Royal wedding men’s clothes

I think Prince William has an official role to the Queen from the Blues and Royals thus the gold braid curtain tie back thingy (it has a special name). I thought they looked great and the pageboys costumes modelled on theirs look very smart.

Harry was in the Blues and Royals too.

Normally, except for the Navy, former officers and retired officers are not permitted to wear uniform, but, as Teetime said, they will both have an official connection to the Household Brigade which will entitle them to wear the uniform on certain occasions. I thought the frock coat was a rather nice, understated touch. Stopped the whole thing looking like some Ruritanian comic opera! The curtain tie back ? is called an aiguilette (sp). All household cavalry officers wear them with full dress. Not sure why Harry didn’t have one.

Looking back to William’s wedding, Harry wore a rather splendid aiguilette on his uniform, but William didn’t have one.

It did look rather dark and gloomy on such a lovely day, especially on the little boys. George was almost invisible!

What were those strange flaps on the front of the uniforms for?!!

At least they didn’t upstage the bride ?! The problem was that on tv, and in the chapel, the very intricate detailing on the frock coats was lost. It can take a week of hand stitching to put the decorative embroidery on one of the sleeves, and there is also a considerable amount of detailing on the back of the coat, none of which could be seen on Saturday. It really is a splendid garment. The frock coat is peculiar to household cavalry regiment officers.

They looked very smart.

Just perfect a credit to their Regiment.

From things I have read, the Queen gave them permission to wear the uniforms, she also gave Harry permission to keep his beard, apparently he wouldn’t normally be allowed to.

My father was in the RAF and had a very serious bout of chickenpox when he was in his late forties. He had to grow a beard which wasn't allowed and I remember the hoo-ha when he was well enough to return to work and the special permission needed to keep his beard until his skin recovered. A sunny holiday in Cornwall thankfully did the trick.

The Princes both served in the armed services. It’s a tradition in the RF.
As for “dressing normally”, they were dressing normally for young men in their family.
They looked good.

P.Phillip . Charles. Andrew. Mark Phillips. Timothy Lawrence. William. Duke of Kent all wore uniform at their weddings

They are both Honorary Colonels or some such similar title for at least one regiment, possibly more. Even Princess Anne wears the appropriate uniform when representing the armed services unit she is Honorary Colonel to.

At many of the marriages AB mentions they were still serving in the armed services: The princes; Phillip and Andrew, The Duke of Kent (I think), Mark Phillips and Timothy Lawrence.