In John Phillips’s 1860 painting of the wedding of Victoria, Princess Royal, and Prince Friedrich of Prussia in January 1859, Queen Victoria can be seen wearing a dress ‘of mauve moire antique & silver,’ trimmed with Honiton lace, which also decorated the velvet train. In addition to this, Victoria wore her ‘Regal Diadem & the crown diamonds.’
© Royal Collection Trust / HM King Charles III 2024
However, this wasn’t the first time that Victoria had worn purple to a wedding. On 28th June 1843 the Queen had attended the wedding of her first cousin, Princess Augusta of Cambridge. In her journal for the day Victoria writes that she ‘wore a dress & train of lilac & silver brocade, a Diadem of my diamond fringes & feathers.’
With a gap of sixteen years, there is no doubt that these two dresses would have been different. Nonetheless, the descriptions left by the Queen give us a unique insight into her colour preferences when it came to her fashion choices.
© Queen.Victoria.Roses 2026
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