to the power of fashion. He says: 'The exhibition will be fascinating because you'll be able to see the development of her style, from a young, slim, attractive Queen aged 25 when she took the throne, through 20 years of her evolving fashion. 'The early stuff is particularly interesting because it's a style that is obsolete now, and absolutely fascinating in terms of couture. Her heavily-embroidered evening gowns, made by Norman Hartnell, were each like a wedding dress. 'In fact one of them, a Hartnell dress he made for the Queen to go to the Lawrence of Arabia premiere in 1962, was worn by Princess Beatriz as her wedding dress.' The Queen's designer for over three decades, Norman Hartnell made both her wedding dress in 1947 and her Coronation dress in 1953, both of which will be included in the exhibition. But London designer Hardy Amies is credited with modernising the Queen's look with colourful, more streamlined dresses, beginning in the 1950s. They include an evening dress made of silk chiffon with gold thread embellishments she wore for a state dinner during her visit to Bahrain in 1979 'Queen Elizabeth typifies all that I admire most in the English women's attitude to dress,' he once said. Ian Lloyd, author of The Queen: 70 Chapters of the Life of Elizabeth II, says that later in her reign - and particularly after the dawn of colour TV - she increasingly chose to wear one colour head-to-toe, creating a powerful visual impact. He says: 'For the World Cup in 1966 she wore a bright primrose yellow outfit which stood out in the royal box at Wembley. It meant that anyone attending the match would see a tiny figure in yellow and even from half a mile away know it was the Queen. 'It was part of her sense of duty. She knew people often caught just a fleeting glimpse of her from a long way away, so by wearing bright, vivid colours they would know it was her. She used the whole palette of colours, with a matching hat. 'She always stayed true to herself, always dressed as the Queen. One of her designers told me she was always dressed for a wedding, the kind of thing your mum or aunty would get once for an important occasion she would wear every day. 'She'd be on a royal engagement in Sheffield or Birmingham and have the handbag, the pearls, the court shoes, hat and gloves. She was always dressed immaculately and presented herself in that very formal, elegant way. Today's female royals, like Queen Camilla and the Princess of Wales, don't have the same style, they don't wear gloves or hats in the same way.' Ian says that in the last three decades of her life the Queen's clothing was made in-house by her senior dresser and personal designer Angela Kelly. 'It suited the modern era and the Queen's desire to save money and 'make do and mend' attitude,' he says. It also meant the Queen could be even more hands-on with the design process. According to Ian, she had a unique understanding of the soft power behind her clothing, and often incorporated a message into what she wore. 'She was the past master of diplomatic fashion,' he says, remarking how she often dressed to suit the country she was visiting. She researched the country and then would incorporate the national colours into her dress, it was a diplomatic coup.' One of the dresses that will be on display is a gown, designed by Norman Hartnell, for a 1961 State Banquet in Karachi, which incorporates Pakistan's national colours through a dramatic green pleat cascading down the back. In 2011, the Queen arrived for an historic four-day visit to Ireland wearing an emerald green coat and hat - widely interpreted as a gesture of reconciliation and goodwill. Later, at a state dinner, the quiet diplomacy continued when she wore a silk dress adorned with 2,091 hand-sewn embroidered shamrocks, while a Swarovski-embellished Irish harp was pinned to the left shoulder. For a monarch constitutionally bound to remain mute on political issues, the Queen became known for the coded messages embedded in her choice of attire. In June 2017, almost exactly a year after Britain's vote to leave the European Union, she addressed parliament dressed in the blue and yellow of the EU flag, with the flowers on her hat mimicking the flag's stars. Her brooches often wielded intent. When she met Donald Trump, during his 2019 state visit, she wore three different brooches on each day. The first had been given to her by Trump's political nemesis Barack Obama, the second by her the Governor-General of Canada, and the third was one the Queen Mother had worn to King George VI's funeral, a brooch inextricably tied to mourning . The 'Life in Style' exhibition, which will run from spring to autumn 2026 with tickets on sale from November, will also feature the Queen's jewellery, hats, shoes and accessories, as well as never-before-seen design sketches, fabric samples and handwritten correspondence that reveal the behind-the-scenes process of dressing the most famous woman in the world. Curator Caroline de Guitaut said: 'Over the course of Queen Elizabeth II's remarkably long reign, her distinctive style became instantly recognisable around the world, bolstering the British fashion industry and influencing generations of designers and couturiers. Only now, as the late Queen's fashion archive comes under the care of Royal Collection Trust, can we tell the story of a lifetime of thoughtful style choices – from her hands-on role and understanding of the soft power behind her clothing, to the exceptional craftsmanship behind each garment.'
AsiaOne
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
Queen Elizabeth's fashion looks to go on display in new London exhibition, World News
Queen Elizabeth's fashion looks are to go on display in a huge new exhibition in London. The monarch — who died in September 2022 at the age of 96 — will be celebrated for her style choices in a new show at Buckingham Palace in London to mark the year she would have turned 100 and it's been described as the "largest and most comprehensive" collection of the late monarch's clothing ever to be seen by the public. Exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut said: "Only now, as the late Queen's fashion archive comes under the care of Royal Collection Trust, can we tell the story of a lifetime of thoughtful style choices — from her hands-on role and understanding of the soft power behind her clothing, to the exceptional craftsmanship behind each garment. "In the year that she would have turned 100 years old, this exhibition will be a celebration of Queen Elizabeth's uniquely British style and her enduring fashion legacy." The exhibition — put on by the Royal Collection Trust — is titled Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style and it's due to open in spring of 2026. [embed] It will feature more than 200 items of clothing including the wedding dress — designed by Norman Hartnell — which she wore to marry Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 as well as the gown she wore for her Coronation in 1953. The collection includes clothing, hats, shoes, accessories and jewellery alongside design sketches and fabric samples as well as correspondence which lifts the lid on the process of dressing the monarch. It will feature pieces from Elizabeth's childhood and early years as well as throughout her reign from state occasions to items she wore when she was off duty such as riding jackets, tartan skirts and headscarves. Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style will run at the King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, from spring to autumn 2026 and tickets go on sale from November 2025. The show will be accompanied by a book — Queen Elizabeth II: Fashion and Style — written by de Guitaut and features contributions from fashion experts and designers. [[nid:719552]]
Ammon
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Ammon
Queen Elizabeth II's fashion to feature in exhibition
Ammon News - The changing fashions of the late Queen Elizabeth are to go on show in a major exhibition next year at Buckingham Palace. There will be about 200 items, including dresses and jewellery, hats and shoes, in what is claimed as the biggest ever display of the late Queen's clothing. The exhibition, featuring items from her childhood through to the decades of her long reign, will coincide with the centenary of her birth. Among the items in Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style will be her wedding dress, made in 1947 by the designer Sir Norman Hartnell. The exhibition opening at the King's Gallery at Buckingham Palace next Spring will chronicle Queen Elizabeth's life through the outfits she wore for public events and when off duty. The "archive" of clothes owned by the late Queen, who died at the age of 96 in 2022, is now in the care of the Royal Collection Trust, which announced the exhibition. One of the earliest surviving pieces from her wardrobe is a silver lamé and tulle bridesmaid dress, that she wore at the age of eight in 1934 at the wedding of her uncle the Duke of Kent. Clothes could also serve as a diplomatic message, such as a green and white gown made for a state banquet in Pakistan in 1961, with the dress incorporating the country's national colours. More relaxed, printed dresses showing the fashion trends of the 1970s will be part of the display, along with design sketches and handwritten correspondence about clothing choices.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Childhood couture to diplomatic glamour: Inside late Queen Elizabeth II's fashion archive
Next year, Buckingham Palace is opening the doors to something truly special: a grand exhibition celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's iconic fashion moments, timed to mark 100 years since her birth. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Titled Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, the exhibition will open at the King's Gallery in spring 2026 and if you're even a little bit interested in royal fashion, this is one not to miss. What makes this one stand out? For starters, it's being billed as the biggest and most detailed display of the late Queen's wardrobe ever seen, with more than 200 pieces pulled from her personal fashion archive. We're talking everything from tiaras and evening gowns to her signature headscarves and sensible shoes. There's a real journey here, from one of the earliest surviving pieces in her childhood wardrobe (a delicate silver lamé and tulle bridesmaid dress she wore at age eight in 1934) to the now-iconic Norman Hartnell wedding gown she wore in 1947. These outfits don't just mark royal milestones, they reflect nearly a century of British fashion history through the eyes of a monarch who understood the power of clothing. Alongside the statement looks, like coronation robes and glittering State Banquet gowns, visitors will also get a peek at the Queen's more personal, off-duty side. Think tailored riding jackets, tartan skirts, and the silk scarves she loved to tie around her head while walking the dogs or heading to Balmoral. Image credits: X What's particularly exciting is that many of these pieces have never been displayed before. And this time, it's not just the fashion that's on show. For the first time, we'll also get to see original sketches, fabric swatches, and handwritten letters by the Queen herself, giving us a behind-the-scenes look at how her wardrobe came together, often with her direct input. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Designers like Richard Quinn and Erdem have already acknowledged her influence in their collections in recent years. And with this rare glimpse into her fashion archive, her legacy is sure to inspire a whole new generation of British design. Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style will run from spring to autumn 2026. While the exact opening date is still under wraps, tickets go on sale this November. There'll also be an accompanying book, curated by Caroline de Guitaut, with essays from designers and commentators who've studied her style in depth. For royal watchers, fashion lovers, and anyone curious about how style can tell a story, this exhibition promises to be a landmark moment.
