Next year’s Royal Collection Trust exhibition at the King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace has officially been announced, and it’s a doozy: a landmark display of clothing, jewelry, and accessories worn by Queen Elizabeth II, in celebration of the centenary of her birth.
The Royal Collection Trust announced on Monday that Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of the late Queen’s fashion ever mounted, will go on display at the King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace in spring 2026. The exhibition’s debut coincides with the centenary of the late Queen’s birth in April. Press materials accompanying the announcement explain, “Through approximately 200 items, around half on display for the first time, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style will chart the remarkable story of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch through clothing worn in all ten decades of her life: from birth to adulthood, from princess to queen, and from off-duty style to diplomatic dressing for the global stage.”
Among the pieces exhibited will be the Queen’s remarkable coronation gown, which was designed by her go-to couturier, Sir Norman Hartnell. The press materials note, “Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion archive is one of the largest and most important surviving collections of 20th-century British fashion and now forms part of the Royal Collection. Alongside clothing, jewellery, hats, shoes and accessories, visitors will discover never-before-seen design sketches, fabric samples and handwritten correspondence that reveal the behind-the-scenes process of dressing the most famous woman in the world and shed new light on the late Queen’s close involvement in the creation of her wardrobe.”
Selected pieces from the exhibition were showcased in the press materials, including the tiny, fragile tulle dress that Princess Elizabeth wore when she served as a bridesmaid in the wedding of her uncle and aunt, Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, in London in 1934.
The Royal Collection Trust notes that the little dress is “one of the earliest surviving pieces of couture from her childhood wardrobe.” Designed by Edward Molyneux, who also designed Princess Marina’s wedding gown, the bridesmaid dress will be displayed in public for the first time as part of the exhibition. In this portrait, you get a glimpse of the triangular bridesmaid gift brooch given to Elizabeth. One of the brooches recently popped up on George and Marina’s granddaughter, Lady Gabriella Kingston.
There are more iconic fashion moments highlighted in the exhibition as well. Among them is a particularly exciting icon of 20th century royal weddings, the gown designed by Hartnell for Princess Elizabeth to wear at her wedding to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten in November 1947.
More gowns designed by Hartnell will also be displayed, including this sleeveless evening dress that dates to 1956. Elizabeth wore the dress with the emerald setting of the Vladimir Tiara and pieces from the Delhi Durbar Parure in Stockholm during her state visit with King Gustaf VI Adolf and Queen Louise that spring.
The Queen wears the same gown (with some of the same jewels) in this portrait, taken by the society photographer Baron the same year. Baron, who was a friend of Prince Philip, also photographed the couple’s wedding in 1947. He died in September 1956, so this portrait would have been one of the last ones he took of the monarch.
The press release explains, “The exhibition will explore the Queen’s use of diplomatically significant emblems and colours in her wardrobe for overseas tours, as shown in an ingenious white gown designed by Norman Hartnell for a 1961 State Banquet in Karachi, which incorporates Pakistan’s national colours through a dramatic emerald-green pleat cascading down the back.” Elizabeth also wore the same dress a few months later in Ghana, during her famous dance with President Nkrumah.
Gowns dreamed up by other designers, including Hardy Amies and Ian Thomas, will be on display as well. The press materials call these Thomas gowns “fluid, vibrantly printed dresses … that capture the relaxed glamour of the 1970s, on show for the first time.”
“In her later years, Queen Elizabeth became as recognisable for her off-duty style and classic British tailoring as she was for her couture gowns. From impeccably cut riding jackets to tartan skirts and silk headscarves, visitors will see never-before-displayed examples of her practical everyday style, which continues to inspire contemporary designers to this day,” the press notes add. Garments from this category include this hacking jacket, a Bernard Weatherill creation.
The special exhibition will be accompanied by an official book, Queen Elizabeth II: Fashion and Style, written by curator Caroline de Guitaut and published in March 2026. She notes, “Only now, as the late Queen’s fashion archive comes under the care of Royal Collection Trust, can we tell the story of a lifetime of thoughtful style choices–from her hands-on role and understanding of the soft power behind her clothing, to the exceptional craftsmanship behind each garment. In the year that she would have turned 100 years old, this exhibition will be a celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s uniquely British style and her enduring fashion legacy.” I can’t wait!
