{"id":283451,"date":"2026-07-01T11:29:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T11:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/283451\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T11:29:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T11:29:48","slug":"the-queens-maple-leaf-style-the-centennial-maple-leaf-gown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/283451\/","title":{"rendered":"The Queen\u2019s Maple Leaf Style: The Centennial maple leaf gown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u00a9 Write Royalty Inc. \/ No reproduction without the written permission of Write Royalty Inc.<\/p>\n

Wearing evening gowns embroidered with Canada\u2019s iconic maple leaves became something of a theme for Queen Elizabeth II during her many visits to Canada. She\u2019s worn three such gowns in the span of five decades.<\/p>\n

One is on display at the King\u2019s Gallery as part of the Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style<\/a> exhibition. It dates back nearly 60 years to one of the most important milestones in Canadian history: our Centennial.<\/p>\n

Canada celebrated the 100th anniversary of Confederation on July 1, 1967. It was a time of huge rejoicing and parties across the nation. In Montreal, millions of visitors crowded into the Expo 67<\/a> grounds which would become one of the most successful world fairs of the century.<\/p>\n

In Ottawa, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to mark the Centennial. She wore the coronation necklace and earrings, and the Kokoshnik tiara (a wall of diamonds originally made <\/a>for the future Queen Alexandra in 1888 by Garrard.<\/p>\n

For the ceremony, she wore a striking evening dress designed by Norman Hartnell. The slim-fitting sleeveless silk gown was utterly plain except for the contrast between the white on the top, the royal blue on the bottom, and the waist, which was covered with a thick band of three-dimensional embroidered maple leaves, the national emblem of Canada, made of crystals, beads, and diamant\u00e9 pieces in shades of blue, white, and silver.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The maple leaf gown worn for the official Centennial celebration on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on July 1, 1967 (Photo: \u00a9 Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025 | Royal Collection Trust) <\/p>\n

In a video done for the exhibition, Royal Collection Trust curator Caroline de Guitaut explains that the dress \u201cexemplifies how national symbols were incorporated into the Queen\u2019s wardrobe to mark important occasions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadiana of her gown escaped the writers of multiple Toronto Star <\/a>articles [with paywall] devoted to the Centennial celebrations in Ottawa: <\/p>\n

The high point in the ceremony came when the Queen, in a regal blue and white sapphire-studded gown and blue sash, wearing a glittering tiara, ascended the dais with Prince Philip resplendent in the uniform of colonel-in-chief of the Royal Canadian Regiment with a chestful of medals.<\/p>\n

The imagery of the Queen of Canada celebrating her nation\u2019s Centennial was reinforced when they took their places on the carved thrones, which had been moved outside, placed in front of a backdrop that simulated a throne room. <\/p>\n

Her speech reflected the hopes and concerns of Canada: <\/p>\n

Confederation has given Canada the economic strength which has made it possible for her to help the needy countries in their economic development; it has made it possible for Canada to provide forces to help keep the peace where it has been threatened and, above all, it has given increasing power and authority to Canada\u2019s voice in world affairs\u2026<\/p>\n

This power and authority derives from the internal national unity and it can only be sustained and flourish if that national unity prospers\u2026<\/p>\n

There is still a constant effort of accommodation to be made so that all the peoples of this great country may live together in friendship and harmony.<\/p>\n

(CBC has a video of the Queen\u2019s speech<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Queen Elizabeth II wearing the green maple leaf dress of 1957 (Photo: Canadian Museum of History)<\/p>\n

The first maple leaf dress was also designed by Norman Hartnell and worn for the brief stop in Ottawa in 1957. It was a white silk satin dress richly embroidered with a garland of green maple leaves interwoven with white roses on the full skirt and also at the top of the fitted sleeveless bodice. The leaves were made of velvet appliqued with crystal and imitation emeralds. The Queen donated the dress to Canada<\/a> and it is part of the collection of the Canadian Museum of History.<\/p>\n

In 2010, I was in the ballroom at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto when the Queen stunned guests by wearing a white gown embroidered with maple leaves<\/a> picked out with Swarovski crystals. It was the third such evening gown that featured the instantly recognizable symbol of Canada.<\/p>\n

The other maple leaf in the exhibition is the famous diamond Maple Leaf Brooch. She wore it pinned to her red suit <\/a>on Canada Day when she undertook her last visit to Parliament Hill in 2010.<\/p>\n

And yup, I\u2019ve written about that brooch as well!<\/p>\n

\"MapleMaple Leaf Brooch: Iconic, symbolic, and instantly recognizable<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\u00a9 Write Royalty Inc. \/ No reproduction without the written permission of Write Royalty Inc.<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading WRITE ROYALTY by Patricia Treble! This post is public so feel free to share it.<\/p>\n

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Leave a comment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a9 Write Royalty Inc. \/ No reproduction without the written permission of Write Royalty Inc. Wearing evening gowns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-283451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}