Royal Wedding Style: the Queen's Colours

There are plenty of style questions waiting to be answered at the Royal Weddings of Windsor this year and while what the brides might wear is clearly top of all the fashion need to knows, what the Queen will choose is right up there, too. We know there will be a hat, we know there will be a sensible handbag, what we don't know is the colour. But we've got form to go on from previous royal weddings. Tomorrow, I'm looking at the outfits the Queen wore to her own children's weddings but today it's a glance at the style statements from her grandchildren's marriages being as that's the camp Harry and Eugenie fall into. There may even be a clue or two here as to what to expect from the Queen at the Royal Weddings of 2018....

The Wedding of Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly

St. George's Chapel, Windsor, May 2008

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Maybe it was because this was her first foray into the world of grandchildren's weddings but Elizabeth II does seem to have turned up to this one dressed as Queen Mary. This lilac and bronze full length effort is so reminiscent of her own granny that add a bit of sepia tint and cut out the bride and groom and you might just be looking at a photo from 1951. The Queen doesn't usually put a style foot wrong so let's just say she's banked a lot of goodwill points and we're using some of them up here. Because, really, there's no other way to get round the festoon of feathers that took the place of the hat here. It's the most recent wedding at Windsor so not to worry this year's couples but if past form is anything to go by, one of you is getting granny in feathers.

The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton Westminster Abbey, April 2011
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This one doesn't need any introduction. The Queen's yellow ensemble for William and Kate's marriage is actually one of her most recognisable outfits of recent years. The most widely used description for this one is primrose, in keeping with the late spring setting for the wedding. It's an Angela Kelly creation, like many of the Queen's modern looks, and it's reported the colour was chosen to make sure everyone could see the grandmother of the groom. Well, when there's a carriage ride and balconies involved, practicalities have to come first.

The Wedding of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall

Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh, July 2011

Embed from Getty Images I'll admit, this is a bit of a favourite in the Queen's royal wedding looks but then I always think peach and pink suit HM down to the ground. For the marriage of her eldest granddaughter, the Queen chose a peach coat and matching hat and even ditched the trademark black handbag and shoes. As we saw with Charlotte's christening, the Queen doesn't mind doing a touch of pink for a girl. Eugenie is only the second of her four granddaughters to wed so we might well see a brush of blush for the October wedding. Which means Harry and Megs could well be getting the feathers.  Can't wait....