SOLD: One t artan suit, two careful owners . . . both Kings
IT LOOKS like the sort of outfit worn by only the most daring of fashionistas.
In fact, this bright red and forest green tartan suit with yellow stripes has been sported by two Monarchs. And last night it went under the hammer at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, where it sold for £25,000.
The suit was tailored for King George V when he was the 22-year-old Prince of Wales in 1897. He passed it down to his son, Edward VIII, who owned it until his death in 1972.
Auctioneer Darren Julien said: ‘The British Royal family normally keep their clothing, so it’s very rare that anything comes up for sale. This is of great historical significance.’
The design is known as the Rothesay Hunting Tartan, named after the dukedom traditionally bestowed on the heir to the Throne.
George V wore the suit in 1901 when visiting his grandmother, Queen Victoria, at Balmoral Castle, and again in 1915, five years after ascending to the Throne. Edward VIII wore it often after his abdication in 1936, and sparked a tartan fashion craze when he wore it in the 1950s, possibly even inspiring the tartan suits worn by 1970s punk rockers including The Sex Pistols.
Not that the suit fitted the Duke without some adjustment. He had the waist taken in to match his more slender 30-inch midriff, and did away with the unwieldy button fly. He wrote in his autobiography: ‘Few of my father’s clothes were any use to me after his death.
‘I did, however, take one of his Inverness capes, and a Rothesay Hunting Tartan suit, which he used to wear for tea after shooting. I had it altered to fit me, substituting zip flies, which would have horrified my father, for the buttons.’