Missing Queen Alexandra gown found in box in attic after appeal
By Anita Singh Arts And Entertainment Editor
MOST of us have old clothes stashed in the attic. But very few have a dress fit – literally – for a queen.
Curators of a royal exhibition at the Fashion Museum in Bath appealed last year for the return of missing dresses made for Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward VII.
To their delight, a woman came forward to say that she had an evening gown in a box in the attic with the queen’s signature black and gold name tag sewn into the waist tape.
Francesca Counsell Risius, the owner, inherited the black silk and velvet gown from her great aunt, Mrs Counsell, who purchased it in the Fifties as a showpiece for her dress shop in Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Although it was a prized possession and never offered for sale, it was once worn by one of the shop’s assistants, Gilly Holiday, for a feature in the local newspaper, with Ms Holiday modelling the dress beneath a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
“My great aunt gave me the dress in the late Sixties and I’ve kept it in a box ever since. I’ve carefully tried it on a couple of times, so has my daughter and occasionally we’ve taken it out of its tissue paper to show interested friends and family. I can’t wait to see it on display alongside other pieces from Queen Alexandra’s wardrobe,” Ms Counsell Risius said.
The dress, embellished with beads and sequins, was designed by London dressmaker Barolet of Knightsbridge in 190810. Dr Kate Strasdin, a dress historian and one of the leading experts on Queen Alexandra, has verified its authenticity. The size, style and waistband are almost identical to other items worn by Queen Alexandra, and Dr Strasdin’s research into the royal wardrobe accounts in the archives at Windsor Castle confirm that the Queen was a client of Barolet around the time it was designed. Dr Strasdin, who acted as historical consultant to the Fashion Museum, said: “Queen Alexandra was a style icon and this dress is a fabulous find, not just because of its beauty, but because of what the dress reveals about Alexandra’s fashion choices. Placing orders with smaller, less well-known dressmakers such as Barolet, as opposed to always favouring big couture houses like Worth, shows a measure of Alexandra’s determination to dress apart from her peers and indicates a degree of sartorial independence.” Queen Alexandra, daughter-in-law of Queen Victoria, set trends for chokers and high necklines, and was known for her elegant daywear. Following her death in 1925, many of her dresses were dispersed and the whereabouts of several others remains a mystery. There have been some discoveries: an 1870 tartan silk dress was unearthed in a high-end vintage shop in London in the Sixties and is now in the Fashion Museum. The Royal Women exhibition runs until April 2019 and features garments worn by generations of women in the Royal family including Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. Exhibits include a strapless black lace Christian Dior evening dress worn by Princess Margaret to a performance of Guys and Dolls in 1953, and a grey silk ball gown worn by the Queen Mother in New York. Ms Counsell Risius has donated the dress to the collection. Elly Summers, curator of Royal Women, said: “We are thrilled to have rediscovered this spectacular dress and to be putting it on display.”