*** British royalty Edward VII -- children's clothes








Edward VII's Children: Clothes

Edward VII family
Figure 1.--Here is a 1871 engraving of the Prince and Prince of Wales at home. Photographs at the time could not be printed in books and newspapers. The illustration appeared in the "The Graphic". They wre usually rather accurate about depicrions. The princes wear knee pants sailor suits. The princesses wear white dresses. Note the boys' longish hair.

HBC has little information on what Bertie felt about his boyhood clothes or the clothes selected for his children. The boys and girls were each commonly dressed alike as children. Sailor styles were popular and were becoming increasingly adopted by the generl public. Both the princes and princes wore them. We do know, however, that clothing was a major interest of Edward VII as a adult. Like many European royals, Edward was obsessed with clothing, medals, and uniforms. He was especially concerned with clothes. No doubt his mother's refusal to give him any serious official duties were a factor here. Edward was known to reprimand individuals who made even small errors in dress. A particular obsession was mistakingly wearing black rathar than white tie for formal occassions. He even once pubically upbraided Prime Minister Marquess of Salisbury when he appeared at a Buckingham Palac reception inappropriately dressed. The Prime Minister cooly responded thzat when dressing his mind must have been "occupied by some subject of less importance". Reportedly his grandson George VI inherited. [Bradford, 1989, p. 4.]

Edward's Clothing

HBC has little information on what Bertie felt about his boyhood clothes or the clothes selected for his children. We do know, however, that clothing was a major interest of Edward VII as a adult. Like many European royals, Edward was obsessed with clothing, medals, and uniforms. He was especially concerned with clothes. No doubt his mother's refusal to give him any serious official duties were a factor here. Edward was known to reprimand individuals who made even small errors in dress. A particular obsession was mistakingly wearing black rathar than white tie for formal occassions. He even once pubically upbraided Prime Minister Marquess of Salisbury when he appeared at a Buckingham Palace reception inappropriately dressed. The Prime Minister cooly responded thzat when dressing his mind must have been "occupied by some subject of less importance". Reportedly his grandson George VI inherited this concern with propriety. [Bradford, 1989, p. 4.]

Garments

We do not yet know a grest deal about the clothing worn by Edward VII's children. Thus we are just beginning to develop details on the garments that the children wore. Our archive is still very limited, but we hve rchived several images so we do have some information. We know that the boys commonly wore sailor suits. This was a very important style for the boys after breeching. And thevgirls also had silor dresses. We are less sure about their other clothes. The girls of course wore dresses. We know that some had sailor styling, but we do not have much information on the other styles that they wore. We believe they also wore kilts, but unlike sailor suits we do not have images to substantiate this.

Sources

Bradford, Sarah. The Reluctant King: The Life and Reign of George VI, 1995-1952 (New York: St. Marin's Press, 1989), 506p.





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Created: 4:56 AM 3/25/2006
Last updated: 1:36 AM 9/19/2009