Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria of Wales (November 26, 1869 – November 20, 1938), daughter of the future Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark, married her first cousin, Prince Carl of Denmark, in 1896. They had one child, Alexander, born in 1903. In 1905 the Norwegian parliament dissolved Norway's union with Sweden and asked Prince Carl to become king of the newly independent Norway. Following a plebiscite, Carl accepted, taking the name of Haakon VII. His two year old son's name was changed to Olav; he would eventually become King Olav V.
Queen Maud never had any ambition for such an elevated role; she was shy and preferred the company of her family, especially those in England. But she was well thought of in her adopted country, and was certainly a very well dressed consort; she must have had a considerable dress allowance. A remarkable number of her gowns have been preserved. Here are some of them:
(These would be from the period just prior to WWI, circa 1906-1914.)
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| In these images, Queen Maud is wearing the above gown. |
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| Rear view of the above. |
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Postscript:
A friend asked me if that last pictured gown was from the House of Worth. I hadn't been paying attention to the dressmakers when searching for images of Queen Maud's gowns, so the question sent me back to Google. Turns out that, yes, it is a Worth gown. More interesting, it seems Maud requested a revision of the gown's bodice; something a bit more "streamlined". More interesting, still, it seems the same gown - in its original form - was also owned by Maud's first cousin, Queen Victoria Eugenie ("Ena") of Spain. Spain and Norway are at the opposite ends of Europe so, unless they both went home to visit England at the same time, it seems the likelihood of an embarrassing same-dress moment was pretty slim.
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| Queen "Ena" and the Worth gown. |
So intricate, wow. The pictures of Queen Maude - wow, what a thin waist. She must have had quite a time with her corset.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can tell, she was perhaps a bit too proud of her "extreme waistline"; one has to wonder about a possible eating disorder....
DeleteI love these dresses. I would like to know more about the green one (6 of 13) if I may? Does the bodice have 2 or 3 layers and what fabric are each of them, please?
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I don't have any specific information at hand about the fabrics used in any of these. The bodice of the blue-green gown you asked about looks to be an embroidered - beaded, sequined - net over a white silk base, with the embroidered blue-green silk overdress draped on top.
DeleteDo you happen to know if any of these dresses were made by Madam Clapham of Hull, England (Mrs Emily Clapham)? She was a great-great aunt of mine and it is certain that she made dresses for Queen Maud, though it might have been at a later period.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I don't know, Patrick. A quick search easily verifies that Queen Maud was her most celebrated client, but I don't see any specific examples that she would have worn. A Susan Capes writes, "From the 1920s [Madam Clapham] was visiting Sandringham twice a year to show selections of gowns to Queen Maud." (Queen Maud had her own home, Appleton House, on the Sandringham estate.) I don't know if your great-great aunt provided the queen clothes before the Twenties, but all the gowns shown here are pre-WWI. Sorry not to be more help....
DeleteThat's all right. Thank you for taking the trouble
DeleteDronning Mauds trousseau ble ansett som svaert moderne pa den tiden og var toneangivende for kvinnemote i Norge og resten av Skandinavia. Charles Worth kan ha introdusert dronning Maud for couturiere i England.
ReplyDelete*OsloSson
I was looking at those incredible gowns and thinking that the mannequins all had to be custom made (or dramatically altered!) to accomodate the dresses designed to fit her incredibly small-wasted frame. As for the final gown, I think her fashion sense far exceeded that of her cousin, "Enna"!
ReplyDeleteQueen Maud certainly had an enviably tiny waist, accentuated by the tight lacing of the day. I believe all the Wales girls were quite slim, taking after their famously svelte and elegant mother, Queen Alexandra. But as Maud was the only other reigning queen among the daughters, she had a higher standard to uphold in her attire and presentation. She did this admirably with a treasure of fabulous gowns! The world is fortunate to have so many preserved in the Norwegian museum in such pristine condition.
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