King Charles Is Dressing Down For His Coronation

The dress code is also markedly inclusive. The royal dictate, Rowland said, “certainly seems to have been chosen to make everybody feel comfortable.” Both literally and figuratively: among the 2,000-plus guests who scored the hottest ticket in town, over 850 community and charity representatives will join the royals, politicians, heads of state, foreign dignitaries, and aristocrats at Westminster Abbey. “The King is a pretty modern person,” Rowland said. “You would want everybody to be invited on an equal footing rather than have too much hierarchy within dress codes. It’s far friendlier to people who are attending internationally or from the causes and different groups that he works with.”

Like a necktie-less Justin Trudeau, the King himself will also be dressing down, relatively speaking. In a break from his ancestors, who tended to wear traditional attire like silk stockings and velvet robes wreathed in ermine and covered in rich embroidery, Charles is expected to take the throne in his Royal Navy military suit, made by the tailor Malcolm Plews, a signifier of martial virtue and steadiness at a time when the British economy is struggling. Though her coronation has been portrayed on The Crown, Queen Elizabeth II didn’t have to worry about her outfit going viral for the wrong reasons. “We live in such a visual age, and more so than ever, the royals need to be extremely conscious of what they’re wearing, where it’s made, and the significance of their wardrobe,” says the London-based fashion designer Nicholas Daley.

Charles is a strong supporter and patron of traditional British craftsmanship, which will figure into the rest of his coronation wardrobe. Along with his Navy duds, the King will be wearing a silk undershirt by the Royal Warrant-holding shirtmakers at Turnbull & Asser, and opera slippers by Gaziano & Girling of Savile Row. Charles also speaks passionately of his love for repairing garments rather than replacing them, a practice that exemplifies his advocacy for ecological responsibility. At Prince Harry and Markle’s wedding, for example, he wore an Anderson & Sheppard morning suit he had made in 1984. Unlike many of his predecessors, who had new royal robes made for their coronations, Charles will be shopping his closet, in a sense: the Supertunica was originally created for King George V, and he will be reusing a royal sword belt and glove of ceremonial significance that belonged to his grandfather. According to Caroline de Guitaut, the deputy surveyor of the King’s Works of Art at the Royal Collection Trust, “It was the King’s personal decision” to reuse these items, as she told the BBC.

Of course, it’s the first British coronation in 70 years. Guests who scored one of some 2,300 coveted tickets to the event are going to dress up, whether they’re required to or not. Daley told me that if he had been invited to Westminster Abbey on Saturday, he would wear a tartan kilt of his own design, one that reflects his Jamaican-Scottish heritage. “It’s always good to showcase these moments of cultural richness, and I think that’s what hopefully will happen at the coronation through all its spectacle.” Rowland hoped that suited attendees will honor one of the King’s favorite style flourishes: sporting a wildflower boutonniere in your lapel buttonhole. “It’s very spontaneous, and it’s an absolutely delightful way of adding something to your suit that is deeply personal,” she said. Business attire will surely not scare off some guests from wearing dandy hats and jewelry to an event that will be broadcast around the world.

And on Wednesday, the Palace conceded to its aristocratic critics, informing them that they would be able to wear their coronation robes after all. “A royal source confirmed there had been a change of heart,” reports the Telegraph. The casual revolution has touched nearly every part of public life, but ultimately, hierarchy would seem to have won out at an event that is, fittingly, all about the continuity of hierarchy.

As for everyone else, what they wear might come down to a more practical matter: where they are sitting in Westminster Abbey. According to Rowland, many attendees on the Anderson rolls who had plumb seating assignments brought in their morning suits for alterations and cleanings. “The closer they are seated to the Coronation Chair, the more likely guests will be to choose morning dress,” she said. Those sitting in the nosebleeds appear less likely to bother. “A customer who is in the bespoke shop at the moment will be seated further back,” Rowland said. He decided to keep it simple, and will wear a navy-blue single breasted business suit.