Online Courses

A History of Royal Fashion

Enter a 5-week journey into the wardrobes of British kings and queens in the History of Royal Fashion. This will span across five royal dynasties from the Tudors, Stuarts and Georgians to the Victorians and Windsors.

Course Overview

Enter the world of British royal fashion and discover its rich history.

You’ll receive exclusive access to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, and experts at the University of Glasgow and Historic Royal Palaces will invite you to look at a variety of sources that will help you to study the fashion history of British monarchs.

Discover Tudor Fashion

Enter the extravagant world of Tudor fashion and learn about how the Tudors used fashion to project power and wealth, how portraits could be used as propaganda and how Henry VIII liked to dress. Observe a real Tudor hat and learn about the dress from the famous ditchley portrait of Queen Elizabeth I.

Step the wardrobes of Stuarts, Georgians and Victorians

Travel back in time to a 17th Century fancy dress party and witness the costumes and glamorous masques of the Stuart period. Then jump forward to the Georgian period and step into court. You’ll experience courtly dress and big wigs before learning about revolutionary fashion during this time.

Learn about Queen Victoria’s wardrobe and the impact of technological advancements in society on the fashion industry. Take a look at royal wedding dresses and discover Victorian fashion for mourning.

Exploring British royal fashion today

End your journey through the royal eras by studying the fashion of the Windsors. Explore how royal fashion developed into a less extravagant display of suits and blazers.

At the end of the course, you’ll learn about how we conserve and display royal fashion and create exhibitions to highlight the ever-changing trends of British monarchs.

Key Information

Start date

The course can be started anytime. 

Course weeks and hours

• Five weeks (four hours per week)
• Digital certificate when eligible
• Open level

Sign up using the Limited Access option and you will have five weeks to complete the entire course for free. Alternatively, a paid option is available which gives you unlimited access to the course and a certificate of completion.

Key topics

Week 1: Learn how clothes were used to project power

Step into the square shoes of the Tudors and see how their lavish clothes were designed to project power, wealth and control.

Week 2: Discover how the Stuarts influenced trends

The Stuarts are centre stage to showcase how they dressed for leisure and influenced new trends through performance in an increasing time of conflict.

Week 3: See the world of the Glamorous Georgians

Explore the glamorous Georgians, their century of economic and social change, extreme fashions and an era marked by very public and very private monarchs.

Week 4: Explore Victorian Fashion and technology

Move into the reign of Queen Victoria, her own changing wardrobe and how technological advancements took fashion forwards.

Week 5: Discover the royal fashion of the 20th century

Welcome to the 20th century, where the Windsor's balance royal fashion with diplomacy and expectations in an era of mass media and celebrity.

Our Historians

Eleri Lynn

Eleri Lynn is the Curator of the Dress Collection at Historic Royal Palaces. She looks after 10,000 items of royal, court and ceremonial dress in the magical surroundings of Hampton Court Palace.

Matthew Storey

Matthew Storey is a collections curator at Historic Royal Palaces. He works with everything from paintings to royal dress and is interested in what the collections can tell us about who made and used them.

Claudia Acott Williams

Claudia Acott Williams is a Curator at Historic Royal Palaces. She takes care of Kensington Palace and its collections, tells stories about the people who lived there and helps look after the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection.