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British RoyalsPrince & Princess of Wales

Princess Charlotte Has the Biggest ‘Fashion-Influencing’ Power

Move over, Momma. Princess Charlotte has been revealed as the royal with the most fashion influence.

On 2 May, searches for ‘yellow cardigan’ spiked on eBay, the popular online auction site and retailer. The reason? A recently released picture of Princess Charlotte to mark her second birthday, in which she’s sporting a yellow cardigan.

“Her yellow cardigan worn in her birthday picture sparked the biggest percentage increase in searches for an item of clothing worn by any royal,” said an eBay spokesperson.

“There were three searches an hour for the item itself – ‘yellow cardigan’ – across the whole month, peaking on the day the photo was first released.”

Simply put, “Princess Charlotte has the biggest ‘spend power’ of the royals this year.”

It’s not just the yellow cardigan, though. When Princess Charlotte wore a Liberty print smock dress on a tarmac in Germany this summer, eBay noted a six-fold increase in searches for “Princess Charlotte Dress.”

Princess Charlotte’s influence is more powerful than her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, who has been a fashion mainstay since well before her 2011 wedding. Catherine routinely tops fashion lists and is a member of the Best Dressed Hall of Fame.

The Duchess of Cambridge has been more popular in the United States, according to eBay, where users search for her name two times every hour, which is double the rate in the United Kingdom.

Catherine’s most popular outfit on eBay so far this year? A blue Saloni dress she wore in April.

“The Royal Family are hugely popular with British buyers with Her Majesty regularly attracting the attention of shoppers,” said Murray Lambell, eBay’s Vice President of Trading, in a statement.

“But it’s the youngest generation of royals who really generate the must-have fashion items – and driving a new generation of shopping behaviour on eBay.”

And don’t count out Prince George. In the last three months, 1,500 items related to the young prince were sold on eBay, with one item bought every hour. By comparison, Princess Charlotte’s name has sold 500 items in that same period.

About author

Jess Ilse is the Assistant Editor at Royal Central. She specialises in the British, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Royal Families and has been following royalty since Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. Jess has provided commentary for media outlets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Jess works in communications and her debut novel THE MAJESTIC SISTERS will publish in Fall 2024.