Figure 1.--Johann Zoffany in 1765 painted George Prince of Wales with his brother Edward Duke of York in the second drawing-room of Buckingham Palace. Both boys wear dresses styled just like those that might have been worn by little girls. Click ob the image to see the drawing room. The interezting aspect of the drawing room is that images of the Stuart children were hung there along with portraits of, I think, King George II and his wife.

The children when young, both boys and girls, wore dresses that were indistinguishable in design. The boys here are a good example. The boys are George (future Goeorge IV) and Edward Duke of York (figure 1). The boys look to be wearing identical dresses only done in different colors. red and yellow and green and white. George (the boy in red) looks to be holding a round black object. I'm not sure what that was. Notice the boys playing with a Prince Charles Spaniel, a breed more associated with the Stuarts. Notice they are also pictured on one of the portraits on the wall. (You have to click on the image here to see the drawing room.) Unfortunately we do not have any details about how breeching was handled. We do not know if there was a family cremony. Also we do not know if there was a precise age involved. We know that George and Edward Duke of York were very close un age. Were they breeched chronolgically or was it done at the same time. One image of the boys still in dresses shows them with rather short hair. Apparently the convention in the royal family was to cut the boys' hair before breeching. We see the boys by age 5 years perhaps even earlier wearing brightly colored knee breechs suits. We also notice the boys wearing blouses and shirts with wide open collars. The Duke of Windsor reports that as a boy he used to envy the children of George III. A painting of the children by Gaindsborough showing them in comfortable open collars hung in Windsor Castle.

Created: 10:31 PM 1/31/2005
Last updated: 10:31 PM 1/31/2005