Okay, so today, everyone is celebrating the 5oth anniversary of Prince Charles being investiturized as the Prince of Wales and before you shoot me off an enraged email, yes, I know “investiturized” is not a word. But I firmly believe it should be! If you’ve never seen the video of this ceremony, which I know I’ve shared here before, it is a KICK. First of all, Chaz himself introduces the newsreel from a room that has a makeshift plant-stand of three drums; second, EVERYONE is wearing a SUPER QUESTIONABLE HAT at said event:
[If you don’t see the video above, just refresh your browser.]
(Fun fact: They’re including this moment in the upcoming season of The Crown, and the pics of Olivia Colman at it are a hoot. Fun fact II: I actually have a mug that commemorates said investiturization.)
To the outfits! I actually love Meghan’s dress — as regular readers of this site know, I once had to literally ban myself from purchasing any further items that are lamé or lamé-adjacent, and this subtle metallic is so pretty, I can barely stand it. (I haven’t seen a credit for the dress yet, but the coat is her Amanda Wakeley one that she wears all the time. The cost per wear on that one is aces at this point.) It might be a little fancy for this event? Regardless, I’m into it.
As for Kate, she also looks…fine? (Although this dress feels like she tasked someone with finding her a version of her great recent Missoni dress, but without the disco.) It’s moderately boring to me, but there is something about it that feels very Anne of Green Gables, which is always a vibe I respect. I can only assume that later Kate accidentally got Harry drunk on raspberry cordial. As of this typing, we’ve got no credit on her dress either — I’d heard rumors via Royal Outfit Twitter that this might be one of Kate’s “private dressmaker” dresses. (I, of course, believe that private dressmaker to be Prince William, finally allowed to be his crafty self in the comfort and privacy of their own home.)
We also have video! One of the best things about this event is that all the video is from some VERY interesting rooms. As you may have heard, Heather and I are writing a sequel to The Royal We, and I literally was just working on a scene set in basically this area of the palace. Thanks for the logistics help, y’all!
I’d find it so annoying if a camera was recording my boring party chit-chat while I was trying to maintain an Interested Face, but there is something very entertaining about the fact that half of that video has recorded some off-camera toff yakking about his children’s school, AS IF ANYONE CARES, and then it randomly ends with a bunch of people listening to a harp player, but NO SHOT OF THE HARP. Royal Family Channel! Get yourself a producer!
[Photos: PA Images/INSTARimages.com, Dominic Lipinski/AP/REX/Shutterstock]
