Windsor uniform#Household uniform (1937 pattern)
{{about|a type of formal dress worn at Windsor Castle|the uniform called in Canada 'Windsor uniform'|Court uniform and dress in the United Kingdom}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{one source|date=August 2013}}
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| image1 = Peter Edward Stroehling - Portrait of King George III (1807).jpg
| alt1 = George III in Windsor dress
| caption1 = King George III wearing the Windsor uniform in 1807
| image2 = Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex by Guy Head.jpg
| alt2 = Prince Frederick Augustus in undress Windsor dress
| caption2 = Undress Windsor uniform, as worn by Prince Augustus Frederick (a son of King George III) in 1798
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The Windsor uniform is a type of formal dress worn at Windsor Castle by male members of the British royal family (and some very senior courtiers).{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/dressinsigniawor00greauoft#page/5/mode/1up |title=Windsor uniform |work=Dress and insignia worn at His Majesty's court (London: 1921) |access-date=2017-11-25}}
In Canada, UK civil uniform (as traditionally worn by lieutenant governors on formal occasions) is widely referred to as Windsor Court Dress or Windsor Uniform; although distinct in design and usage from the above, it is believed to be derived from it.{{cite book |last1=Pike |first1=Corinna A. W. |last2=McCreery |first2=Christopher |title=Canadian Symbols of Authority: Maces, Chains, and Rods of Office |date=2011 |publisher=Dundurn |location=Toronto |page=246}}
History
The uniform was introduced by King George III in 1777.Jeremy Black, George III: America's Last King (New Haven: Princeton University Press, 2006), 118 and 428. The full dress version, which had a good deal of gold braid about it, did not survive beyond 1936, but the undress version, introduced in 1798,{{cite news |author= |title=London Friday May 18 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000230/17980519/014/0003 |newspaper=Hampshire Chronicle | location=England |date=19 May 1798 |access-date=28 January 2020 |via=British Newspaper Archive }} is still worn today: a dark blue jacket with red facings. It is now worn only at Windsor Castle, and since the reign of King Edward VII, it has generally been worn only as evening dress (although King Charles III has worn a version of it as a riding coat).
The uniform currently takes the form of an evening tail coat of dark blue cloth, lapelled, with scarlet collar and cuffs. There are three buttons on each front, two at the back of the waist, two at the end of each tail, and also two on each cuff (plus one above). The gilt buttons bear a design of a Garter star within a garter, surmounted by the imperial crown.
It is worn with a white single-breasted waistcoat with three small gilt buttons of the same pattern, and with plain black evening-dress trousers. When the court is in mourning, a black waistcoat and black armband are worn. As well as the tail coat version, the late Duke of Edinburgh also wore (and King Charles III continues to wear) a dinner jacket version of the coat.
See also
References
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External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Windsor uniform}}
- [https://archive.org/stream/dressinsigniawor00greauoft#page/5/mode/1up Windsor uniform] – Dress and insignia worn at His Majesty's court (1921)
{{Folk costumes}}
Category:State ritual and ceremonies
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