In my December 5th newsletter, we talked Christmas morning at Sandringham—and how it’s become one of the most revealing fashion moments of the royal year. The once-candid, now carefully choreographed walk balances spectacle and holiday flair with a nod to tradition. The coats, the hats, the jewel tones have all come to define a unique holiday aesthetic for the modern monarchy.
(Check out that issue of the Fascinator here if you haven’t yet!)
Today, I’m putting theory into practice by presenting…my top ten royal Christmas Day looks! Spanning decades and personalities, this list was so difficult to narrow down. But each selection, I think, captures a particular moment in the monarchy’s evolving style story.
Catherine, now Princess of Wales, at her first royal Christmas Day appearance in 2011.
Some of these looks are iconic for their elegance, others for their timing, and a few just because they live rent-free in my head every December.
Princess Diana at a rare Christmas spent at Windsor, 1985
An outlier in the royal Christmas canon, this look comes from an early Christmas spent at Windsor rather than Sandringham…and it’s unforgettable for that very reason. Princess Diana arrived in a dramatic red caped coat trimmed with black edging, paired with a sculptural hat (which, I say affectionately, reminds me of a Yorkshire pudding) and a black muff.
The effect here is fabulously opulent, if a little dated. The coat itself echoes ecclesiastical vestments, calling to mind choir robes or cardinal’s capes, or like…a forbidding Victorian uncle. Against the pale stone of St. George’s Chapel, the color reads as almost cinematic. This was downright Dickensian in the best sense.
The look illustrates something else essential to royal Christmas dressing: these outfits aren’t chosen in isolation. They have to work not only within family tradition but also in conversation with architecture, landscape, and history.
Princess Beatrice’s 2022 Christmas look stood out to me not only for its visual impact but also for its timing. Attending Christmas Day services with her husband and stepson, Wolfie, Beatrice wore a deep green coat by the fashion label Shrimps, edged in faux fur and cinched with a bejeweled belt. The choice of label stood out from the usual players for royal daywear: Catherine Walker, Emilia Wickstead, Bruce Oldfield, Alexander McQueen.
Shrimps, founded by designer Hannah Weiland, has risen to prominence for its playful, colour-saturated faux-fur coats, helping to lead a broader shift toward cruelty-free fashion at a time when real fur still dominated luxury winterwear. What began as a student experiment at the London College of Fashion became a cult brand built on texture, colour, and whimsy…qualities very much on display here.
Paired with a jaunty dark-green fascinator topped with feathers and florals, Beatrice’s holiday look leaned unapologetically into loud luxury—a high-street trend that has dominated winter fashion year after year since. Against her ginger hair, the saturated green read as rich and festive.
It was a striking outlier on a morning otherwise defined by restraint, and in an especially resonant year. This was King Charles III’s first Christmas leading the family to church, and the first without Queen Elizabeth II. In that context, Beatrice’s look reads as both celebratory and symbolic: a new generation stepping forward in bold color, marking a moment of transition with confidence and celebration.
This look is classic Queen Elizabeth II Christmas dressing in a time that she had fully settled into the public image of the nation’s grandmother. By 2008, when she chose a red-and-grey tweed coat for Christmas Day, her style often reflected that role with unmistakable regal touches. Here, the effect was heightened by the contrasting red collar and double-breasted buttons.
Her accessories reinforced the look’s traditional nature in fantastic ways. A grey hat (again, a little piece of royal theatre…it’s a top hat!!) edged in red and topped with delicate feather plumes echoed the coat’s palette. And a closer look at the coat revealed Elizabeth’s Palm Leaf Brooch pinned to the left side—one of her favored pieces, commissioned by her mother from Cartier in 1938. It was paired, as always, with Elizabeth’s beloved pearl necklace.
The ensemble was neither showy nor severe. Instead, it projected reassurance, familiarity, and…dare I say coziness? It was Christmas dressing as both statecraft and comfort: Elizabeth remained recognizably royal while also making the look deeply personal.