The Princess Royal already had the title of ultimate royal fashion recycler and she just confirmed that by wearing a suit that’s over half a century old on her latest big visit.
As Princess Anne toured Singapore with her husband, Sir Tim Laurence, she pulled the ultimate style surprise by choosing an outfit that she first wore 52 years ago.
The pale beige safari suit made an appearance as the Princess visited the Rolls-Royce Seletar Campus during her stay in Singapore. The two piece was a favourite of hers back in the early 1970s and is still on royal duty right here in 2025.
We’re used to seeing Anne fall back on long standing favourites and her passion for recycling has now grown to include using items she inherited from her mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
In 2023, a year after the death of the late Queen, Anne made a very personal tribute to her by wearing the admiral’s cloak that Elizabeth II had used so famously in portraits of her by Cecil Beaton. In February 2024, the Princess wore a purple coat that had been another favourite of her mother.
And it’s made royal fashion followers wonder if this retro trend could be expanded just a little more.
It’s not unheard of for royals to share wardrobes. The heir to the Dutch throne recently made headlines by wearing a green dress that had first belonged to her grandmother. Princess Amalia wore the gown which had first been used by Princess Beatrix who was Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Amalia’s mother, Queen Maxima, has also worn the dress.
In Spain, a famous photo of Queen Letizia with her husband’s family showed her using a red striped dress first seen on her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia.
And Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden has also worn clothes that were first seen on her mother, Queen Silvia.
In fact, given the amazing collection of outfits that most royal houses have, it’s a shame that we don’t see more of this cross generational recycling going on.
Being totally basic about it, this season is all about retro with a big focus on the 70s and there are some amazing royal looks from the decade they used to say style forgot that would tick all the fashion boxes this winter.
Raiding the royal wardrobes would bolster those green credentials while bringing out some of the looks that have actually inspired the trends everyone is chasing.
Royal fashion from times gone by is already big – there are plenty of Instagram and Pinterest accounts charting previous stylish moments while the Royal Collection Trust chose to mark the centenary of the birth of Queen Elizabeth II by putting on one of its biggest ever style exhibitions which will feature hundreds of items from the royal wardrobe including a good dose of 70s chic.
It’s just one more reason to hope that the royals all make more like Anne and start dressing, quite literally, from the 1970s. She’s always been the Princess to keep up with and she just proved that point once more. With style.
