Royal Style - Bring out the Baubles! We'll wear your jewellery if you don't want to!

[Maireas]

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More style, beauty, shoe vexation and hair concerns...

You're a bold girl, Deftly!
(When I was at school, the nuns used to say that to us as a reprimand, it still makes me smile!)

I was thinking more along the lines of him fuming “the whole point of ditching the privilege du blanc was so that the only one in white would be me….” 😀

😂

Madeleine and Grace's veils are stunning.

The Belgian royal family are looking nicely co-ordinated here for Belgium’s National day, today with Mathilde and Elisabeth nicely dressing as the flag. If they’d had swapped about a bit with the son on the right it would have been perfect 😄

Princess Grace was so beautiful.

Pope Francis hasn't said they can't wear white, though, has he? Didn't he loosen the dress code rules so that people can essentially wear any color they choose?

As in

I think Pope Francis loosened quite a few rules @SenecaFalls Redux, not just rules re clothing. He seems very nice. He has a more pragmatic attitude to the "rules".
I didn't like the last chap, he was in the Hitler Youth I think. But perhaps he had no choice at the time ?
Pope John Paul the Second wasn't as progressive as we were led to believe.
I was shocked by the visible wealth in the Vatican when I visited, with so much of the world in dire poverty. Another example of " Do as I say, not as I do."

I am hardly a fan of Pope Benedict but, like most teenage boys in Nazi Germany, he was conscripted into the Hitler Youth.

That's quite some literal dressing from the Belgians. Not sure Princess #2 approves!

Yes, he certainly didn't have very much choice, he was only a boy.

I believe in that picture, Camilla's dress is "gold".
Yes, Frankie Pope has loosened up a whole load of those rules. Benny Pope was more of a stickler.

I know Camilla is not wearing white or even cream, but she's not wearing black as Charlene did, and as she herself did a previous time she visited a Pope.

It seems to me that the new rule is wear whatever you want: black, white, lavender (HMQ), within reason of course. Back in the day, I attended one of those huge public papal audiences and I had on a sleeveless dress. I had to borrow a scarf from a friend to drape around my shockingly naked shoulders. I assume they don't require that these days.

😂 at Frankie Pope and Benny Pope 😂
Grace really was beautiful. I just watched a programme on her (I find her fascinating) and was struck by how French Stephanie sounds vs how American Albert sounds.

I was at a papal audience (some years ago) with similar rules to you, Seneca. I had a beautiful black lace mantilla, and was told to completely cover arms and legs. That was back during the time of Johnny Paul 2 Pope.
I have actually been blessed by two Popes, so am certain of my place in Heaven.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11032865/Queen-Letizia-Spain-looks-glamorous-polka-dot-dress.html
Here's Leti, fairly low key in a polks dot Massimo Dutti dress and espadrilles. Nice and relaxed, not too formal.

polka sorry

One of the things that stands out in my memory of that audience is how raucous (in a good way) it was. Not being Catholic or Italian, I expected it to be quiet and reverential. We were inside St. Peter's and they brought the Pope down the aisle held aloft in a big chair, and everyone was clapping and yelling "Viva Papa." It was like a pep rally for an American football team. My friends and I were all in our late teens, early 20s and we happily joined right in. He blessed religious objects we had with us, including a rosary I was taking home to a Catholic friend, and a bit inadvertently, a small gold cross I wore on a chain that belonged to my militantly Methodist great-grand mother. It's one of the best memories of my youth.

This was Paul VI (I have mentioned before that I am pretty old.)

@SenecaFallsRedux! Brilliant! What a great experience. They are lively. I was on holiday in Madrid during a Papal visit, and it was crazy- loads of young people screaming and cheering and throwing streamers etc.
I hope the converted cross gave you blessings 😉 !

Loving all the papal visit anecdotes! There's fascinating history around lay women's dressing in and around the Church; much of it intersects a lot with royal style of course too 😊

I think I once almost attended a big papal audience.

My best friend from uni and I were Interrailing around Europe one summer holiday. When we rocked up at the Vatican, there was a huge queue and we assumed that it was to get into the Sistine chapel or something, so we just joined it.

It was only when some fierce looking security took our water away and we were ushered into a huge auditorium that we realised we probably weren't going to see a nice painted ceiling.

We stayed about 10 minutes and then managed to leave (neither of us are in the slightest bit religious). And we certainly weren't dressed up like the various royals

That's a great picture you've painted with your description Seneca. I gather that at those audiences the crowd really do treat the Pope like a celebrity!

I like that polka dot dress of Leti's.

Mathilde at the National Day concert. She's certainly gone for it with this outfit, which strikes me as very Max. Not sure all the different elements - bold print, one shoulder, bright colours, gold shoes, chunky jewellery - all come together, but I do like the summery-ness and glamour of the look.

That's a very Max outfit! I do like it when people wear strong colour, and Mathilde often wears pastels, doesn't she? She's certainly carrying it off although I don't think that the cut is particularly flattering.

I think only Max can carry such an outfit off