Figure 1.--This photgraph taken about 1899 shows the popularity of sailor suits with royal family. The future George VI still is young enough to wear a sailor kilt-skirt, but his older brother, the future Edward VIII had graduated to short pants. This is one of the few photographs of him in short pants. More commonly he wore kneepants and long stockings. Note the strap shoes and verical stripes on the shorts.

David by age 5 was wearing very smart short panted sailor suits with ankle socks. There are a lot of pictures of the future Edward VIII and his brother in matching sailor suits and broad-brimmed hats, often with their sister Mary wearing a sailor suit (with skirt) or a smock. Sailor suits and kilts were the only clothes his father felt appropriate for boys. Note that the sailor suits chosen for the boys are the classic ones looking very much like the uniforms of actual seamen. One exception is that the outfits worn with short pants often have vertical stripes on the shorts. I'm not sure what the origin of this style was. Notably David's uncle, Albert Victor also had vertical stripes on the pants of his kneepants. Sailor suits and kilts were the only clothes his father felt appropriate for boys. David says that he and his brothers and sisters were always "on parade". His father would never let his children forget that. David says, "If we appeared before him with our Navy lanyards afraction of an inch out of place ... there would be an outburst worthy of the quarter-deck of a warship."

Age

David by age 5 was wearing very smart short panted sailor suits with ankle socks. At abou5 5-6 years of age we see him wearing a dark suit with long bell-bottom trousers. We notice him at age 8 riding a pony wearing a dark knee pants sailor suit with long stocks at about 8 years of age. At at about age 11 he wears awhite suit with long bellbottom trousers.

Siblings

There are a lot of pictures of the future Edward VIII and his brother in matching sailor suits and broad-brimmed hats, often with their sister Mary wearing a sailor suit (with skirt) or a smock. David and Bertie were dressed identically, although there were slifgt variations as a result of their ages when they were very young. Their younger siblings also wore sailor suits, although Mary often wore white dresses rather than a sailor outfit. The boys were basicallyh dressed alike at similar ages, although in group portraits there are some times differences as a result of thir ages.

George V's Preferences

Sailor suits and kilts were the only clothes his father felt appropriate for boys. David says that he and his brothers and sisters were always "on parade". His father would never let his children forget that. David says, "If we appeared before him with our Navy lanyards afraction of an inch out of place ... there would be an outburst worthy of the quarter-deck of a warship." David and his brothers were brought up in very strict and, by all accounts, austere circumstances. Clothing was on part of the strict regime in the royal family. David complained that his father was very strict about how David and his brother wore their sailor suits. The boys were not allowed to keep their hands in their pockets and were rebuked by their father if the did so. David complained that the famous painting of his grandfather, the future Edward VII, showed him in a comfortable pose with his hands in his pockets. Such was not the case for David. If his father saw David with his hands in his pockets, there would be a great dressing down. Finally when he observed David with his hands stuffed in his pocket, their nanny Lala was summoned and ordered to sew up the pockets of all their sailor suits, a royal command which, "despite some inwardreservations, she did not dare to disobey". This view of George V is widely held. This is in part due to the fact that Edward VIII wrote more about his father than his younger siblings. The King was rather severe with his children, especially as they got older. How they dressed appears to have been a constant source of critisim. What is less clear if he was than severe than other Victorian fathers. Certainly he was more severe than his father, but parentsin the 19th Century should not be judged by today's permissive standards. While it is true that his relationship with his older children was rather formal, it is also true that he was a very loving and engaged father with the children when they are younger. Notably his other children were not nearly as critical as Edward.

Occassions

Many of the availablr photographs of David and his brothers and sister are formal portraits. Here they often wore sailor suits. They did not, however, jst wear sailor suits when dressing up. There are less formal photographs and here we also see the children wearing sailor suits. They were worn for ply as well. Thus for David and his brothers and sisters, the sailor suit was a very versitile garment. As a result and because of their father's preferences, the children probably spent most of thor time dressed in sailor suits.

Figure 2.--David and his brothers and sisters wore traditionally styled sailor suits, just like the ones worn by Royal Naby sailors.

Styles

Note that the sailor suits chosen for the boys are the classic ones looking very much like the uniforms of actual seamen. One exception is that the outfits worn with short pants often have vertical stripes on the shorts. I'm not sure what the origin of this style was. Notably David's uncle, Albert Victor also had vertical stripes on the pants of his kneepants. The children had several different sailor suits. As younger boys middy blouses were work with kilt-skirts. When they were older they wore them with kneepants and long pants. There were several different combinations, white, blue, and mixed (white middy bloyse and blue pants). The white suits were of course summer ear and the blue suits winter wear. Other than the basic seasonality, I'm not sure what the convention was for deciding what was worn for which occassion.

Garments

We have noted David and his siblings wearing a variety of sailor suits and sailor suit garments. We notice both white and dark (presumably navy blue suits. We see photographs of David and his brothers wearing sailor caps. They wore middy blouses with kilt skirts, kneepants and long (bell botton) trousers. We do not entirely understand the choice of trousers. Age was a factor, but not the only factor. Here we see Bertie wearing a middy blouse with a kilt and his only slightly older brother David weraring his identical middy blouse with kneepants (figure 1). We have also noted them wearing reefer jackets. The suits as very young children were stylized, but by the time they are about 5 years old they are wearing littlecreloicas of Royal Navy unifoms. An exception here were the trousers whoch could be knee pnts.

Created: 4:24 AM 10/11/2004
Last updated: 1:34 AM 5/6/2007