King Charles’ coronation will take place on May 6 2023 which makes me remember Queen Elizabeth’s spectacular coronation gown, created by Norman Hartnell after a design process involving nine different sketches. The Queen insisted on incorporating floral emblems from all her realms, including roses for England, leeks for Wales, shamrocks for Ireland, thistles for Scotland, wattle for Australia, maple leaves for Canada, silver ferns for New Zealand... and more. The gown comprised so many layers of horsehair that HM said it was like wearing a radiator. Despite this, she wore it several times during her six-month tour of the Commonwealth in 1953/4 so that as many people as possible could enjoy it. This gown was one of my favourites to research for my book because it solved such an utterly unique style dilemma. I hope we’ll see some similarly spectacular and thoughtful outfits next May ✨