Coronation Service

Thoughts on today’s Coronation Service

This morning, the entire royal family attended the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation service at Westminster Abbey. Due to the time difference, I was not able to watch the service so I was at least 6 hours behind when I read the updates on Twitter. While most of the accounts I follow were excited to see what the Duchess of Cambridge would be wearing, I was far more interested in what the Queen would pick out. To my dismay, I had to scroll through hundreds of Kate tweets before I was able to find more photos of the Queen. In fact, even headlines were about the Duchess of Cambridge rather than the Queen. While it is always exciting to see the Duchess of Cambridge – for she always looks beautiful – today was supposed to be about the Queen. Just to be clear, this is not the Duchess’ fault for it is clear she was not trying to steal the limelight. The Duchess of Cambridge dressed quite similarly to her outfit for the Diamond Jubilee service last year (see photo).

The Duchess of Cambridge was intentionally modest with her clothing today so as to not attempt to upstage Her Majesty. #MediaOvercoverage

— Royal Central (@RoyalCentral) June 4, 2013

What upset me and a few other readers was that the media preferred to focus on the Duchess (i.e. what she wore) rather than on the Queen, whose special day they were celebrating.

https://twitter.com/RoyalCentral/status/341984941967556608

Of course, can the media be blamed entirely if they are trying to cater to their subscribers? If many of the readers and viewers demand “Kate! Kate!” would the reporters and photographers not do their best to give them what they want? We had already seen this happen at the Diamond Jubilee last year. Did we really think that today’s service would be any different?

I hope the Queen enjoyed today’s service. I was happy to see that her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, could be with her on this special day. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but the Queen always looks more joyful when her husband is with her. After all, he’s been at her side for more than 60 years! She must have also been glad to see her six maids of honour again. I enjoyed reading about their reunion and hope that my memory will also be as good as theirs when I’m old. 🙂

Now, the fun part – see my fashion favourites below:

Best hats

1. Queen Elizabeth II – Pale blue roses against pale gold fabric. It’s the perfect combination for the Queen to match her aquamarine brooch.

2. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall – I’m not usually a fan of the hats that the Duchess of Cornwall wears but this one is my new favourite of hers!

3. Autumn Phillips – Yes, clearly I like roses.

Best outfit

1. Queen Elizabeth II – The Angela Kelly silk brocade dress coat, along with the Cornelia James gloves, and cute bow patent pumps… Our Queen is always tastefully dressed!

2. Princess Beatrice – Although we could not see all of her Roland Mouret dress, I liked her black dress coat by Hannah Coffin with embellishments. She looked very elegant today. (see more)

3. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge – Plain? Still elegant in her Jenny Packham lace dress and coat. I was actually hoping she would wear lace. 🙂 Unfortunately, as mentioned last year, I’m not a fan of the big flower on the Jane Taylor pillbox hat. (see more)

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