it’s one of the most famous moments of her reign. Elizabeth II’s walkabout in the City of London as she marked her Silver Jubilee in 1977 has become one of the iconic images of her long rule. And the outfit she chose, in pink, remains one of her best known. However, the coat and hat that made her stand out against the slightly grey skies and the huge crowds wasn’t just eye catching. It also had a special link to her royal dynasty’s history.
Four decades earlier, the then Princess Elizabeth had been one of the most photographed guests at the Silver Jubilee celebrations of her grandfather, King George V. It was the first time Britain had marked a monarch’s quarter of a century of rule and interest in the festivities was high. The princess, then nine, and her sister, Princess Margaret Rose, five, were favourites of the press as were their parents, Albert and Elizabeth, Duke and Duchess of York. As the family of four arrived at St. Paul’s Cathedral on the morning of May 6 1935, the press cameras stirred into action to capture the picture perfect group.
What newspaper readers and cine reel viewers saw was a sepia tinted version of the Jubilee. What the photographers and crowds saw was two princesses dressed in pink.
The only granddaughters of King George V and Queen Mary, at the time, were dressed in pink coats with round, wide brimmed hats. They made their way into the Cathedral for the service where a famous painting of the event shows them sat directly behind the Jubilee king and queen.
Over forty years later, as Elizabeth II marked her own Jubilee, she chose a pink coat and hat for her own Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Any possibility that this was a co-incidence surely disappears when the outfit picked by Princess Margaret for the service is considered. For Margaret, too, wore pastel pink with a hat that was almost identical in shape to the one she had used at her grandfather’s Jubilee.
The pink outfit, by Hardy Amies, with the hat created by Simone Mirman, became one of the most iconic of The Queen’s reign and will star in an exhibition at Holyroodhouse being put on by the Royal Collection Trust to mark her Platinum Jubilee. However, it may well trace its origins to her beloved ‘Grandpa England’, a nod to the historic past of the House of Windsor at a special moment in her own reign.
