The King shared that an exhibition showcasing his late mother’s attire, held just before what would have been her 100th birthday, stirred fond memories for him.

While exploring the newly opened exhibit at the King’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace, dedicated to the fashion of Queen Elizabeth, King Charles, now 77, reflected fondly on the past as he took in the collection.

He gestured towards the former Queen’s riding apparel, and with a touch of humor, invited Lady Sarah Chatto, Queen Elizabeth’s niece, to join him in examining an old black-and-white photograph.

The exhibition, titled “Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style,” stands as the most extensive display of the late Queen’s fashion legacy, featuring over 300 items, many of which are being shown to the public for the first time.

King Charles and Queen Camilla were greeted with cheers from supporters and tourists outside, including a vocal group from the Bronx, New York, and a fan exclaiming, “Camilla, you’re my favorite!”

Inside the gallery, they were accompanied by Lady Chatto, Queen’s Companion Dame Sarah Troughton, and Tim Knox, who serves as the director of the Royal Collection Trust, the organization behind the exhibition.

In memory of the late Queen, two of her former ladies in waiting, Lady Sarah Hussey and Dame Annabelle Whitehead, were also invited to view the exhibition.

Camilla seemed thrilled to see items from the late Queen’s childhood, pointing to a pair of well-preserved ballet shoes. In the Nash Gallery, she went on to admire the needlework of the late Queen’s coronation gown, saying: ‘The skill is extraordinary’.

King Charles and Queen Camilla are attending a fashion exhibition honouring Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace

Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, were welcomed by shouts of support from well wishers and tourists gathered outside 

King Charles III pictured with Caroline de Guitaut, the exhibition curator, at the Royal Collection Trust

Pointing at the late Queen’s wartime uniform, the King joked: ‘You never throw anything away.’

Speaking afterwards, Caroline de Guitaut, curator of the exhibition who had given Their Majesties the tour, said they were there ‘To look at the evolution of her style, through the different pieces on display, and also, obviously, there were many pieces that brought back memories.’

She said: ‘I think the sense of preservation, which, of course, began with Princess Elizabeth’s mother, Queen Elizabeth, understanding that these pieces were very important, and should be kept, and should be carefully preserved, that really was something that His Majesty remarked upon and the condition of everything being so pristine, and I explained about some of the conservation treatments that we have undertaken, which, of course, is a subject that His Majesty is very interested in.’

The King and Queen met contemporary fashion designers Erdem and Christopher Kane, who both have an outfit on display in the exhibition which was inspired by the late Queen’s fashion.

Charles and Camilla also spent time talking to Edith Miller, 22, a needlework student currently on a course at Highgrove through the King’s Foundation.

She said that she has told the King that she worked on the embroidery of his anointment screen for his Coronation ‘and he gave me a little thumbs up.’   

The exhibition is is running from April 10 to October 18 and is described as shedding ‘new light’ on her ‘close involvement in the creation of her wardrobe’.

It features some uniquely personal pieces. 

King Charles III  is greeted by Lady Sarah Chatto during a visit to the Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style exhibition

Caroline de Guitaut (pictured left), the curator of the exhibition, gave Their Majesties the tour

The King said an exhibition of his late mother’s clothes on the eve of the centenary of her birth ‘brought back memories’

The Queen photographed by Cecil Beaton at Princess Margaret’s wedding in 1960

There is a specially-designed maternity evening dress created to elegantly disguise what would be the future King Charles III in 1948, a pair of check trousers she wore privately on estates such as Balmoral and Sandringham and a remarkable see-through 1960s plastic coat that none of the curators can even find a photograph of her wearing.

The Royal Collection Trust team, led by de Guitaut, Surveyor of the King’s Works of Art, were given full run of Queen Elizabeth’s 4,500 piece-strong wardrobe, which was carefully conserved throughout her long and extraordinary life.

It forms a remarkable display – 18 months in the making and the largest ever devoted to the late Queen and her clothes.

The first few weeks of the exhibition ‘Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life In Style’ have been  a sell-out. 

The late monarch, de Guitaut concedes, was not a woman obsessed with fashion, but after finding herself hailed a style icon became determined to make it work as a tool of her trade. 

‘Queen Elizabeth took a deep and thoughtful interest in every aspect of her wardrobe, using fashion as diplomacy while consistently championing the UK’s fashion industry,’ she said. 

Among the exhibits are Elizabeth’s breathtaking wedding and coronations gowns, including, for the first time, the fan she used in 1953.

Her wedding gown is reunited, for the first time in more than 20 years, with the glittering Queen Mary’s Diamond Fringe tiara.

There are eye-catching items, too, such as the Queen’s ‘poodle skirt’ worn for a square dance in Canada, an extraordinary embroidered coat and matching slippers which she wore in Malaysia in 1989 and a purple dress that actually conceals, extraordinarily, a pair of culottes.

The first few weeks of the exhibition ‘Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life In Style’ are already a sell-out (pictured, Elizabeth in 1956)

Norman Hartnell designed the gown for the above portrait in 1956

The Queen used fashion as ‘diplomacy’, according to curator Caroline de Guitaut (Queen Elizabeth pictured welcoming the ambassador of Iraq, Dr Salah Al Shaikhly, in 2004)

A maternity evening dress made by Hartnell, dating from around 1948, is a rare example of its type. De Guitant says she was ‘very excited’ to have found it and that the tailoring is so clever that from the front you wouldn’t even have known she was pregnant. ‘It’s quite a rare survival,’ she says.

The display of evening gowns and day dresses for State Visits and banquets is almost overwhelming, many featuring specific colours or national symbols in honour of the countries she was visiting, as well as accessories from her many tours over the years including binoculars, sunglasses and suitcases.

The Queen was apparently very much involved in the process of creating her outfits, examining sketches submitted to her and commenting back on the silhouette, or sleeve or skirt length.

‘The Queen would want to see the fabric samples too, she was absolutely insistent on having at her fingertips every single piece of information about how this finished garment might look,’ de Guitaut explained.

‘She became an active master at dressing in a very appropriate way, paying compliments to the host country, honouring the craftsmanship of the place she was visiting.

‘The wearing of this wonderful couture on the global stage was really the greatest possible advert for British production, design and manufacture.

‘She took diplomatic dressing to a whole other level of sophistication which no other monarch had really done to the same degree. She was a trailblazer.’

King Charles will address the nation tomorrow to mark his mother’s birthday.

Charles has reportedly penned personal reflections on what he considers his mother’s greatest achievements. 

King Charles has written a personal reflection on the life and achievements of his mother, the late Queen, which he will deliver tomorrow to mark her 100th birthday

Queen Elizabeth on a royal tour to South Africa in 1947, during which she turned 21 and pledged to devote her life to her people

This will be accompanied by a touching video montage of poignant moments from her life played on screen.

That is expected to include footage from her service during WW2 in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, memories from royal tours around the world and duties at home, and moments from her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.

Charles is said to have invested considerable time curating the list of invitees to the reception, prioritising representatives from organisations and charities with which his mother formed deep connections.