PR Guru Reveals Sandringham’s Strict Royal Weekend Dress Code

A weekend with the Royal Family was never going to be a relaxed pack-a-bag-and-go affair — but one former Sandringham guest has now offered a vivid glimpse at just how exacting the royal dress code could be.

Appearing on fashion designer Amanda Wakeley’s podcast Style DNA, Tanya Rose, who founded the luxury travel PR firm Mason Rose, looked back on a four-day stay at the Norfolk royal estate in 1979. The invitation came from Prince Edward, then a friend from Gordonstoun School.

Rose said she was just 14 when Edward asked her to join him at Sandringham shortly after Christmas — and quickly realised she would be the only guest there who was not part of the Royal Family.

The packing list, she recalled, was extensive: four evening gowns, four breakfast looks, four outfits for tea, plus clothing suitable for shooting, a Barbour jacket and Wellington boots.

For Rose, it was an entirely unfamiliar world. “I didn’t grow up like that,” she explained, saying she simply did not own the kind of wardrobe required — meaning she and her family had to go shopping for the occasion.

Among the accessories was a faux pearl necklace borrowed from her mother, who had bought it at Fenwick and treasured it deeply. On Rose’s first evening, she remembered the Queen Mother asking whether the necklace was a family heirloom. Rose replied that her “mummy” had given it to her — carefully leaving out the detail that it came from the department store.

Although she admitted she felt “terrified” about spending time with the Royal Family, Rose said the late Queen Elizabeth II soon helped put her at ease.

She described that first night as especially daunting: she was the only outsider present, and after dinner the men remained behind while the women withdrew to another room. There, Rose found herself in the company of the Queen, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Princess Anne and Lady Susan Hussey, the Queen’s lady-in-waiting.

‘The Queen was so divine because she knew I was nervous. I was absolutely terrified, so she started doing impressions of her groom, and just being so sweet to me. She was lovely.’

But Tanya’s stay wasn’t completely free of blunders, and in one unfortunate moment during dinner, King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, caught her mistakenly adding salt into her coffee.

‘I had Prince Charles on one side, and the Duke of Edinburgh on the other,’ she explained.

‘Everyone had a pot of coffee in front of them, and I wanted some sugar, and we all had a little salt thing in front of us, and I thought it was sugar.

‘So I put two things in my cup, and Prince Charles said, “What an extraordinary thing to do,” and I said “Oh what,” and he said “You just put salt in your coffee.”‘

It comes after Amanda, Princess Diana’s former fashion designer, revealed how to dress for wedding season like a royal in a special episode of the Daily Mail’s Palace Confidential.

Not only did host Rebecca English and Amanda agree that Princess Catherine had one of the best wedding dresses in living memory, but they also crowned the future Queen as the ‘epitome of wedding guest chic’.

Catherine turned heads earlier this year at the royal wedding of Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling, arriving in a cream tweed dress and matching wide-brimmed hat.

This selection of a single ‘monotone’ colour scheme, Wakeley explained, is one of several easily copiable elements of Kate’s wedding guest style.

The designer said: ‘Kate has fit and flare. She usually wears quite long sleeves, with a rounded, high neck, and with a neat waist that shows off her beautiful figure.

‘I love the longer length clothes she’s embracing now; it creates such a beautiful silhouette.

‘She’s recently been doing all monotone colours, so her hat matches the dress, matches her shoes. Often her bag too, which I think is a tip she took from the late Queen’s book.

‘It creates such a timeless look. She always appears regal and very chic. She generally wears British fashion too, so she’s a global brand ambassador.’