In what is now being dubbed The Blue Curse, a striking pattern has emerged from the royal archives that casts an unexpected shadow over one of Queen Elizabeth II’s most reliable fashion choices.
The late Queen was famed for her rainbow-bright wardrobe, a diplomatic tool as much as a fashion statement, yet one colour in particular now carries an uncomfortable reputation.
Time and again, the monarch wore blue to royal weddings that would later end in heartbreak, separation and divorce, prompting whispers that the serene shade may not have been quite so lucky after all.
Colour expert and fashion stylist Charlotte Broadbent explains, ‘although blue is often chosen for its positive traits of stability and calmness, unfortunately, it also carries darker associations, linked to sadness, impending gloom and quiet disappointment.’
With hindsight, those words feel uncannily apt when applied to the Queen’s wedding-day wardrobe choices.
It begins all the way back in the 1960s when her sister Princess Margaret married Antony Armstrong-Jones.
For the occasion, Queen Elizabeth chose a blue dress by Sir Norman Hartnell, one of her most trusted designers. It was a triumph of royal style, but the marriage itself proved far less enduring, ending in 1978 and marking the first royal divorce in generations.
Thirteen years later, the Queen wore blue once again as she watched her daughter Princess Anne marry Captain Mark Phillips in November 1973.
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For Margaret’s wedding Queen Elizabeth wore a turquoise blue, silk taffeta and lace dress with matching bolero designed by Sir Norman Hartnell
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The Queen watched Princess Anne tie the knot with Mark Phillips while wearing a royal blue coat dress with a geometric print and buttons and matching pill box hat by Sir Norman Hartnell
Her Sir Norman Hartnell royal blue coat dress and matching pillbox hat were dignified and restrained, perfectly in keeping with Anne’s no-nonsense image.
Yet by the early 1990s the marriage had run its course after 19 years together, reinforcing the uneasy pattern.
Then came the wedding that defined an era.
In July 1981, Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in what was billed as a fairy tale for the modern age.
The Queen wore a softly pleated Ian Thomas sky blue coat and had also appeared in blue earlier that year at Buckingham Palace when the marriage was formally approved by the Privy Council.
At the time, no one could have predicted how dramatically the union would unravel. Charles and Diana separated in 1992 amid public turmoil, and in 1996 the Queen wrote to both of them encouraging a formal divorce.
The curse appeared to strike again in July 1986, when Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson.
The Queen opted for a periwinkle blue Ian Thomas outfit for the summer ceremony, perhaps expecting it to project calm and stability.
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Another engagement, another blue dress for the day Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding was sanctioned by the Privy Council
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In 1981 Charles and Diana married, and, you guessed it, Queen Elizabeth wore blue. This time a sky blue softly pleated coat dress with a matching flower-adorned hat, both by Ian Thomas
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The Queen opted for a periwinkle blue Ian Thomas number with a large asymmetric hat for Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s nuptials in 1986
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Queen Elizabeth looked radiant as she broke her tradition and wore a primrose yellow Angela Kelly coat and matching hat for Kate and William’s nuptials
However, they divorced in 1996, just ten years after the wedding, once again marking a wedding ended by blue.
Against this backdrop, the Queen’s appearance at William and Kate’s wedding in April 2011 stands out all the more sharply.
Ditching blue entirely, she arrived in a bold primrose yellow Angela Kelly coat and hat, a look that signalled optimism and confidence.
More than a decade later, William and Kate remain happily married.
Whether coincidence or quiet superstition, the pattern is difficult to ignore.
As royal wedding photographs continue to be examined with fresh eyes, perhaps Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice should take note.
After all, the Queen wore blue Angela Kelly creations to both of their weddings too.
