No one who has watched the events of the past ten days could doubt the King’s commitment to his late mother – or to his people. But I think another of Charles III’s commitments is also becoming apparent: one to British tailoring.
From his black-braided morning suit when he addressed the Houses of Parliament at Westminster Hall to the ceremonial Air Marshal’s uniform he wore to process the Queen’s coffin from Buckingham Palace to her lying-in-state, His Majesty has been nothing less than impeccably attired at every turn.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that we’ve got probably the best-dressed head of state in the world. As Prince of Wales, Charles had long flown the flag for British style. Browse the list of royal warrants and you’ll see that the 182 he’s granted include no fewer than eight to tailors (Anderson & Sheppard and Gieves & Hawkes among them), plus a dozen more to firms responsible for wardrobe items such as ‘robes’ (Ede & Ravenscroft), ‘shirts’ (Turnbull & Asser), knitwear, shoemakers, kilt hosiery and waterproof garments.
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