It is a universal custom. A gesture of complicity that shows that unconditional bond between mothers and daughters. Searching through a mother’s closet in search of those quality, timeless clothes that apparently look good on all ages is a habit in most homes. Also in the real ones. European princesses, those who have stopped being children and become teenagers, show that the basics that their mothers have worn on several occasions can, and in fact do, have a second life in palaces. A generational change in the form of a dress that confirms the influence of their parents in the style that, little by little, the next monarchical generation will acquire.
Without going any further, Queen Letizia continually lends clothing, accessories and jewelry to Leonor and Sofía, not only to attend public events, but also for their daily lives. The pact, curiously, also works in reverse. One of the most talked about cases of this dance of clothes in the Palacio de la Zarzuela was carried out two years ago by Letizia and Sofía. In November 2022, the Queen wore a romantic short white dress with small polka dots to welcome the president of Paraguay and his wife, the first lady Silvana López Moreira.
However, months before, this versatile Carolina Herrera was debuted by Infanta Sofía to attend the audiences of the 2021 Princess of Asturias Awards. The first combined it with some very high Magrit Shoes stilettos, while the second opted for ballet flats black, adopting a more boyish style in line with their age. It should be noted that the stylistic legacy of the Spanish royal house does not begin with Letizia, but with Queen Emeritus Sofia.
The King’s mother gave several outfits to the current queen of Spain, among them, a beautiful red Carolina Herrera dress with a Perkins collar and pleated skirt that Letizia wore in 2018 and Sofia thirty years before or the famous Valentino two-piece, with full body. of flowered chiffon and emerald skirt, which the king’s mother wore on her visit to Germany in 1977 and which Letizia recovered in 2022.
In Sweden, Princess Victoria began sharing her wardrobe in 2023, little by little, with little Estelle, 12 years old. Dressed for the first time in an evening design, Estelle from Sweden took a leap of sobriety with a green dress from H’s sustainable line
Estelle was preceded in the United Kingdom by Lady Luisa Mountbatten-Windsor. The first daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh has already turned twenty and evidently her wardrobe has made a turn towards maturity like hers. With stiletto heels, exaggerated headdresses and jackets, the granddaughter of Elizabeth II often goes to her mother, Sofia of Edinburgh’s, wardrobe to elevate her looks and thus adopt that classic and sophisticated air of British royalty that her mother has perfected with the passing of the years. Because when it comes to style and dress codes, there is no better advice than that of a mother.
Beyond this blind trust in those who have spent decades perfecting the art of dressing in the highest circles of royalty, there is a deeper meaning and message in the act of lending one another’s clothes. The best example of this was Queen Elizabeth II and her granddaughter Beatrice of York. They are both joined by an iconic and familiar dress, signed by Norman Hartnell and witness to several important moments in the history of the British royal house. White and with silver rhinestones on the bodice and part of the princess-cut skirt, the design accompanied Elizabeth II at the opening of the British Parliament in April 1966 and, after an update on its sleeves, it also witnessed her passage through the altar of his granddaughter in 2020. The design has since been a family legacy, which breathes history between its seams and which represents that vital generational change in royalty.
