Everyone’s been there – when you turn up to a function and you happen to be wearing the same thing as someone else. Now imagine if over half of the attendees were all wearing the same thing…
Many royal fans felt they were seeing double (and triple, and so on…) as multiple members of the annual walkabout for the Royal Family’s Sandringham Christmas all appeared wearing the exact same scarf.
While people might have been distracted by Kate Middleton’s stunning all-blue outfit – or the fact Prince Louis got to wear trousers for the first time – the eagle-eyed spotted that the same scarf kept appearing.
First it was on Princess Anne and her husband, Sir Timothy Laurence. The Princess Royal and her husband looked like couple goals at first in their matching scarves – and the scarf’s neutral tones really complemented Princess Anne’s gorgeous (and very on-trend) white coat.
However, before fans got too caught up thinking these scarves were a cute couples gift for the Princess Royal and Sir Timothy, the same scarf reappeared on Lady Louise. And then it showed up on Princess Margaret’s son, David Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon.
So, how did this happen?
As it turns out, the scarves carry a very special significance, as they come from King Charles’s Highgrove estate – and were created to capture His Majesty’s long-held passion for the environment.
As per the Highgrove Gardens website, the Highgrove Heritage Scarf is the result of a collaboration between Highgrove, the Princes’ Foundation, and Johnstons of Elgin.
It was inspired by the Campaign for Wool’s 10th anniversary, which was an idea conceived by the King himself.
As he touched on with his history-making Christmas speech, King Charles is not afraid to become more outspoken when it comes to issues facing the environment, and this scarf is just one way he is putting his beliefs into reality.
Sustainably sourced with complete wool traceability, the Heritage Scarf is made from 100% ultrafine RWS (Responsible Wool Standard) merino wool from Australia.
The design takes the form of the iconic Prince of Wales check – which Charles helped repopularise with his sharp, Saville Row suits - which has been woven over an enlarged Shepherd check.
The Shepherd check was originally coloured from undyed wool using a colour palette of black, dark browns and whites. From the initial wool clip, it is woven into shawls which were then worn by the Border shepherds.
Whether the scarves were a personal gift from the King to his family members or they all separately bought the accessory as a show of unity, either way, it certainly became one of the more memorable Christmas walkabouts in recent years.
The solidarity shown must have been a comfort to the King, who faced another year without his youngest son, Prince Harry.
Harry, along with wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, reportedly enjoyed a “British” themed Christmas in Montecito.
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