Why Royals Pack 1 Black Outfit While Traveling

Many people know that royal family members follow unwritten fashion rules. Interestingly, one wardrobe rule requires that royals pack a black outfit when traveling. The reason is somber.

Royals always pack a black outfit in case of an unexpected death

According to Yahoo, royals pack a black outfit whenever they travel abroad. So in case of an unexpected death in their host nation, the royal is prepared to attend a last-minute funeral.

Additionally, if someone in the royal family dies while a member is out of the country, they can wear a black outfit upon their return to the United Kingdom.

​Unexpected deaths rarely occur while royals are traveling, but it has happened. It’s also why royals now understand the importance of packing a black ensemble.

Queen Elizabeth did not have a black outfit when her father died

In 1952, then-Princess Elizabeth went on a tour of the Commonwealth with her husband, Prince Philip. When she was in Kenya, the 25-year-old royal received news that her father, King George VI, had died. She canceled the rest of her trip and flew back home.

According to Lady Pamela Hicks (Philip’s cousin and Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting), Elizabeth did not have a black outfit and wanted to wear one upon landing in England. So royal staffers had to find a way to get the new queen dressed appropriately before she met the press.

“A black dress was quickly smuggled on board because we didn’t have a black dress. So she quickly had to change,” Hicks recalled on her daughter’s podcast, The India Hicks Podcast.

Queen Elizabeth reportedly wore black for 30 days after Prince Philip died

In April 2021, Prince Philip died at the age of 99. The country had an eight-day national mourning period, though the royal family was expected to mourn for 30 days. The queen reportedly wore black for 30 days after her husband’s funeral.

This mourning tradition was established by Queen Victoria, who famously wore black for 40 years after the death of her husband, Prince Albert.

“Mourning dress has been part of European royal culture for centuries, but it reached its peak in the 19th century with the influence of Queen Victoria, who set a standard for the rest of society to follow,” said Matthew Storey, a curator at Historic Royal Palaces (via The Telegraph). “When her beloved husband died in 1861 she abandoned the colorful clothes of her married life and, with the rest of the royal court, adopted black clothing as an outward sign of grief. Her subjects duly followed suit, causing a rush on suppliers of mourning fabric up and down the country.”

Storey added, “Victoria chose never to leave mourning and wore her now-iconic black dresses and white widow’s caps for the rest of her life … She even insisted that her daughter, Princess Alice, had an all-black trousseau when she married in 1862.”

Although the late Queen Elizabeth and modern royals no longer mourn for that long, the royal family still follows some parts of this tradition.