The designer of Queen Camilla’s coronation gown gives an inside look
It was a dress fit for a queen – literally.
Bruce Oldfield, who designed and created Queen Camilla’s dress for the coronation ceremony on May 6, tells it all in a new essay Tatler Magazine‘s July issue.
Oldfield, 72, is a British couturier and royal favourite, whose designs have also been worn by Princess Diana in the past.
He has dressed Her Majesty for over a decade but described designing her coronation gown as “the largest commission of…”. [his] Life.”
Oldfield revealed he was asked to design the dress “late last year,” which featured an intricate beaded pattern and marigold yellow embroidery — even featuring her two own dogs at the bottom hem of the dress.
He explained that they did three fittings of a model dress, called a ‘toile’, with Queen Camilla before taking a break for Christmas.
Queen Camilla’s look also included an embroidered petticoat, according to the statement People.
Then, on the big day of May, Oldfield and Sophie Rowe, whom he describes as his “best friend and fitter” were at Westminster Abbey making sure everything went smoothly with the wardrobe.
“We were there to make sure Her Majesty looked fabulous and that her dress was perfectly staged,” Oldfield wrote in Tatler. “The Queen arrived wearing a simple ermine-trimmed cloak (a cloak worn over the dress) which we later – quite a job – we removed and replaced with a heavily embroidered cloak.”
“Once everything was fixed, we went back to our seats,” he continued of the day. “The cloaks are a standard, traditional part of the coronation regalia, and are made and embroidered by a specialized manufacturer. To ensure that the train of the dress does not protrude beyond the end of one of the coats, we took great care during production to ensure that the lengths of both pieces matched perfectly.”
And whether the public liked the dress or not, Oldfield doesn’t really think about that – he just cared about the happiness of the newly crowned Queen Camilla.
The designer explained that in all of this, it felt like his story came full circle again as he recalled the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 with his foster mother and siblings.
Now, 70 years later, King Charles was officially crowned in a grand coronation ceremony following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, last September 2022.
The ceremony also went down in history as, at the age of 74, he became the oldest king ever crowned.
He married Queen Camilla in 2005 at Windsor Guildhall.
Many members of the royal family were present at the ceremony, including Prince Harry, who returned to the UK for the first time since the release of his revealing memoir, Spare, in January.
He arrived without his wife Meghan Markle but only stayed less than 24 hours as he needed to return home to California in time to see his son Archie on his fourth birthday.
The day after the ceremony, on Sunday May 7th, the royal family and the rest of the audience celebrated with a grand coronation concert in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
Cast members included Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Andrea Bocelli.
During the ceremony, which was televised by the BBC, Prince William, son of King Charles, gave a heartfelt speech to the crowd, congratulating his father and paying tribute to the late Queen.
“As my grandmother said when she was crowned, coronations are a declaration of our hopes for the future and I know she is keeping a loving eye on us up there and would be a very proud mother,” William said in the emotional speech .
