The King & Queen's Robes in 2023 - Reuse and Symbolism

foreign [Music] news for the coronation is now coming thick and fast the order of service has now been released and I'll give you my initial thoughts on that tomorrow one of the items of news we have heard in the last few days is of the robes that the king and queen will wear to the coronation next week I speculated in my video about the pages some weeks ago that I wondered if new robes might be produced that were lighter and dispense with the fur but I was completely wrong the young boys are going to have to handle really heavy robes because the king and queen will wear the traditional style of velvet robes trimmed with gold lacened with fur they have made the very sensible and economical decision to primarily reuse older garments for their coronation now aside for the Imperial robes that the king Dons at his investiture I have a video about that if you've not seen it already the king and queen will wear two different matching robes one when they arrive at the Abbey and the other when they leave confusingly these different robes have near identical names the arrival robe is called The Robe of State and the robe at the departure is the robe of estate what's the difference well primarily their color the robe of state which is also known as the Parliamentary robe as it is the robe kings and queens where in Parliament usually now confined to State openings of parliament is made of crimson velvet it has an 18 foot long train and is decorated with strips of gold called Gold Lace it is trimmed with Miniver and is lined and has a cape of ermine the robe of state of the king and queen is identical in material and decoration but not in design that for the queen hangs on the shoulders and does not cover the front of the body like that of the king now the design of these robes dates back to the 17th century the robe of Estates also known as the coronation robe is made of Imperial purple velvet it is only worn once at the coronation itself for the departure from The Abbey for the procession back to the palace and at the balcony appearances if you want to know why purple is worn at this point watch my video on what the king will wear at the coronation as I go into that in excruciating detail the king's hope of estate apart from the color is identical in form and in decoration to the robust state with strips of gold lace Miniver and ermine the robe of the state of a queen also follows the same shape as herobus state hanging from the shoulder and the robe of a state used by a queen regnant and a queen consort is identical in form so what robes are going to be worn next week I understand that the king and queen will both arrive in Crimson Robes of state and they will leave in purple Robes of estate that is a change of precedent in itself as traditionally the queen consort wears her robe of estate for the whole service arriving in it the King has chosen to wear the robes that were made for his grandfather King George VI in 1937 by The Robe makers Eid and Ravenscroft and these have been refurbished by the Royal School of needlework these robes are nearly 90 years old and the robust state was used quite a lot by King George VI and I suspect significant repairs are needed I'm really surprised the fur has lasted so long in these photos released this week you can see the conservatives working on the robo State notice how dull the gold of The Gold Lace appears around the edges of the train this photo from 1948 shows King George VI wearing this very robe as he opens the Canadian Parliament so that gives you a good impression of how King Charles will appear in six days time The Gold Lace in 1948 is looking very bright hopefully something can be done to freshen it up in time for next Saturday the king will also wear the purple robe of the state of his grandfather which you can see King George VI wearing in his coronation portrait no doubt it needs work too it is reported that the silk velvet needs repair and notice that the King George VI in this painting is wearing underneath his robe a purple circuit to match the color of the robe itself Queen Camilla is going to wear the Crimson robber state of her mother-in-law the late Queen Elizabeth II which was made for her coronation in 1953 even up to the last few years this robe has been a working garment and has no doubt been kept in good order it is the robe that Queen Elizabeth II wore annually for the state opening of parliament throughout her reign as I said it might surprise you that the state road with a queen regnant and a queen consort are identical in every way but that has always been the case the robe of a queen is simply a female version of that of the king and there is no concession to the difference in status the purple robe of the state of the queen is the one that differs from that of the king whether Remnant or consort they're over the state of the queen is more lavish than that of the king up on your screen you will see the trains of the Raves of a state of Queen consort Elizabeth bows lion and her daughter Queen regnant Elizabeth II the edges of the train do not have the gold lace that decorates the king's uh as rope of estate but are rather decorated with gold work embroidery often of flowers in the case of the late Queen's robe the flowers of those associated with the various constituent nations of Britain and her Dominion in the center at the back where it is most visible is always placed the cipher of the queen and the only New Road being made of fresh for the coronation this year is the robe of estate for Queen Camilla because of its complexity her robe has been made by the Royal robe maker seed of Ravenscroft and has been decorated with gold embroidery by the Royal School of needlework based on Hampton Court Palace Royal Cipher the conjoined letters CR for Camilla Regina are also being worked and will take their traditional place in the center of the back of the train the embroidery has been chosen by the queen herself and as well as the national floral emblems of the United Kingdom the rose the thistle the Shamrock the daffodil the flowers also reference the king and queen's love of Nature and of gardening and include flowers with personal associations these include lily of the valley which featured in Her Majesty's wedding bouquet and was also a favorite flower of Queen Elizabeth II Myrtle which represents hope and delphiniums which are one of the King's favorite flowers and the birth flower of July the birth month of the queen also featured is alchamilamolis known as ladies mantle which symbolizes love and comfort Maiden hair fern which symbolizes Purity and corn flowers which represent love and tenderness apparently some other Wildlife is embroidered on the robe too including bees and somewhere there's even a beetle it will be quite wonderful so all told I'm very pleased indeed the the ReUse of robes where that can be done seems very sensible given the present Financial context and for good sound environmental reasons but it will also be a joy to see the skills of the royal School of needlework on display 2. thanks very much for watching I've decided to publish a special coronation issue of the anti-crew magazine this is an addition to the general monthly issue I have a large collection of really interesting old photographs that I've been collating over the years of the coronations of George V George VI and Elizabeth II and to celebrate the king's coronation in May this issue will be a special album looking back at the coronations of the 20th century there is a link in the description and above to the website where you can pre-order a copy before the publishing date in early May thank you [Music]

Channel: Allan Barton - The Antiquary

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Length: 9min 26sec (566 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 30 2023