Despite being the world’s longest living reigning monarch and one of the most photographed women of the past century, it seems Queen Elizabeth still requires some assistance from her wardrobe when it comes to standing out.
The Queen is famous for her brightly coloured pant suits – she can rock a bold lime, purple, pink, blue or yellow outfit like nobody’s business – and it turns out her penchant for gloriously bright clothing isn’t just for show.
There’s actually a very practical strategy behind it – ensuring she stands out in a crowd and is always noticed.
The Queen is easy to spot when she is attending official royal engagements.
This is crucial both for security reasons – so her protection officers can see where she is at all times – and to distinguish Her Majesty from other members of the public at royal events.
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Journalist and royal author Sali Hughes revealed in her new book about the monarch, Our Rainbow Queen, that her colourful outfits are chosen with extreme care and planning
“She won’t attend an engagement at a grassy venue, like a racecourse or garden party, in camouflaging green,” Sali wrote in her book.
“But she will happily deploy green to stand out where it’s needed.”
She also revealed that The Queen picks the colour of her outfits to reflect some emotional connection to the country she is visiting or the event she is attending.
For example, when visiting Australia she has often “worn yellow gold, one of Australia’s national colours, on every royal tour of that country” and that pink, which was “once her favourite and most flattering colour” is now saved as a “rarer treat”, replaced these days with more blues and purples.
The Queen looks gorgeous in a bright purple jacket and matching hat.
(Credit: Getty)
Her Majesty reportedly loves to wear pink.
(Credit: Getty)But when she is “off duty”, relaxing at her home in Balmoral or attending one of her many favourite private events, such as the Royal Windsor Horse Show, you’ll notice The Queen wears a completely different colour palette, sticking to neutral colours like beige, khaki and olive green.
According to royal biographer Robert Hardman, The Queen is “engagingly modest” and outside of her official duties, prefers to keep a low profile.
So much so, that her unsuspecting clothes often mean people don’t recognise her and have no idea who she is.
“My favourite remark she ever said was, ‘I can ever wear beige because nobody will know who I am,” Hardman told the BBC.
“She is engagingly modest. This is someone who turned down a set of stamps to mark her 70th birthday, on the grounds that it was a lot of fuss about nothing,” he said.
Her Majesty going under the radar in a neutral beige-green coat and matching silk headscarf, relaxing at home.
(Credit: Getty)And a very recent encounter The Queen had with some American tourists demonstrates perfectly why Her Majesty can easily go under the radar!
While walking the grounds of Balmoral Castle in Scotland recently, the 93-year-old was dressed in her neutral tweeds and wearing a headscarf, while walking with one of her protection officers.
A group of very unsuspecting tourists from the US struck up a conversation with what they thought was a “sweet old lady” who lived nearby and asked if she’d ever met the Queen.
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According to longtime royal staffer, Richard Griffin, who shared the anecdote with the Times of London, The Queen did not reveal herself, but gave a hilariously cheeky response!
“This policeman has,” she told the tourists, while saying that she’d never personally met her, herself!
Remaining completely oblivious, the tourists went on their merry way without once realising who it was they were talking to. How wonderful to be so incognito when you’re the most famous woman in the world.
And now we know why she doesn’t wear beige!
