Be inspired by these glamorous royals from a bygone age
Keystone / Getty Images1/8Princess Paola of Liege (later Queen Paola of Belgium)
An Italian beauty who became a Belgian Queen, Princess Paola of Liege (later Queen Paola of Belgium) was renowned for being one of the most beautiful and stylish European royals of the Swinging Sixties, thanks to her fondness for bouffant hair and abbreviated hemlines. Born into an Italian aristocratic family, she married Prince Albert of Belgium in 1959, later ascending to throne as his Queen in 1993.
Keystone-France / Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images2/8Queen Soraya of Iran
The second wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, Queen Soraya could easily have been mistaken for a movie star, with her signature look of long dark hair, oversized sunglasses and red lipstick. It was her wedding dress that first alerted the world to the seriousness of her fashion credentials, as she commissioned Christian Dior to design a gown featuring 37 yards of silver lamé studded with pearls, 6,000 diamond pieces, and 20,000 marabou feathers.
Pictured: Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran and his second wife Queen Soraya
Bettmann / Getty Images3/8Princess Margaret
The Queen’s younger sister was known for her interest in fashion, famously commissioning Christian Dior to design the gown she wore for her 21st birthday portrait photographed by Cecil Beaton. Her emergence as a style icon coincided with Dior’s arrival on the scene, with the Princess ordering multiple dresses from the fashion house that epitomised his ‘New Look’, with the nipped in waists and full skirts complimenting her petite figure. As well as couture, she was also known for her fondness for diamonds and fur, bringing red carpet glamour to royal events.
Topical Press Agency / Hulton Archive / Getty Images4/8Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (later Duchess of Kent)
The original royal style icon of the British royal family, the Duchess of Kent's tall, lean figure was perfectly suited to the flapper silhouette of the day, with its clean, long lines accentuating her slimness. Courted by both fashion designers and photographers, she was a frequent presence on Tatler's Best Dressed lists and was a longtime collaborator of Cecil Beaton's, having first worked with him on a shoot for American Vogue.
Sunset Boulevard / Corbis via Getty Images5/8Princess Grace of Monaco
Much like Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy and Sofia Loren, the very name of Grace of Monaco is synonymous with elegance. The former Hitchcock blonde was a style icon of the 1950s and 1960s, turning again and again to costume designers she had known in Hollywood, including Edith Head, who designed her wedding dress, as well as Oleg Cassini, a former boyfriend.
Keystone-France / Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images6/8Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain
Better known as Queen Ena of Spain, Queen Victoria's granddaughter was known for being something of an influencer in her day. Championing the beaded dresses and strings of pearls favoured by the flapper girls of the 1920s before it became de rigeuer, she was also fond of diamonds, having inherited a treasure trove from her Spanish in-laws upon her wedding to King Alfonso XIII.
John Rawlings / Condé Nast via Getty Images7/8Duchess of Windsor
A divisive figure in her lifetime, thanks to her marriage to King Edward VIII and the subsequent abolition crisis, something that is not up for debate is Wallis Simpson’s innate sense of style and love of fashion. Freed from the constraints of royal wives by her husband’s abdication, she chose to wear French and American designers, and was a particular fan of Christian Dior. It was with Elsa Schiaparelli, Coco Chanel’s great rival, that she had the most affinity with though, working with the avant garde designer on a gown featuring a lobster by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. At the funeral of her husband, she wore Givenchy - the last time a member of the Royal Family had worn the French fashion brand until the wedding of the Duchess of Sussex.
Wikicommons8/8Princess Fawzia of Egypt
With her film star good looks (she was often compared to Vivien Leigh and Hedy Lamarr) Princess Fawzia (later Empress of Iran) was considered one of the great beauties of the 1940s, attracting the attention of photographers, including Cecil Beaton, who took several beautiful portraits of the royal. A faithful couture client, she regularly bought up entire collections by designers such as Jacques Fath and Ray Aghayan, with her signature look involving finger waves, red lips, nipped in waists, diamonds and furs.
