There’s a Strictly Observed Fashion for Mourning Queen Elizabeth
When Queen Elizabeth II passed away last Thursday, the United Kingdom immediately launched into an official mourning period that will last until one week following the monarch’s funeral on Monday, Sept. 19.
This is one of many traditions particular to the British nation which may seem excessive or odd to cavalier Americans, but which are deeply rooted in long-revered history. Another handful of these traditions concern appropriate mourning clothing worn by the rest of the royal family; these stringent protocols must be upheld, lest the queen’s offspring be accused of disrespecting the dead.
Like with many opaque royal edicts, rules concerning funerary dress aren’t necessarily written down anywhere; there’s no Intro to Royal Family Conduct handbook. Rather, these traditions have been established, reinforced and passed down over hundreds of years of hereditary succession, with notable episodes of breaking with the status quo: in 1938, the Queen Mother wore a resplendent white dress to her mother’s funeral to counter the ambient mood of impending war.