Princess Anne is the queen of royal recycling – these are some of her best looks

The Princess Royal is one of the most dedicated members of the Royal Family, spending decades faithfully supporting her mother and now her brother. However, she has also quietly became a fashion icon for her majorly green approach to her wardrobe. 

Princess Anne loves classic clothes

Princess Anne tends to gravitate towards fairly classic styles, meaning that her clothing is rarely trendy. While many royals like to introduce new items into their wardrobe for both personal and private events, Anne usually looks to what she has first. 

The ultimate winner has to be a blue suede coat with fur trim. She first wore it in 1976 to attend a wedding, and has worn it an additional seven times since. The ever-practical princess has made it clear that if it’s still functional, it stays in the rotation. 

The close runner up would be a purple, trench-style coat that she first wore in 1982 and wore another five times publicly. 

Eagle-eyed royal watchers may have spotted an historic rewear in 2008 when Anne decided to rewear the white and yellow wrap dress that she first wore to Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer’s 1981 wedding. She even wore the same cocktail hat as the original outing. 

Evening gowns worn to the max

Although recycling evening-wear is not particularly common for royal women, the Princess Royal does what she likes and rewears her favourite gowns. 

In 2024, she rewore a gown that she first wore almost forty years early. She wore the white, embroidered evening gown to the Qatari State Dinner, bringing the vintage glamour with substantial puffed sleeves. 

She often will choose to update gowns to give them a new look. In 1984, Anne chose a dress with a pink silk top complete with puffed sleeves and a herringbone print skirt. In her early 2000s rewear, she had the pink silk top transformed in a button-up style for a different silhouette. 

Princess Anne does not only give a long life to her own clothing, though- she continually pulls from her late mother’s wardrobe, too. 

In February 2024, she wore a purple velvet coat that her mother wore in Scotland in 2006.