Queen Elizabeth II's critical response to seeing Kate Middleton's wedding dress on exhibition at Buckingham Palace in 2011 has gone viral after resurfacing on the video sharing social media platform TikTok.
Kate married Prince William in a national celebration on April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey and the couple will celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary this month.
For the commission of one of the most highly anticipated wedding dresses of the past two decades, Kate settled on the design house of Alexander McQueen whose creative director, Sarah Burton, created a classic gown of ivory satin with lace overlay featuring long sleeves and a heart shaped neckline.
After the wedding day itself, the dress was put on display at Buckingham Palace as part of a special royal wedding exhibition for members of the public to see.
Before the opening of the exhibition, Kate and Queen Elizabeth II took a tour of the displays, but the monarch was not overly enthusiastic about the dress which was mounted on an invisible mannequin with the bridal veil and Cartier tiara floating above an absent head.
Shown in the Tiktok video, uploaded by user the.royal.watcher and viewed over 700,000 times, the queen is heard commenting to Kate that the illusion of the floating dress and tiara was "horrid, isn't it!"
"Without my face there?" Kate is then heard to say in the clip captured by news cameras previewing the exhibition. "Horrible...dreadful," the queen responded light-heartedly.
The monarch is then introduced to the curator of the display, Caroline de Guitaut, deputy surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art for the Royal Collection Trust.
The humorous incident was shared at the time of the monarch's death in September 2022 at the age of 96, in clip compilations of her funniest moments.
Royal expert Christine Ross told Newsweek it was a classic example of Elizabeth's good humor.
"The queen famously had a very good sense of humor, but it was undeniably a dry sense of humor," she said.
"The lighting and headless mannequin gave this display a macabre feeling, which the queen pointed out straight away. Kate and the queen joked about the nature of the display."
The queen was well versed in the idea of loaning out her dresses for fashion exhibitions, though is reported to have not been overly fond of seeing her wardrobes empty and dresses out on display for all to see.
In 2016, 90 of the monarch's evening gowns and most famous day dresses were displayed at Buckingham Palace for tourists to see in celebration of her 90th birthday. The display included the canary yellow coat, dress and hat designed by her right-hand-woman, Angela Kelly, for William and Kate's 2011 nuptials.
"I think both women see the slightly bizarre nature of putting your clothes out for thousands of people to see," Ross said of Elizabeth and Kate. "But ultimately [they] understand the historical value and significance."
Throughout the course of her married life, Kate has become increasingly looked to as a style leader, having transformed her fashion over time.
In 2022, when Queen Elizabeth died and the new King Charles made his son, William, the Prince of Wales, Kate became his Princess of Wales.
In this new elevated station as the second most senior female member of the royal family, behind Queen Camilla, the princess took on a higher profile share of responsibilities. Perhaps to reflect this, Kate moved her aesthetic away from her previous fashion fail safe of the coat dress to more sharply tailored pant suits, perfect for any working engagement.
The princess' fashion choice is a highly anticipated factor of the upcoming coronation which will see King Charles and Queen Camilla crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 6.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
