There was once a time when Princess Charlotte was seen in nothing but little Liberty print dresses. While the middle child of the Prince and Princess of Wales opts for more grown up garments these days—she is, after all, turning 11 month—her royal wardrobe used to consist of varying shades of Liberty florals. If you wanted to replicate Princess Charlotte’s style, all you needed was a ditsy floral and a Peter Pan collar.
Liberty prints have been a British icon for over 150 years. “Shortly after opening on Regent Street London in 1875, Arthur Liberty printed the first Liberty fabrics,” the brand shares on its website. Since then, Liberty’s fabrics have become cultural icons, and their ditsy floral prints have become synonymous with little girl’s summer dresses, especially royal princesses. Alongside Princess Charlotte, younger royal princesses, like Princess Estelle of Sweden and Princess Leonor of Spain were dressed in little floral dresses when they were young.
Princess Charlotte wasn’t a royal fashion trendsetter with these frilly floral frocks. Queen Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret, wore Liberty print and small floral dresses during their childhood, some of which can still be viewed today. “Matching cotton dresses and bloomers, mostly in Liberty prints, were a staple in the princesses' childhood wardrobe,” said curators at The Royal Collection Trust. Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret’s beloved nanny, Marion Crawford,—affectionately known as ‘Crawfie’—once said that “the children could not have been more simply dressed. They wore cotton frocks mostly blue with a flower pattern.”
The dresses were often made in a pair, with one for the young Princess Elizabeth and another for Princess Margaret Rose. “I think the matching clothes really speak to how close they were as a family. It was iconic for them, and it presented that view [a close family image to the public] at the time.” Matthew Storey, a curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said of the young princesses’ fashion.
Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret’s childhood dresses are on display now at The King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace. The Royal Collection Trust’s latest exhibit, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, showcases these historic examples of little princess fashions.
