It might look glamorous being a royal: all those elegant garden parties and glitzy balls to attend with the designer wardrobe to boot. But while this may be true, royal ladies such as Duchess Kate and Duchess Meghan aren't quite as free as you might think when it comes to their fashion choices. There are actually style rules that members of the royal family have to follow according to the Queen's personal tastes. Some of these rules have been followed for hundreds of years and are still honoured today. From rules on headwear, to bare legs and even nail varnish, Kate and Meghan must observe these guidelines at their many public engagements.
The first, very serious rule, concerns the event of a death in the royal family. So as always to be prepared, royals must always pack one black outfit when travelling in case of the death of a senior member of the family.
The next rule is quite surprising. Did you know that members of the royal family are not allowed to wear hats past 6pm? It's true. At 6.01pm hats must come off. The exception to this rule is the tiara, which we often see on royal ladies at evening functions.
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Kate and Meghan may once have enjoyed wearing dark or colourful nail varnish, but sadly for them, they must now stick to pale or neutral shades in public. Yep, these subtle hues are the only colours allowed on royal nails.
You may have noticed Duchess Meghan recently wearing pale coloured tights at Prince Charles' birthday garden party. The public wondered why on earth she wore the legwear on such a warm day. Well, it's royal protocol. Female royals are not allowed to show bare legs and have to wear tights in all weathers. Poor them!
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The final rule can be traced back all the way to the 14th century under King Edward III. The monarch is said to have banned all royals from wearing fur and his decision is rumoured to be followed by royals today. We can think of a couple of exceptions however - the Queen has worn fur on a number of occasions, as did the late Princess Margaret.
