The late Queen often stepped out in bright outfits for major events – but there is one colour that she refused to wear, that Meghan wore at many engagement
The late Queen Elizabeth was known for wearing bright colours to major royal events, stepping out in colour-coordinated outfits that featured matching dresses, coats, hats and complimentary accessories.
Over her decades as monarch, the Queen became known as a style icon and inspiration, prompting many to play with all the colours of the rainbow when picking their daily outfits.
While the late Queen always opted for daring and colourful ensembles, one member of the royal family chose to do the opposite : Meghan Markle. According to royal author Robert Hardman, there was one major reason why the Queen always chose to be brightly dressed – so she stood out during busy royal events.
In Hardman’s biography titled Our Queen, the royal author described the late royal as “engagingly modest” despite being one of the most famous women in the world. He said: “My favourite remark she ever said was, ‘I can never wear beige because nobody will know who I am’.”
The Queen’s colourful side came out during ceremonies and other royal engagements that required a smart dress code, and she didn’t hold back with her outfits as she made sure the crowd could spot her, especially due to her below average 5’3” frame.
As well as wanting to wear bright colours, the late Queen also tailored her outfits to fit the nation that she was visiting. For example, during her visits to Australia, the monarch would always wear the nation’s colours of green and gold.
Journalist and royal author Sali Hughes also claimed in her 2019 book, titled Our Rainbow Queen, that Queen Elizabeth and her dressers would carefully consider the itinerary of a tour or engagement before settling on an outfit.
Ms Hughes wrote: “She won’t attend an engagement at a grassy venue, like a racecourse or garden party, in camouflaging green. But she will happily deploy green to stand out where it’s needed.”
While the Queen always opted for colourful tones to dress in, Meghan Markle adopted the opposite style technique, as she revealed in her Netflix docuseries that, during her time as a working royal, she would don neutral colours to “blend in”.
Meghan explained her fashion choices, saying in the docuseries alongside her husband Prince Harry : “Most of the time that I was in the U.K., I rarely wore colour. There was thought in that.
“To my understanding, you could never wear the same colour as Her Majesty [Queen Elizabeth II] if there’s a group event, but then you also shouldn’t be wearing the same colour as one of the other more senior members of the family,” she said, possibly referring to royals like Princess Kate or Queen Camilla.
“So I was like, ‘Well, what’s a colour that they’ll probably never wear?’ Camel, beige, white. So, I wore a lot of muted tones, but it was also so I could just blend in. I’m not trying to stand out here. There was no version of me joining this family and me not doing everything I could to fit in. I don’t want to embarrass the family.”
