Still life details Queen Elizabeth IIAnd the story of his longest rule in British history, people have been talking about since his departure from our world last Thursday at the Balmoral Palace at the age of 96.
Perhaps the late queen’s wedding dress, who was always known for its elegance, remained for many months, until it appeared on November 20, 1947, at her wedding to the naval officer, Prince Philip, and all of him. they waited in Britain after World War II.
Speculation about what the 21-year-old would wear before the big day has reached the point where the royal palace had to cover the windows of designer Norman Hartnell’s studio to prevent spying, and there is a historical account of the making of the famous dress, titled “Dress”.
Behind this gorgeous dress is a story behind 5 facts about a dress that occupied the world for many months during that time.
First fact
The famous book stated that the final design of the queen’s wedding dress was approved less than 3 months before the big day.
While brides usually take months to prepare their dresses, tailoring for Princess Elizabeth’s gown didn’t begin until August 1947, according to the Royal Collection Trust, less than three months before her wedding.
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The design by Norman Hartnell, one of the leading British designers of the time, won the title of “most beautiful dress I have ever made”.
It also took the painstaking effort of the 350 women to launch into the creation of the intricate and detailed piece in such a short amount of time, and they all vowed to keep it a secret to protect any details on Princess Elizabeth’s special day, vowing to avoid escaping. news to the press.
Betty Foster, the 18-year-old seamstress who worked on the dress at the Hartnell studio, explained that the Americans rented the apartment across the street to see if they could catch a glimpse of the dress.
According to “The Telegraph”, while the designer placed a tight cover on the windows of the workroom, using white gauze to prevent nosy people.
“The lover and the beloved” is a “damask brocade” fabric pattern.
Queen Elizabeth chose the “lover and lover” motif to embroider her dress, a “Damascus brocade” motif that the Syrian capital, Damascus, was famous for 3000 years ago, and it takes 10 hours to make one meter of this. woven because of the delicate and intricate patterns and details.
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It is sometimes known as “brocade”, an Italian word derived from the word brocatello, which means an elaborate silk cloth embroidered with gold or silver thread.
In 1947, the then Syrian president, Shukri al-Quwatli, sent two hundred meters of brocade to Queen Elizabeth II, where she was weaving brocade on an old loom dating back to 1890 and took 3 months.
The queen wore a damask brocade gown again at the time of her enthronement as queen in 1952. It is decorated with two birds and is kept in the London Museum.
The second fact:
To another surprise, British women gave Princess Elizabeth ration vouchers to help pay for the dress, due to the country’s austerity after World War II.
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The austerity measures therefore meant that people had to use coupons to pay for clothes, and British women would sell their shares to the queen’s dress.
While the British government then gave Princess Elizabeth 200 vouchers for the extra ration, women across the UK were so happy to see her get married that they sent her their vouchers to help cover the price of the dress, in one. show that was very moving.
Third fact:
The princess’s dress was inspired by Botticelli’s painting, where the inspiration for Hartnell’s wedding dress came from an unusual place.
The painting “Primavera” by the famous Italian artist Sandro Botticelli was the source of the idea and the word “Primavera” means spring in Italian.
The painting shows a perfect way to combine the new beginning of a marriage and a new beginning for the country after the war, as Princess Elizabeth was covered in intricate flower and leaf motifs embroidered with crystals and pearls.
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The Royal Collection Trust website reported that designer Hartnell stressed the need to assemble the motifs into a design that matches the flower bouquet.
Fourth fact:
Perhaps one of the most notable details was that her look was decorated with 10,000 hand-embroidered pearl beads on the fabric of the dress.
The designer also wanted to ensure the production of silk and satin in Britain, and the pearls were imported from America, after reassuring the public that the silkworms came from China and not from one of the countries with which Britain he fought a war, like Japan or Italy, according to City and Country.
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Fifth fact:
Information confirmed that the late queen did not try to wear the dress or try it on until her wedding day, unlike members of the royal family who take their time to prepare the wedding dresses.
It turns out that then Princess Elizabeth didn’t know if her dress would fit properly until the morning of the wedding.
Foster told the aforementioned seamstress that Elizabeth’s dress was delivered on the wedding day in honor of the tradition that trying on a wedding dress before the wedding day is a disgrace.
The reign is the longest
Interestingly, the Queen of England died last Thursday at Balmoral Castle, her summer residence in Scotland, at the age of 96, after a reign which is the longest in UK history, having lasted 70 years.
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Queen Elizabeth
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On Sunday, her body was transported by car through remote Highland villages to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, on a six-hour journey that will allow her loved ones to say goodbye.
The coffin will be flown to London on Tuesday, where it will remain in Buckingham Palace, to be flown the next day to Westminster Hall and there until the day of the funeral, which will take place on Monday 19 September at Westminster Abbey at 11:00 local time. time (1000 GMT).
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