The Queen owns her own tartan design and other Royals have to ask her permission to wear it
THE Queen owns her very own tartan design, and other Royals have to ask her permission to wear it.
The pattern is called the Balmoral, and it was designed by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, in 1853.
The regal tartan is grey – rather than red – and the monarch usually wears the print as part of her casual wardrobe, often as a skirt.
Website Tartansauthority.com described it as: “Predominantly grey with overchecks of red and black the background contains a thread of black and white yarns twisted together to achieve the appearance of the rough hewn granite so familiar in Royal Deeside.”
The special check is reserved only for the Queen, and other members of the Royal family may wear it only with her permission.
Other members of the royal family who have been snapped wearing the Balmoral are Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Prince Philip.
There is one other person – a non royal – who is permitted to wear Balmoral without the Queen’s permission, her piper.
To stop anyone outside the Royal family wearing the Balmoral check, a ban was introduced in 1937, under the reign of King George VI.
When tartan manufacturers enquired whether they could sell the Balmoral, Sir Ulick Alexander, who managed the privy purse, informed them that it was reserved for the royals only.
He replied: “I write to inform you that the tartan that the King and royal family have adopted is purely personal and private to His Majesty and the royal family and can, in no circumstances, be worn by other people, or purchased by them from any source and cannot, therefore, be manufactured for general sale.”
That ban is still in force today, with a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace telling the Times: “The reigning monarch and other members of the royal family may wear the Balmoral tartan in accordance with the wishes of the sovereign.
“The only other person permitted to wear the tartan is the sovereign’s piper.”
The Queen’s staff at Balmoral instead wear what’s known as the Balmoral Tweed.
Initially the royal family wore another tartan, the Royal Stewart, but the recognisable red check began to be worn by the public, and it's now commonly worn today.
And we revealed the Queen holds six Guinness World Records – including one for being the world’s oldest reigning monarch.
Plus we recently shared the Queen’s favourite pancake recipe – and it’s surprisingly easy.
In more royal news, the Queen sneaked out of Buckingham Palace as a teen to dance the conga on VE Day – and saw couples having sex in public.
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