25+ Royal Wardrobe Moments That Made Headlines

Year: 2020
What Happened: Top worn backwards 

Kate Middleton is one of the biggest fashion icons in Britain, with many women wanting to dress and look just like her. Still, Princess Kate is not immune to wardrobe malfunctions, such as when she wore her Gucci blouse backward.

Kate Middleton ©Neil Mockford/Getty Images

She wore it backwards not once, but twice, and it’s easy to see how it happened. She mistook the bow tie as a front-facing accessory, when, really, the tie is supposed to hang down on her back. Who knows? Maybe Middleton is starting a new fashion trend by wearing her top backward.

Year: 2013
What Happened: Kate’s heel got caught 

Shoe troubles have confounded even the best of us. Those of us who walk in the city in heels already know the struggle of avoiding grates that try to trip us up. In 2013 at a St. Patrick’s Day event, Kate Middleton fell afoul of a street grate.

r/royals/Reddit

Her heel got caught, and the pregnant-at-the-time Princess had to lean on Prince William for support to free herself. Perhaps, in the future, Kate should wear blockier heels, just to avoid this happening again.

Year: 2011
What Happened: Beatrice and Eugenie’s hats were widely criticized 

Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice wore crazy-looking hats to Prince William’s 2011 wedding to Kate Middleton, and the Internet immediately launched a million memes about these strange, alien-like fashion accessories.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie ©Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

The hats were made by Philip Treacy, one of the most famous milliners in the world. Daily Mail called these hats one of Treacy’s “only flops,” and, reportedly, the backlash caused Eugenie and Beatrice to break down crying during a Buckingham Palace garden party.

Year: 1985
What Happened: Turning an heirloom choker into a headband 

In this case, this wardrobe malfunction wasn’t really anything to do with the wind or sun or heels getting caught in grates. It had to do with Princess Diana taking fashion liberties with the heirloom jewelry. The jewelry was a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth II.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana ©Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

The stunning piece was to be worn as a choker, but Diana turned it into a headband. While people were intrigued by this innovative take, according to reports, the Queen was not too happy with this risk-taking faux pas.

Year: 2018
What Happened: Prince Harry’s shoes had holes in them

Prince Harry is worth around $60 million, according to some reports, so he’s able to buy whatever shoes he wants. That said, he’s a lot like a lot of men—once he has a favorite pair of shoes, it’s hard to pry him away from them.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ©Samir Hussein/Getty Images

Even if said shoes have holes in them. At a 2018 wedding, Harry was striding around wearing a pair of brogues with holes in the left sole. While we get loving the shoes, maybe it’s time to let them go (or have them fixed—the Royals probably know some good cobblers).

Year: 2016
What Happened: Kate Middleton’s feet weren’t done

Some of the wardrobe malfunctions (most, really) on this list are legitimate while it can be argued that others are just excuses for the Internet to get mad. We’ll let you be the judge of this next one, which involves—gasp!—unpolished toenails.

Prince Willian and Catherine Middleton ©Euan Cherry/NurPHoto/Getty Images

During a visit to India’s Mahatma Gandhi Museum, Kate Middleton took off her shoes as a sign of respect. The Internet got on her for not having her toes done, but, to be fair, she might’ve had nude polish on. Also, who cares?

Year: 1979
What Happened: Strong winds caused the Queen’s hat to fly away 

In yet another episode of Royals versus the Wind, this fashion faux pas took place in 1979 while the late Queen Elizabeth II was touring Muscat, Oman with Sultan Qaboos. The winds were strong that day in the Omani city.

Queen Elizabeth @dailymailuk/Instagram

Too strong, in fact, as they continuously blew the Queen’s safari-esque hat off her head. The press took tons of photos of her trying to regain control of her hat. Eventually, she secured the headgear, maintaining her composed public image. 

Year: 2019
What Happened: Camilla wore the same color as Elizabeth 

In 2019, Queen Consort Camilla made a big fashion blunder, according to Royal blogs and watchers, when she wore the same shade of purple as Queen Elizabeth to the Commonwealth Day Service.

Queen Elizabeth and Camilla Parker-Bowles ©Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

Apparently, it’s against the rules to wear the same color as the Queen to an event. Though the pair wore different accessories, the media was all over the wardrobe malfunction, spreading gossip that there was trouble between the two women as a result of “Purplegate.”

Year: 2018
What Happened: Heels sinking in the mud 

Take note, ladies (and anyone else who wears heels). If you’re going to be attending an outside event where there’s even the slightest chance you might walk on grass, wear block heels, nothing else.

r/RoyalsGossip/Reddit

Wedges and blocks are your friends, as Meghan Markle found out at the Invictus Games a few years ago. Her beautiful, probably-pricey heels sank in the mud, causing a fashion malfunction and muddy mishap that was probably really hard to fix. 

Year: 1983
What Happened: Diana wore a double-meaning sweater 

In a 1995 interview, Princess Diana got pretty candid about how she felt. She told the interviewer that she didn’t think “people would want [her] to be Queen.” She then clarified, saying that, by people, she meant “the establishment” into which she married.

Princess Diana ©Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images

Diana was a misfit in the Royal Palace. So, when she wore this black sheep sweater in 1983, people took this as a sign that she was saying she felt like the black sheep of the family…and for good reason.

Year: 2018
What Happened: Meghan’s bra outline showed 

This fashion faux pas happens to the best of us and, really, it’s not a big deal. The world isn’t going to stop just because someone finds out that a woman is wearing a bra. That comes as cold comfort to Meghan Markle, who got hazed by the press after her bra outline showed.

Meghan Markle ©Samir Hussein/Getty Images

The outline of her strapless bra was visible through her gray dress while she was visiting with Irish President Michael Higgins. The bra outline made the chic, conservative outfit a bit more transparent than Markle intended.  

Year: 2017
What Happened: Beatrice wore a see-through gown

Now that Queen Elizabeth II has passed, it’s hard to tell whether the old rules still stand, as far as fashion goes. However, recent information has come to light that has shown that the Queen wasn’t always very conservative in her fashion rules.

Princess Beatrice ©David M Benett/Getty Images

When Princess Beatrice wore this see-through dress in 2017 to the V&A Summer Party, her look was considered scandalous. But, according to Express, this $400 dress wasn’t a wardrobe malfunction for Queen Elizabeth, who “encouraged” Beatrice to wear it.

Year: 2010s
What Happened: The wind blew up Kate’s skirt 

Kate Middleton battled the wind yet again in this photo (though we see she’s wearing block heels, which saved her from another fashion faux pas of her heel getting stuck in a grate), which was taken a few years ago.

Kate Middleton r/royals/Reddit

She had to fight to keep her skirt down against the wind, making her grateful, no doubt, that she had tights on. Perhaps Kate should take a page from the late Queen’s book and sew weights into her skirts, uncomfortable though that may seem.

Year: 1997
What Happened: Diana wore body armor to protest landmines 

It wasn’t Diana’s white blouse and khaki pants that caused controversy when she went to Angola in 1997; it was the body armor she wore. Princess Diana was wearing the armor to protest land mines as part of her work for the Halo Trust.

Princess Diana ©Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

Now, her work with the organization is praised, but, at the time, she was heavily critiqued for taking a “political” stand as a Royal. That said, it’s hard to see what the political angle is in terms of removing dangerous landmines from third-world countries.