Britain's Prime Minister will be wearing a work suit rather than donning tails for next week's royal wedding in a major break with tradition.
Guests at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton have been given the choice of wearing uniform, lounge suits -- the kind of suit normally worn for work -- or a traditional morning suit, which includes a coat with tails, on April 29.
Senior government figures would have traditionally worn tails -- the formal black coats that have the front section cut away to leave longer sections at the back -- on such occasions.
However these outfits carry associations with upper class privilege, an image Prime Minister David Cameron, educated at exclusive private school Eton and then at Oxford University, has worked hard to shed.
Cameron has been keen to cast off the impression that he is an upper-class "toff" since pictures emerged of him as a member of Oxford's elite Bullingdon Club, a drinking club whose wealthy members sport tails to their annual dinner.
Asked what Cameron would be wearing to the wedding, which will be attended by foreign royal dignitaries in traditional dress as well as ordinary members of the public, a spokesman said: "The prime minister will be wearing a suit."
Local media suggested that deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and opposition leader Ed Miliband would also opt for lounge suits.