Next month, King Charles and Queen Camilla will head off on a landmark royal tour – the King’s first as monarch, in fact, to an overseas Commonwealth realm. The visit will take in trips to and Samoa over ten days, and the couple’s engagements will, according to the Palace, ‘focus on themes designed to celebrate the best of Australia and Samoa, as well as reflecting aspects of The King and Queen’s work’. Usually, royal tours are an opportunity for the family to dress up – , for example, likes to reference the country’s colours in her outfits (think a periwinkle blue Jenny Packham skirt suit in Belize, or a red-and-white Alexander McQueen look in Poland).
Tours often involve state dinners, for which the bring out their very best finery, from tiaras and long gloves, to ceremonial sashes and sweeping gowns. Today marks 85 years since Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark died alongside her family For his next jaunt overseas, however, King Charles will be facing a sartorial dilemma of a different kind: how to dress down. Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, prime minister of Samoa, has apparently urged the Palace to encourage a more relaxed dress code when the King and Queen visit next month.
‘I've been very frank in my discussions in . I had an audience with the King. October's very hot in Samoa,’ .
‘We're not really keen for people to wear suits and be hot and uncomfortable. We want to encourage more of an island vibe.’ In this feature first published in 2021, Sacha Fo.
