The Queen has replaced her colorful dresses with dark, all-black dresses during the two-week mourning period for her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who passed away on 9 April.
And, as usual, the entire royal family will follow a strict dress code during the funeral today, which is the first royal funeral in the UK since the Queen Mother in 2002.
Women will wear knee-length black dresses and formal hats while men will wear black coats with medals, according to a spokeswoman from Buckingham Palace. (In a break from tradition, no family member will be in military uniform, avoiding a possible dilemma, as Prince Harry was stripped of his titles when he retired from royal duties).
Even in times of grief, great attention is paid to the way members of the royal family interpret dress codes, which date back hundreds of years and have shifted over time.
In 1982, the famous photos of Princess Diana at the funeral of actress and Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco show the newlywed princess wearing a dark shiny straw hat, black long-sleeved dress and a heart-shaped necklace - a choice fitting that displays the unique and inspiring style of Princess Diana.
But no one had more influence on the mourning dress than Queen Victoria. After the sudden death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861, the monarch very publicly expressed her grief by wearing black every day for four decades until her death. It was Victoria who helped codify the nuances of gloomy fashion and preserved her identity as a "permanent widow," according to Strasdin.
