Royal christenings are some of the most highly-anticipated events and have been a cause for celebration among fans of the Firm for many years.
Across the decades, the ceremonies have been held in various locations, such as in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace or in the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace. The days are littered with traditions which vary from the ceremony being carried out by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the royal baby being christened in front of the Lily Font with water from the River Jordan.
But among the history, there is one family custom that the late Queen was able to put her own stamp on - and you won't believe the surprising method behind it.
When Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's first child, Princess Victoria, was born in 1840, the couple had a special christening gown commissioned for her christening the following year. The Honiton lace gown was made from Spitalfields silk and was worn by every royal baby, including the late Queen, King Charles and Prince William.
However, the delicate condition of the artefact resulted in a replica being created in 2008 using the most unique method. The original dress was worn by 62 royal babies across 163 years, with the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh's daughter, Lady Louise Windsor, being the last to wear it at her christening in 2004.
After this event, the late Queen decided the time had come to enter the delicate artefact into conservation and have a replica made for future christenings. The important task fell to the late Queen's dressmaker and close friend Angela Kelly who revealed exactly how she did it in her eye-opening book The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe.
Along with dresser Barbara Buckfield, Angela travelled to Italy to find the perfect lace for the new gown while she carried the priceless original in her handbag. She wrote: "Together, we sourced lace to complement that being made in Italy, and to make sure it looks authentic we dyed it in Yorkshire tea (the strongest, as we all know).
"We placed each piece of lace in a small bowl, from the Dressers' kitchen, filled with cool water and a tea bag, and left it for about five minutes, checking regularly until the colour was perfect." Angela showed the Queen the gown at each stage of the process, which took about nine months. She said: "Her Majesty was very interested to see how it was developing."
Lady Louise Windsor's brother, James, Earl of Wessex, was the first royal baby to wear the replica of the gown in 2008.
Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis all wore the replica at their christenings in 2013, 2015 and 2018 respectively. The gown has also been worn by everyone from Savannah and Isla Phillips to Prince Archie.
The christening gown isn't the only vintage item that Angela Kelly was given the honour to alter. For Princess Beatrice's wedding in 2020, she wore one of the monarch's dresses and Kelly adapted it for the big day. The Queen had previously worn the dress to the premiere of Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 and she trusted her close friend to make the alterations for her granddaughter's wedding.
