Deep Jade Outfit with Velvet Trim, Angela Kelly Hat

On Maundy Thursday, 13 April 2017, the Queen debuted a new outfit to take part in the traditional Royal Maundy Service at Leicester Catherdral (Daily Mail article here). It comprises a deep jade jacquard coat and dress with bottle green velvet trim and velvet-covered buttons and a deep jade felt hat by Angela Kelly trimmed with slightly overlapping velvet sleeves. The Queen wore her sorghum brooch, a gift from the President of Botswana:

 

Pale Blue Bouclé Outfit with Navy Buttons and Navy Roses Trim

On 26 November 2015, the Queen debuted a new outfit for her arrival in Malta, where she was due to open the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Daily Mail article here).
The ensamble is comprised of a pale blue bouclé coat and hat; the most striking feature about the coat are its slightly oversized navy blue buttons, grouped in a row of three close to the neckline. The colour is echoed in the navy silk roses that embellish the hat, a creation by Angela Kelly. The Queen accessorized with Queen Victoria's wedding gift sapphire and diamond brooch:

The look was repeated on 16 March 2017, when the Queen officially reopened the National Army Museum in London following a 3-year redevelopment (Daily Mail article here). This time she wore the Queen Mother's Palm Leaf brooch to complement the outfit:

Orchid Tweed Coat by Karl Ludwig and Pom Pom-Trimmed Hat by Angela Kelly

On 3 March 2017, the Queen debuted a new Karl Ludwig outfit and Angela Kelly hat on a visit to the Royal Welsh Regiment at Lucknow Barracks in Tidworth, Wiltshire, of which she is Colonel-in-Chief, to mark St David's Day (Daily Mail article here).

The outfit is comprised of a diamond-patterned tweed coat, block-colour cerise dress and orchid felt hat finished with a triple looped bow and three purple, grey and cerise pompoms on the side.

For this engagement, the Queen accessorized with the Royal Welsh regimental brooch:

Purple Wool Crepe Angela Kelly Coat with Velvet Trim, Iris-Trimmed Hat

The Queen honoured the 60th anniversary of Duke of Edinburgh's Award, started by her husband in 1956, with the debut of a new outfit to the Service of Thanksgiving that was held at Westminster Abbey on 24 November 2016 (Daily Mail article here).

The Angela Kelly outfit comprises a wool crepe outfit in bright purple, with purple velvet trim at the neck, cuffs and pockets and purple-covered buttons, a hat covered in the same purple fabric and accented with a dark purple velvet hatband and trimmed with a mass of purple edged white silk iris blooms, green silk leaves and purple felt curling leaves. Just visible underneath Her Majesty's coat is a silk dress in a grey and cream checked pattern, interspersed with purple flowers. For this first outing, the Queen accessorized with the Kent amethyst brooch:

On 7 April 2017, the Queen repeated the look for another engagement at Westminster, a Service of Thanksgiving held at St Margaret's Church in honour of the late Lord Snowdon, Princess Margaret's former husband (Daily Mail article here). This time the Queen opted for her amethyst bouquet brooch:

Light Coral Coat with Pearl Buttons, Straw Hat with Silk Flower Trim

The Queen debuted a new coral outfit on 27 June 2016, when she attended what was dubbed the 'society wedding of the year', between the Hon. Alexandra Knatchbull, a great-granddaughter of the Earl Mountbatten of Burma and a goddaughter of Princess Diana, and Thomas Hooper at Romsey Abbey in Hampshire.

Romsey Abbey undoubtedly holds some special memories for the Queen and the Duke, as it was here that they made one of their first public appearances in the early days of their courtship, when they both attended the wedding of the bride's grandmother, Patricia Mountbatten, in October 1946.

The Queen wore a new coral coat with patch pockets and large pearl buttons, a floral print silk dress in coral and light green and a hat by an unconfirmed designer, in coral sinamay trimmed with coral silk flowers and a large loop bow (Daily Mail article here). She finished off her look with the Singapore Peranakan Diamond Jubilee brooch:

 

The Prince of Wales gave the bride away:



A Tale of Two Turquoise Patterned Coats, Dresses and Hats

Oh, I love the colour of this outfit! A vibrant turquoise silk with a subtle floral pattern, this has actually had two incarnations in the course of its life - first as a black-fur trimmed ensamble with cossack hat, then later has lost all the fur trim and acquired a fabric-covered bucket hat with a diamenté and turquoise studded claps (one of very few to have such an embellishment in Her Majesty's hat box!). Either that, or the Queen had two sets made in the same fabric, although I'm all in favour of the remodelling option, as Her Majesty is thrifty with her wardrobe, plus the garments main features (collarless coat with self-covered buttons and matching dress with deep pleats) remained fixed.

Anyway, let's take a closer look at the first verison of this look, seen to my knowledge only once, on 21 October 2008, upon the Queen's arrival in Ljubljana, a the start of an official visit to Slovenia. The coat then sported two large bands of black fur at the hem and black fur cuffs.

 

The dress was then visible in all its glory when the Queen attended a reception hosted by the British Ambassador at the Hotel Union on the same evening. It's in the same intricately patterned fabric as the coat, with cuffs trimmed with fur on a smaller scale. The Queen kept on one of Queen Victoria's diamond bow brooches:

 

 

Fast forward a few years, just days prior to the Royal Wedding, for the traditional Maundy Thursday service at Westminster Abbey on 21 April 2011, the Queen's 85th birthday (Daily Mail article here). Interestingly, this was also the first time in the Queen's reign that the two occasions have coincided. Not a hint of fur in sight, a brand new hat, and the birthday girl looked terrific in turquoise, topping off her look with the Jardine Star brooch:

 

On 21 October 2011, we saw the dress worn on its own for official meetings at Government House, Canberra, during the Queen's official visit to Australia. I'm pretty much convinced that this is exactly the same dress as the one worn in Slovenia, as opposed to the Queen having had a second, identical one made, with the sleeves slightly shortened to allow for the removal of the fur cuffs.  Her Majesty met with Prime Minister Julia Gillard (seen below), Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott and other senior politicians. She wore the Nizam of Hyderabad diamond rose brooch:

 

 

The dress was worn on its own on 8 October 2014, for a private audience at Buckingham Palace with, among others, the new High Commissioner for Singapore, Ms Foo Chi Hsia (seen below). The Nizam of Hyderabad Rose brooch was worn again:

The Queen repeated the dress on 14 October 2015, again for audiences at Buckingham Palace (she is shown below with Barbara Woodward, Britain's Ambassador to China). She wore one of Queen Victoria's Bow brooches:

Red-Speckled White Bouclé Outfit

The Queen debuted this outfit on 25 June 2015, when she attended a garden party in her honour at the British Ambassador's residence in Berlin. It's made up of a collarless coat and matching dress in a white bouclé fabric with red speckles and a white textured straw hat trimmed with a white silk carnation and red-tipped feathers (Daily Mail article here). The Queen wore the Queen Mother's ruby and diamond bouquet brooch: