Who will fill the royal ‘glam gap?’
With the Sussexes in LA, Bethan Holt looks at a sparkling new generation
When the impeccably art-directed images of the Duchess of Sussex in conversation with trailblazing American feminist Gloria Steinem in her garden were released on Wednesday, it was hard not to recall the Markle sparkle she and Harry brought to the Royal family. Remember her scarlet gown that matched his military uniform for one of their final engagements in March? Or that magically twinkly picture of them hand-in-hand in the rain: she glowing in turquoise Victoria Beckham, he ruggedly handsome with his stubble?
Obviously we love the royals we have left – I’ll never tire of seeing the Queen in yet another silk headscarf, marvelling at the Duchess of Cambridge’s latest Mcqueen look or even applauding Princess Anne for recycling an outfit she first wore 37 years ago – but there’s definitely a glam gap going on, ready to be filled by some more bright young things.
Enter Lady Gabriella Windsor, or Ella to her friends. This week, the daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent announced that she was releasing her first single. A royal pop star! Well, not quite. Windsor’s two songs – Out of the Blue and Bam Bam – are easy listening jazz tunes, released in aid of children’s musical charity Playing for Change.
In a Hello! magazine interview, accompanied by portraits of Ella, 39, in an orange pom-pom fedora and blue raffia hoop earrings, the 49th in line to the throne reveals that she first sung them at her 2019 wedding reception attended by Anne Hathaway and Pippa Middleton. For now, the launch has been relatively low key, but she may have more showbiz plans up her sleeve.
“Ella is a very independent type of person,” Luisa Beccaria, the Italian designer who created the wedding gown for her marriage to financier Thomas Kingston, told me last year. “She doesn’t [ just] listen and say what her parents say,” she added, praising her “natural elegance”.
Also piquing interest in social circles are Arthur and Samuel Chatto, the Queen’s great-nephews (and the sons of Lady Sarah Chatto, daughter of Princess Margaret). Earlier this month, Arthur returned to London triumphant after spending five weeks rowing around the UK, raising over £20,000 for the Red Cross and marine preservation fund Just One Ocean. At 21, he’s the youngest person to row around Britain for charity.
Before his Olympian feat, Arthur was already gaining traction as a royal heart-throb, thanks to his Instagram account, where he posts pictures of himself in bicep-enhancing Lycra or black tie at balls and weddings.
Older brother Samuel may appeal to those with more bohemian tastes. In photos of the family welcoming Arthur back from sea, Samuel looks like a character from
Brideshead Revisited in a crumpled, artfully unbuttoned navy shirt, cream chinos and tan brogues, accessorised with vintage binoculars. A writer and potter, the 24-year-old is the perfect poetic foil to his brother’s sporting antics. Further down the line of succession, there’s Lady Amelia Windsor; streetstyle star on the rise. As granddaughter of the chic Duchess of Kent, Lady Amelia – known as Mel – has an enviable fashion pedigree; her great-grandmother was Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, a style icon of the mid 20th century (as a child, Princess Margaret once said, “When I grow up, I will dress as Aunt Marina does”) and her aunt is Lady Helen Taylor, once a muse to Giorgio Armani. When I interviewed her in 2018, Mel told me that she has aspirations to work in sustainable fashion. She has already appeared on the front row at Dior, Alberta Ferretti and Schiaparelli, worn Chanel for big royal occasions and collaborated with under-the-radar labels like Penelope Chilvers and Tada & Toy. In the past few months, her effortlessly cool outings around Notting Hill have become tabloid favourites.
But let’s not forget Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. While Ella, Arthur, Sam and Mel are unlikely to carry out official royal engagements, there is a very real possibility that the York sisters could be drafted in more regularly now that cousin Harry has left the country and their father, Prince Andrew, has stepped down from public duties in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Historically, the girls’ reputation for glamour is not… great. You may recall Bea’s “loo seat” hat at the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, but recently they have made some very right-for-now style choices. Eugenie became a royal poster girl for body positivity when she wore a Peter Pilotto wedding gown, which celebrated her scoliosis scar. Then Beatrice had a masterstroke fashion moment when she married in a vintage Norman Hartnell gown borrowed from the Queen’s personal collection – nodding not only to her close relationship with her grandmother, but displaying a timely sense of thrift. There are more glam gap possibilities for whom I have high hopes over the coming years, too. Lady Louise Windsor, the daughter of the Earl and Countess of Wessex, is now 16 and will soon be forging her own identity. While Lady Margarita Armstrong-jones is the 18-year-old daughter of Viscount Linley and his recently ex-wife Serena.
So, yes, there might be a Meghan and Harry shaped hole in the royal glamour line-up, but actually, we’re not doing too badly at all.