A fancy dress crown … ideal for a princess starting school
AS PRINCESS CHARLOTTE prepares to start her first term at nursery school, thoughts in the Royal household may well be turning to what to pack in her bag to take with her.
By happy coincidence, the Buckingham Palace shop believes it has just the answer: one of its children’s books, a Guardsman teddy bear, or a fetching fancy dress crown.
The palace shop yesterday contacted customers to promote its Back to School range, aimed at those returning to school after the Christmas holidays.
Conveniently sent out on the day Princess Charlotte’s own nursery, Willcocks, began its spring term dates, it reserves a section for a child’s “first day of nursery”.
Promotional material for the Buckingham Palace shop suggests: “Tuck these charming gifts into backpacks, as you wave off the little ones to their first day at nursery.”
The suggested items include colourful headgear described as a “fabulous dress-up crown, gold and shining with red velvet and soft fake fur trim”, at a price of £8.95.
Princess Charlotte’s peers could also take a Guardsman teddy bear, resplendent in his red jacket and faux bearskin hat, at £17.95.
Less useful for the two-year-old Princess, who was photographed at Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Christmas lunch just weeks ago, will be Michael Bond’s book Paddington at the Palace, which sees the bear visit the Changing of the Guard ceremony.
The Princess is due to start at Willcocks, which is situated close to her Kensington Palace home, this month. Her brother, Prince George, is expected to return to Thomas’s Battersea for his second term next week.
The gift shop, run by the Royal Collection Trust, also offers stationery inspired by Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Holyrood Palace, including a crown-shaped book of sticky notes and a corgi pencil set.