Handwritten Letters by Elizabeth II to Feature in New Exhibition on the Queen's Fashion

Handwritten correspondence and design sketches will feature in a new exhibition next year to mark the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth at The King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace will play host to the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of the late Queen’s fashion ever mounted.

Through around 200 items, half of which will be on display for the first time, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style will chart the story of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch through clothing worn in all ten decades of her life, from birth to adulthood, from princess to queen, and from off-duty style to diplomatic dressing for the global stage.

Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion archive is one of the largest and most important surviving collections of 20th century British fashion and now forms part of the Royal Collection. Alongside clothing, jewellery, hats, shoes and accessories, there will be discover never-before-seen design sketches and handwritten correspondence that reveal the behind the scenes process of dressing the most famous woman in the world and shed new light on the late Queen’s close involvement in the creation of her wardrobe.

An official publication to mark the centenary, Queen Elizabeth II: Fashion and Style, will accompany the exhibition, written by the exhibition curator and Surveyor of The King’s Works of Art Caroline de Guitau.

"Only now, as the late Queen's fashion archive comes under the care of Royal Collection Trust, can we tell the story of a lifetime of thoughtful style choices," she said, "from her hands-on role and understanding of the soft power behind her clothing, to the exceptional craftsmanship behind each garment. In the year that she would have turned 100 years old, this exhibition will be a celebration of Queen Elizabeth's uniquely British style and her enduring fashion legacy."