A collection of national and international importance
The Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection is a Designated collection of national and international importance, cared for by Historic Royal Palaces. It contains 10,000 items of historic dress and related material from the 16th century to the present day, providing information about the history of fashion, life at court, British ceremonial traditions, and the lives of key historical figures. Our collection contains items of clothing worn by royalty including George III, Queen Victoria, Princess Margaret, Diana, Princess of Wales and Queen Elizabeth II.
The collection was created in the early 1980s after the historian Aubrey Bowden loaned Kensington Palace a significant collection of court uniforms. In 1989, the collection was passed to Historic Royal Palaces, who have continued to expand and develop the collection, which also contains prints, sketches, historical photographs, letters, diaries and scrapbooks.
The collection is open by appointment for research and education purposes, based at Hampton Court Palace. To enquire about appointments, please email curators@hrp.org.uk.
Arts Council England : Designation Scheme
The Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection is a Designated collection of national and international importance, cared for by Historic Royal Palaces.
Treasures from the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection
The Rockingham Mantua, c1760s
A mantua was a large wide dress worn over whalebone hoops and lined with heavy silver thread. This dress has silk satin brocaded in silver thread with silver lace trim. Probably worn by Mary, Marchioness of Rockingham, wife of British Prime Minister Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham.
Muslin sack-back court dress
White Indian cotton muslin embroidered with trailing sprays of flowers and leaves in silver wire and silver strip, trimmed with silver lace and gimp. The sack-back was a fashionable 18th-century gown with the fabric at the back arranged in box pleats at the shoulders, falling loose to the ground with a slight train. The dress would have been worn with a wide square hoop under the petticoat.
Royal baby gown
A hand-stitched, fine silk robe worn by George, Prince of Wales (later Prince Regent, then King George IV) (1762-1830).
King George III's waistcoat (back), 1819
This silk damask waistcoat was probably one of the last items of clothing the King wore before his death in January 1820. In the last years of his life, pieces of fabric were inserted into the sleeves to aid mobility and make dressing the King easier.
Baby shoes
Ivory silk satin shoes believed to have been worn by Princess Beatrice (1857-1944) when she was about 18 months old. These are the smallest shoes in the collection.
Confetti bag
A gold confetti bag with tassel for the wedding of Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (1887-1969). This silk and gilt cone of rice confetti, with the initials VE adorning the side, is thought to have belonged to a bridesmaid of Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg and carried at the wedding. The confetti is still inside as tragedy struck the wedding procession when an anarchist threw a bomb at the royal carriage and an outrider was killed. Victoria Eugenia was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She was Queen Consort of Spain as the wife of King of Spain Alfonso XIII of Bourbon, whom she married on 31 May 1906.
Court Dress by Jeanne Lanvin, 1928
Court dress of pale peach silk georgette with silver bugle beads. Created by Jeanne Lanvin (1867-1946).
This dress was worn by Lillian Wardman at her daughter’s court presentation ceremony in 1928.
Diana, Princess of Wales's 'Travolta' dress, by Victor Edelstein, 1985
A midnight blue silk velvet evening dress designed by Victor Edelstein, also known as the ‘Travolta dress’. The Princess wore this dress when she danced with John Travolta at the White House, Washington DC, while at a State Dinner in 1985. She wore the dress with her pearl and sapphire choker.
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An embroidered jacket, possibly from the collection of Queen Victoria
The pink silk jacket dates from the early 1860s and is embellished with embroidery in silver metal thread. It may have been acquired in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul).
Image: © Historic Royal Palaces
Discover more
New dress on display at the Tower of London
See items from the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection in the Jewel House
In May 2024, two new items from the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection went on display in the Crown Jewels exhibition at the Tower of London.
The Real Norman Hartnell: Beyond 'Silver and Gold'
Hear from our experts on our blog
The Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection has beautiful examples of Hartnell's clothes, designs and archives.
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Conserving the palaces and our collections is expensive work and as an independent charity we receive no funding from the Government or the Crown. We depend on our visitors, members, donors, volunteers and sponsors to help us.
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