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Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress

Posted by Karen on August 7, 2025, 8:53 am

The dress is described as a light summer dress in half-mourning colors of white and mauve. There are small hooks attached around the neckline which may have been used to attach an additional piece of lace to cover the area up to the neck. It is currently held by The Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. There are question marks regarding the dress. Which are mentioned in this article.

https://www.thecourtjeweller.com/2025/06/the-curious-case-of-queen-alexandras-royal-ascot-dress.html#:~:text=Queen%20Alexandra's%20dress%2C%20displayed%20in%20the%20Dress,in%20London%2C%20April%202025%20(%C2%A9%20Lauren%20Kiehna).

Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress

Posted by Hollie24 on August 7, 2025, 8:00 pm, in reply to "Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress"

Alexandra wore mauve even when not in mourning. It was her favorite color.

Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress

Posted by Cynthia on August 7, 2025, 9:32 pm, in reply to "Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress"

Mauve is considered half-mourning. When the first mourning period is over, one transitioned to half. There was a whole etiquette for mourning.

She wore mourning after the death of Prince Albert Victor, though not to the full extent that Queen Victoria did for her husband.

Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress

Posted by Hollie24 on August 7, 2025, 9:58 pm, in reply to "Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress"

Oh, I'm aware of all that. I just thought it worth mentioning that mauve was Alexandra's favorite color and that she wore it often.

Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress

Posted by Cynthia on August 7, 2025, 10:38 pm, in reply to "Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress"

I guess I don't understand how wearing it the rest of her life to mourn her dead son became "she wore it often and it was her favorite color." Sorry!

Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress

Posted by Hollie24 on August 8, 2025, 1:07 am, in reply to "Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress"

Alexandra often wore mauve before the deaths of her son and husband. She wore the color after their deaths, too. She loved mauve and made it fashionable.

Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress

Posted by Nellie on August 7, 2025, 11:14 pm, in reply to "Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress"

I'd just like to comment about the standard of the "research" habits of the Royal Collection (RC) for some of their exhibitions, and online collections.

It seems to me that, too often, captions are simply copied from the past without question, or created from information found in only their own databases.

I believe the RC needs to introduce fact checking on almost all of their existing records.

Very frequently royal enthusiasts can and do uncover details from reliable sources that either refute or enlarge on an RC story. It happens again and again.

The RC should be aware of this by now and take it into account.

Re: Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress

Posted by Hollie24 on August 8, 2025, 1:19 am, in reply to "Queen Alexandra's 1911 Royal Ascot Dress"

I think the small hooks around the neckline were placed there to help hold and separate the ropes of pearls Alexandra loved to wear. She had hooks sewn into her Coronation dress for that purpose as well.

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