Queen Elizabeth often wore gloves for public events, and when she didn't, her nails were typically buffed and bare. But the idea that she loyally wore Essie Ballet Slippers polish from the late '80s until her 2022 death still pervades. Check any royal beauty story or gift guide (including mine) and you'll be sure to find the whisper-pink shade in there as the only shade of nail polish that the late Queen wore.
The origin of that claim traces back to 1989, when, according to Essie (via the Metro), the Queen requested a bottle. In a letter that same year, her hairdresser reportedly described Ballet Slippers as "the only color Her Majesty would wear." But owning a bottle is not the same as wearing it publicly—and photographic evidence of the late Queen in visible nail polish is virtually nonexistent.
That disconnection has always puzzled me. Despite the legend of Ballet Slippers, I had never once seen Queen Elizabeth with polished nails. And recently, while reviewing photos of the Queen Mother for another story, I noticed something that made me pause: she was wearing bright coral nail polish. A deeper dive of photos revealed shades of rose pink and peach on her nails, a far cry from the bare nails her daughter sported throughout her 70-year reign.
Royal women have never been formally forbidden from wearing nail polish. Yet the idea that anything beyond a near-nude shade is somehow "unroyal" has circulated for decades.
To get more insight on the great manicure debate, I reached out to a trusted source of mine. The former Buckingham Palace employee confirmed that while Queen Elizabeth "did paint [her nails] in the earlier years," she didn't use nail polish at all in the later period of her life.
The source says she'd "never seen any nail polish" on Queen Elizabeth's nails or "in her cupboards" during the many years she worked at the palace, and the topic was not "even discussed."
"She had a manicure kit and would buff her nails, but that's all," the former palace employee continues. However, the source added that the late Queen "did use the Ballet Slippers polish" at one point in years prior.
The late monarch might have liked a barely-there nail, but the distinction between preference and protocol becomes especially clear when looking beyond the late Queen. When Meghan Markle showed off a dark manicure during her pregnancy with Prince Archie, the protocol police stepped out in full force, with many bashing her choice as rule-breaking or inappropriate.
But a preference from the late Queen doesn't mean a hard and fast rule, and royals like Duchess Sophie and Princess Eugenie have worn colorful nail polish over the years. Eugenie has even gone as far as Union Jack designs and reindeer-patterned nails at celebratory events.
There were, however, set expectations within the palace. When it came to the people working with the late Queen, the source says "it was preferred" that they "didn’t wear bright nail polish."
As for the rest of the Royal Family, Princess Kate follows in her late grandmother-in-law's footsteps with her decision to go lacquer-free on most days. However, she brings out a surprising wash of color every so often, like the time she wore bright red polish to Easter services in 2023 or the red pedicures she's shown off on the red carpet as far back as 2012.
Those moments tend to make headlines because royal watchers have been conditioned to think color equals rebellion. But at the end of the day, the late monarch was a horse girl who happened to be Queen—and as an equestrian myself who rarely does her nails, who wants to ruin their polish?
