Princess Anne re-wears 57-year-old coat for Nigerian state banquet



Princess Anne wore a coat to Wednesday night’s Nigerian state banquet that she first wore at the age of 18. via REUTERS

Princess Anne took the crown in the fashion department Wednesday.

The 75-year-old royal dipped into her own closet for the Nigerian state banquet, choosing something she first wore when she was 18 years old.

The royal wore a long coat that she originally debuted for the “Run Wild, Run Free” premiere in 1969, layering it over a matching dress.

She arrived on the arm of husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence donning the slightly modified vintage look. via REUTERS
The princess first slipped into the duster coat for the “Run Wild, Run Free” premiere in 1969, layered over a matching dress. Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Crafted of ribbed ivory silk, the coat boasts an embroidered cutout design on each cuff and a subtle beading along the hem.

Princess Anne seems to have modified the design slightly, removing the original embellishment around the neck and replacing it with a plain pointed collar made of the same silk as the body.

However, she added bling with a diamond and pearl collar necklace that carried decidedly more provenance than her vintage dress.

Called Queen Mary’s City of London Choker, it features four rows of pearls that are interspersed with diamond bars, together creating a lattice structure popular in the Victorian era.

When it came to her jewelry, she chose Queen Mary’s City of London Choker, diamond earrings from her parents and the Meander Tiara atop her head. Getty Images
The necklace was first crafted for Queen Mary as a wedding gift in 1893. Bettmann Archive

The necklace was a wedding gift to Queen Mary from the City of London committee in 1893, passed to the late Queen Elizabeth II upon her death in 1953 (though Elizabeth never wore it publicly).

Anne coordinated with a pair of diamond drop earrings that she wears often — an 18th birthday present from her mother and father, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

As for her tiara, Princess Anne chose the Meander Tiara (a wedding gift to her paternal grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg), which is also a piece she frequently opts for.

The royal family often repeats outfits, but Princess Anne is the one who most often pulls from the deepest depths of her wardrobe.

In March, she effortlessly slipped into a brocade gown she first wore at the age of 21. And, this past November, chose a beige skirt suit that was first spotted at Trooping the Colour back in 1987.

Meanwhile, Kate Middleton wore a familiar piece to the Nigerian state banquet — though not from her own collection; The Princess of Wales paired her long-sleeved green Andrew Gn gown with Carrie Bradshaw’s heels.

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