Royal fashion history is an interesting area of study. I would argue that in most cases, historic royal clothing is no more or less important than any of our clothing (save for pieces like coronation robes). However, it is preserved in a way that most of us will never know. Historically, we have all used our clothing and recycled it until it held no life- royal clothing and jewellery is kept. While it is mostly held in museum and trust collections, we do periodically get a glimpse of movement. Today I’ll be exploring royal fashion auctions and what they look like!
Where Do These Royal Garments Come From?
Sadly, there is no chance of one of The Queen’s Norman Hartnell gowns showing up in your local thrift store. For much of the twentieth century, the royal family has kept the majority of their clothing, understanding that they do have a history associated with them. However, even looking back to Queen Alexandra (consort to King Edward VII, 1901-1910), members of the royal family would routinely give clothing away. Servants would often receive pieces from the royals they served, and could either alter them to fit themselves or sell them. (Dr. Kate Strasdin’s book Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Queen Alexandra goes into this in-depth!)
Or in rare cases, we’ve got a case like the Bacton Altar Cloth, which actually turned out to be one of Queen Elizabeth I’s dresses that was repurposed for ecclesiastical tasks.
In the case of jewellery, that tended to be given more as a gift, particularly when a royal died. A few Marie Antoinette’s pieces of jewellery were recently up for auction, and she had given them to her daughter prior to her death in 1793.
Modern Royal Fashion Auctions
The late Princess of Wales took a different path in many ways, and that included with her clothing. In June of 1997, Diana auctioned off 79 of her previously worn ensembles to raise money for several different cancer and AIDs related causes. Run by Christie’s International in New York, the Princess of Wales raised over $5,000,000 for her causes between the sales of the garments and related catalogue sales/events.
Many of Princess Margaret’s pieces also ended up going to auction. Upon her death in 2002, her children were faced with high death duties/taxes, and put many of her pieces up for auction. Periodically different pieces of hers, normally jewellery, will come back to auction for one reason or another.
I do not believe that there will be any auction of Queen Elizabeth II’s garments or jewellery (at least not of any pieces not already belonging to private collectors). I am curious, though, to see if the Duchess of Cambridge or the Duchess of Sussex will put any of their pieces up for auction in the future.
The Outcome
The outcome of these auctions can vary greatly. In a lot of cases, these pieces end up being purchased by a museum or heritage organisation. Historic Royal Palaces include the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, so they will often buy historic pieces. The Fashion Museum in Bath also has several royal pieces in their collections, so I wouldn’t be shocked to see a piece go there either. (Ditto for the V&A.)
However, many of these pieces of clothing and jewellery go for 5-10x their estimates. (Who is making these estimates? They may need to re-evaluate their capabilities…) And given that museums and heritage organisations are often not flush with cash at the best of times, it isn’t always possible for them to buy them at auction. Enter: private buyers.
I will admit, as an historian, I’m always slightly disappointed to see private buyers win auctions on pieces of historic significance (however you want to define that). More often than not, they disappear into private collections and are never seen again. For example, Princess Margaret’s Poltimore Tiara (worn at her 1960 wedding to Anthony Armstrong-Jones) was sold at auction to a private buyer on her death and hasn’t been seen since. Occasionally, these pieces will be lent for exhibitions, but there is never any guarantee of that.
Why Should We Care?
I personally tend not to care about the garment itself, too much- in most cases, even being held in a museum collection, we rarely get to see these items as members of the general public. However, when these pieces do go to auction, we often get to see more of them than we normally would.
When garments and jewellery go to auction at places like Christie’s or Kerry Taylor Auctions, there is more often than not an auction catalogue. The catalogue entry will often contain more information on the physical state and provenance on the piece than we normally get in standard exhibition displays, allowing for a peek “behind the curtain”. They will oftentimes feature several images, too. With many museums still working to digitise and photograph their collections, these photos can be a boon.
If you live in the city of the auction house, depending on the actual auction, you might be able to attend. (I wouldn’t count on it, but there is a possibility.) However, even if you don’t, spend some time perusing the catalogue before the sale. We don’t get this opportunity very often, so seize it while we can!
If you are interested in seeing more royal fashion, you can visit these posts:
Royal Women: Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary
Royal Women: Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and Countess of Wessex
Have you seen any royal fashion auctions?
Cheers,
The Historian
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