Royal dresser Angela Kelly on the Queen’s NI outfits
THE inspiration behind an outfit Her Majesty the Queen wore on a diamond jubilee trip to Northern Ireland has been revealed in a new book by her official dresser.
Angela Kelly, a docker’s daughter from Liverpool, details her friendship with the monarch and provides an insight into life in the palace in her book The Other Side of the Coin: the Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe.
The book, published on Tuesday, is authorised by the Queen and includes photographs of Her Majesty’s many outfits, with close-ups of some of the intricate designs not normally visible to the public.
In it, Ms Kelly recalls how the Queen’s two-day visit to Northern Ireland in 2012 was particularly historic as she was visiting a Catholic church in the region for the first time.
Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh were due to attend a service of thanksgiving in Enniskillen followed by a visit to the neighbouring St Michael’s Catholic Church.
Ms Kelly said she “knew immediately” what colour she would suggest for Her Majesty t o we a r, choosing a “beautiful pale blue” which would be different from the green she had worn on a visit to the Republic of Ireland.
“But I needed some additional design elements to bring the outfit to life,” she said.
“As always seemed to be the way, I found inspiration in front of my eyes when I was walking through the corridors of Windsor Castle and noticed a beautiful Wedgewood collection.
“The china was exactly the same colour as the blue material I’d selected, and I decided to recreate its delicate pattern in fine lace for Her Majesty’s dress and hat.”
For the Queen’s second outfit of the trip, which she would wear while travelling around Stormont’s Parliament Buildings in an opentop car, Ms Kelly opted for lime. “Surely, no one can visit the Emerald Isle without wearing some green... Knowing that there would be lots of crowds and commotion... I wanted her to stand out in a vibrant colour,” she explained.
To soften the outfit “ever so slightly”, some gold lace was introduced to the double collar of the jacket and also to the hat.
“Finally, I thought a single gold feather placed diagonally across the front of the hat would bring everything together nicely,” Ms Kelly wrote.
For the Queen’s visit to the Republic of Ireland in May 2011 — highly significant as she would be the first British monarch to visit the country in 100 years — Ms Kelly “had a clear vision for the perfect dress”.
The occasion was a state banquet hosted by then Irish president Mary McAleese in Dublin Castle.
The shamrock was chosen for the evening gown “both as a sign of respect and because it is a famous lucky charm”.
Ms Kelly admitted that hand-stitching 2,000 tiny shamrocks to the bodice was “painstaking work” but that “we always do whatever we need to do to get the job done”.
The symbol of an Irish harp, made of Swarovski crystals, replaced the Royal Family Orders that are traditionally worn on the left shoulder on state engagements.
Remarking on the reaction the monarch provoked when she addressed the guests in perfect Irish, Ms Kelly said: “I couldn’t help but think that the shamrocks on the Queen’s dress had brought magic or luck to that significant event.”