Royal christening: the outfit

Less than forty eight hours until the next big royal event of the year and all eyes will be on the outfit.  No, not Kate's.  We don't know what she'll be wearing yet but given her tendency to pay tributes to Diana, Princess of Wales on big occasions in her life with Prince William, it might well be something pink and flowery.  The outfit in question is Prince George's.  And while it might look like the traditional outfit for British royal babies, there is a subtle difference this time round.

 

William on his christening day in August 1982.  His son will look very similar but there is a subtle difference in their outfits

 

It's a replica.  It's all but the same as the historic gown that William wore on August 4th 1982 for his christening in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace but it's completely 21st century, like the little prince who will be wrapped up in it.  The original, made in 1841 for the baptism of Queen Victoria's first born child, was deemedtoo fragile to be used again by Elizabeth II and is tucked away in the drawer marked historic.  This version was made by one of the Queen's advisers, Angela Kelly, after the christening of Lady Louise Windsor in 2004 when the monarch decided the original was too old to stay in continued use.

 

 

The christening of Lady Louise Windsor in April 2004 took place in the private chapel of Windsor Castle and was the last time the gown commissioned by Queen Victoria was used by a royal baby

 

Lady Louise's brother, Viscount Severn, was the first baby to wear the new gown when he was christened almost four years to the day after his sister.  And the Queen's first two great grand children - Savannah and Isla Phillips -  wore the gown at their baptisms. 

 

 

Savannah Phillips is christened in the replica royal gown in April 2011 in Gloucestershire

 

But George is the first future king to wear it and the first baby born to rule not to wear the original since 1842.  Six generations of monarchs in waiting were wrapped in the Honiton lace creation - Queen Victoria loved to use the material to help bring trade to the part of Devon where it is made - but George Alexander Louis of Cambridge is a very modern king to be.  And just as Victoria brought a new tradition to the royal family she would come to dominate by commissioning the first gown, so the monarch who will soon replace her as the longest reigning in British history has given another piece of tradition to the royal house which is now hers.  Neither girl was born to rule but both have commanded a dynasty and left it healthier than anyone could have dreamed it might be when they took it over.  Two women, two gowns and two lasting legacies that start in silk and lace on a little baby's back.

 

 

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the accidental queen, in the christening gown commissioned by her great great grandmother, Victoria, the other little girl who unexpectedly inherited a realm meant for others