All the black outfits

Hardly difficult for them to have instant access to clothes…or anything !

I expect they have outfits from previous years which have been speedily adapted, and their bespoke tailors can whip something up quickly.
I wonder more about ordinary people, wives of dignitaries, for example who suddenly have to wear a black hat at very short notice.
One well-known tie manufacturer has suspended making normal ties to meet the sudden demand for black ties.

They must have the black clothes on hand for public occasions. Like the official hearse and the golden coach these things must be at hand when needed.

I suppose we will never know what conversations princesses have with their dressers when one of the princess's relations is obviously in failing health.

Well they certainly won’t have to dash down to Marks ….

Queen Camilla's black dress with the flared skirt was graceful and modest and I really like it.

I hadn’t noticed the variations.

In view of the advanced age ofboth the Queen and other members of the Royal family, I would think that a range of black clothes are always to hand and possibly updated every so often. I doubt that the Royal ladies will be wearing the heavy veils favoured by the Queen, the Queen Mother and the Dowager Queen Mary when George Vth died. I think more likely they will be more like the one the present Princess of Wales wore for the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.

Beyond the fact that they are all wearing black. I wouldn't have noticed if they had worn the same black outfit every day.

I can see no reason why they should have to wear a different outfit every day. At times like this, they and us should have better things to do than be analysing what they wear.

I notice that even those fashion journalists who gives you a rundown of every garment the Royal women wear, origin, price, whether it has been worn before etc etc, have been notable for their absence from the papers during the funeral obsequies.

I think the Queen Consort looked much slimmer and younger in the black suit she wore I think it was in Wales much less ‘matronly’ than a few of the outfits she’s worn. I especially like the headbands with small veil attached that some of the younger royals wore on Saturday.

Where does the idea of wearing black come from? Does anyone know?
I loathe wearing black and have told my family to wear anything except black - it's so draining.

When a family member is no longer with us and we all feel very sad black impacts - in my view - on the lovely and happy occasions we've spent with that person. I've been to several funerals now with mourners not wearing black and to me it was far more acceptable to share the good experiences through our clothes as well as our conversation

I expect getting hold of new black outfits at a moments notice isn’t too difficult for the royals and I also expect that they’ll already have a number of black outfits already in their wardrobes. Apparently Lady Louise was wearing a hat that’s previously been worn by Catherine and her mother Sophie. And why not?

Caleo
You mentioned the hearse.
There was a wonderful story on MN where a woman said that at long last she could talk about the secret
About 10 years ago her husband was on the design/ build of that hearse that we have now all seen. She was sworn to secrecy by her husbands.

I think it was Queen Victoria Athrawes.
She was in mourning for years after the sad loss of her husband Prince Albert.
And the wearing black then became the tradition in this country.

Read somewhere that Queen Victoria never wore any other colour except black for the rest of her life. Over 30 years! I am in lreland so not sure if that's true. When l was growing up here the family of a deceased person wore black for one year after the funeral. Now we often see people requesting bright colours which is lovely especially for an older person who has had a long life.

I certainly have several black dresses/suits, coats and hats in my wardrobe - afraid at 65 I seem to have almost a weekly funeral to attend.

All these can be worn at other times other than mourning, with bright coloured scarves, belts, cardigans, jackets, shoes etc, etc.

When the Royals travel black clothing always goes with them, similarly with journalists/presenters.

I do keep a black jacket and trousers, and a skirt, in case they are needed. There always seem to be people dying at my age.

Black for mourning, predates the death of Prince Albert in 1861.

I have just been reading Alison Adburgham's book Shops & Shopping 1800-1914 and there were rules for mourning and wearing black long before 1861.

There were mourning department stores in every big town. The whole shop selling nothing but mourning related goods. Many of these had been established by the early 1840s.

Apparently there were whole page advertisements for ‘mourning warehouses’ in the magazines Dickens produced for serialising his own books (mourning wear was evidently big business) and those of his friends. One such weekly mag sold for 2d - many advertisements helped to keep the price very affordable for the masses, which was his aim, when actual books were priced at around thirty shillings IIRC, and a novel would typically run to 3 volumes at 30s each. ?

The RF wear black for the Remembrance Day service so presumably they already have a wardrobe of black clothes to draw on. In my opinion, it’s hard to tell the difference anyway, as details don’t really stand out much unless they have brass buttons or something.

I have just read an article about the tradition of black for mourning. In medieval times, white was the dress code. Apparently there are portraits of Mary Queen of Scots in white, mourning her mother, FIL and husband. The Queen Mother, when she was Queen, wore a wardrobe entirely of white for a foreign tour shortly after her own mother died, in 1938.

Queen Victoria took black to a whole new level, of course, but she wasn’t dowdy. Her outfits were often highly embellished and she sometimes wore her black dresses with her wedding veil. Maybe she’d just read Great Expectations, which came out in 1860, and was inspired by Miss Havisham!

maddyone

I expect getting hold of new black outfits at a moments notice isn’t too difficult for the royals and I also expect that they’ll already have a number of black outfits already in their wardrobes. Apparently Lady Louise was wearing a hat that’s previously been worn by Catherine and her mother Sophie. And why not?

I love that Lady Louise wore a hat that some of the others did too.
Her and her brother James stole the show at the vigil for me. Knowing how low key they both are, made their contribution all the more poignant.
But to be honest, I found watching them all stood so still very moving.

Being shallow here, I didnt like Beatrice or Eugine choice of clothing. Bright gold military buttons for one (I have a passion for covered buttons, yes odd I know!)
And a see through net frilled hem.

Lady louise is the antithesis of all the puffed lips and painted eyebrows seen everywhere today. I love she is herself.

I have just been reading Alison Adburgham's book Shops & Shopping 1800-1914 and there were rules for mourning and wearing black long before 1861.

Thanks for that, Monica. It sounds fascinating and I’ve ordered a copy from the big river people, for 50p +p&p. An updated version covering internet shopping and the decline of the High Street would be even more interesting.

Athrawes

Where does the idea of wearing black come from? Does anyone know?
I loathe wearing black and have told my family to wear anything except black - it's so draining.

When a family member is no longer with us and we all feel very sad black impacts - in my view - on the lovely and happy occasions we've spent with that person. I've been to several funerals now with mourners not wearing black and to me it was far more acceptable to share the good experiences through our clothes as well as our conversation

Yes, ,I do know.

Until the 15th century, royal and noble women in Europe (read: those who could afford a dress just for mourning) wore a plain white dress when attending funerals and in the days between a death and the funeral.

White is still the traditional colour for mourning clothes in the Far East.

In the 15th century, Flemish cloth-dyers discoverd what chemicals could be used as fixatives for dark blue and black dyes. This made it possible to make and sell black cloth that held its colour, instead of fading to greenish-grey, or rubbing off.

Obviously, this new, fashionable black cloth was expensive, so only the rich could afford it. So they wore it on all and every occasion to parade their wealth.

The invention of aninline dyes during the (long) reign of Queen Victoria, brought black mourning clothes within the prices many less rich people could afford, which is one of the reasons for the massive use of mourning garments at that time.

Not everything held its colour though - the crepe and gauze associated with widows' weeds ran like nobody's business if you got caught out in a shower of rain - which in the UK is almost bound to happen at least once in the year that Victorian and Edwardian widows were draped in black!

My mother and grandmothers had one or two black dresses and skirts hanging at the back of their wardrobes and black hats and gloves kept to be dug out when there was a funeral to go to. I have a black skirt and jacket lurking in my bedroom too, although I have attended funerals in dark blue or grey, but black felt right when my sister died.

Obviously, the royal family have black dresses and hats in a wardrobe somewhere - it is after all only about a year since Prince Phillip died.

It is a British tradition to wear black at funerals it seems. It is different where I live, very few would wear black to a funeral. It would be considered over the top and not particularly respectful. Dark clothes, formal clothes , smart casual but not completely black.

I hoe and pray no one wears black at my funeral I want the brightest colours possible and have left that in my wishes
I really can’t be doing with all this bleak blackness

1000 people been taken ill in the queue and 136 (or around that number) have been taken to hospital ?(shakes head in despair)