Royals don't just recycle outfits from their own wardrobe, but many have also turned to their fashionable family members for style inspiration.
Lady Louise Windsor often gets thrifty by restyling dresses owned by her mother Duchess Sophie, while Princess Beatrice and Sarah Ferguson have also proven their shared fashion sense in the past. See some of the most memorable times royals raided their mother's wardrobe, proving some outfits really are timeless…
© GettyCrown Princess Mary and Princess Isabella
Princess Isabella turned to her mother to find the perfect outfit for her confirmation in April 2022. She settled on a white Max Mara three-piece suit with a belted waist which Mary had previously worn on several outings, including during a visit to Stockholm in May 2017 and for a visit to South Korea in May 2019.
© GettyDuchess Sophie and Lady Louise Windsor
There have been several occasions when Lady Louise Windsor has taken style inspiration from her fashionable mother the Duchess of Edinburgh. One memorable event was at the wedding of her cousin, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, in 2018, where Louise opted for a grey and white skater dress layered underneath a white cardigan.
She had clearly admired the frock when Sophie wore it to Wimbledon in 2017!
© GettyPrincess Beatrice and Sarah Ferguson
Princess Beatrice and her mother Sarah, Duchess of York not only chose the same dress but wore it just months apart! Rewind to 2017 when Beatrice rocked a geometric blue frock in June, while Sarah was pictured in the same one the following month.
© GettyPrincess Kate and Carole Middleton
Princess Kate wore an elegant royal blue tux-style dress to open Ipswich's Treehouse Children's Hospice in 2012. Her mother Carole stepped out in what appears to be the same dress at Royal Ascot in 2010. Now we know where Kate gets her great eye for fashion from!
© GettyPrincess of Wales and Carole Middleton
The mother-daughter duo proved their similar fashion sense once again in 2022 when Carole stepped out at Ascot wearing a stunning pink dress from Me+Em. Features of the midi shirt dress include a two-tone colourway, a button-down front, and a tied waist. Carole accessorised with a black clutch bag and a black hat.
Meanwhile, her daughter had previously worn the frock during her royal tour of Scotland with Prince William in 2021, after promising five-year-old cancer patient Mila Sneddon that she would wear something pink. Kate simply added nude heels and a floral face mask and pulled her curled brunette hair into a ponytail.
© GettyCrown Princess Victoria and Queen Silvia
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wore this breathtaking vintage Nina Ricci ballgown to the 2018 Nobel Prize Banquet in Stockholm, but it wasn't the first time that royal fans saw the dress.
Back in 1995, her mother, Queen Silvia, wore the same dress to the ceremony. Both mother and daughter accessorised with a sparkling tiara and chic up-do.
© GettyPrincess Victoria and Queen Silvia
Another family ensemble for the Swedish royal! Victoria wore this yellow outfit at a seminar in Stockholm in 2017, 39 years after her mother Silvia donned the ensemble for a visit to Moscow in 1978. It looked fabulous on both occasions!
© GettyPrincess Estelle of Sweden and Crown Princess Victoria
Young Princess Estelle wore this pretty white dress with gold embellishment to the christening of her sister, Princess Leonore, in Stockholm in 2014. Way back in 1980, her mother Crown Princess Victoria dressed in the same outfit for the 34th birthday of her father, King Carl Gustaf XVI.
© GettyMabel Friso and Princess Beatrix
The wife of Prince Johan Friso, the younger brother of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, looked so elegant in this green and blue floral dress in 2005.
Mabel must have borrowed the outfit from her mother-in-law, Princess Beatrix, who wore the dress for her engagement announcement to Claus van Amsberg in 1965.
© GettyBeatrice Borromeo and Princess Caroline
Monaco's Beatrice Borromeo looked amazing in this floor-length silver gown at a dinner in Monte Carlo in 2017. Ten years earlier, her mother Princess Caroline rocked the exact same dress at the Monte Carlo Red Cross Ball. The gown is stunning on both ladies!
Queen Letizia and Queen Sofia
Perhaps one of the most impressive times a royal has recycled a family member's wardrobe was when Queen Letizia re-wore her mother-in-law's gown four decades later!
The Spanish royal looked beautiful in a pink and white floral-embroidered dress at the Royal Palace in Madrid in 2021, exactly 40 years after Queen Sofia wore it for an official trip to Rome in 1981! While Letizia modernised it with a silver belt, Sofia kept it classic by accessorising it with a pearl necklace.
