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Princess Beatrice upcycles Queen’s dress from 1961 for her wedding


Beatrice’s wedding dress was originally worn by the Queen (Picture:PA)

Princess Beatrice didn’t have the traditional huge royal wedding, instead opting for an intimate secret ceremony in Windsor.

And when it came to her dress, she decided not to go for a bespoke designer dress like other recent royal brides, instead upcycling a dress given to her by her grandmother the Queen.

Beatrice married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, on Friday.

Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi after their wedding with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (Picture: Benjamin Wheeler/Buckingham Palace/AFP via Getty Images)

Images released over the weekend give the first glimpse of what the simple day was like, with just the couple, their parents, siblings and the Queen and Prince Philip in attendance.

The photographs show Beatrice wearing the Peau De Soie taffeta dress by Norman Hartnell.

Princess Beatrice of York and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi leave The Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor (Picture: Benjamin Wheeler/Buckingham Palace/AFP via Getty Images)

It’s believed the Queen first wore the dress for a state dinner held in honour of the then Italian President Giovanni Gronchi at the British Embassy in Rome on 4 May 1961 that year.

But she wore it again to the world premiere of Lawrence Of Arabia at the Odeon Leicester Square in December 1962 and for her speech in the House of Lords in 1966.

The white statin gown is covered in beaded embroidery from the neckline right down to the mid-thigh.

To update the dress for her wedding, Beatrice chose to add some puff sleeves as well as removing the underskirts and the bubble hem, replacing it with a silk trim.

The vintage dress was remodelled and fitted by the Queen’s senior dresser Angela Kelly and designer Stewart Parvin, Buckingham Palace said.

Queen Elizabeth II arriving at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London for the world charity premiere of the film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ in 1962 wearing the same dress (Picture: PA)

The Queen also loaned the tiara she wore on her own wedding day in 1947 to Beatrice.

The diamond fringe tiara was made in 1919 from a necklace gifted from Queen Victoria to Queen Mary.

Queen Elizabeth planned to wear the tiara from her own grandmother on her wedding day but it snapped on the morning of the wedding.

Luckily, following some emergency repairs, she walked down the aisle wearing the tiara to marry Prince Philip.

Princess Anne also wore the tiara for her wedding to Mark Phillip in 1973.

A royal author said that the Queen loaning the items to Beatrice was an ‘act of solidarity’ following the controversy around her father Prince Andrew’s relationship with Jeffery Epstein.

Although the Duke of York attended the wedding and walked his daughter down the aisle, he was not featured in any of the official photographs.

Penny Junor told the PA news agency: ‘It’s really touching that the Queen showed such solidarity with her, especially with the tiara that she herself was married in speaks volumes.

‘I think it shows how fond her grandparents are of her, it’s really heartwarming.’

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