Radiant in red ... and purple!
Queen Elizabeth II was awarded a service medal in a ceremony held Wednesday at Buckingham Palace in London, but it was her eye-catching outfit that stole the show.
The queen, 93, wore a vibrant red and purple dress and finished her look with a multistrand pearl necklace and a silver brooch.
The colorblocked dress featured long sleeves and two rectangular purple panels opposite two red panels.
The bold color combination is a new take on a favorite style pairing for the royal family.
Princess Diana was a fan of the color matchup and wore a memorable look in November 1989. She sported a wide-brimmed purple and red hat along with a cropped red jacket, knee-length purple skirt and purple pumps on an official visit to Hong Kong.
She also showed off the bright color combination on trips to other countries, including Thailand the year before and India four years later.
Her son's wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, also sported the look in 2019 during an outing to Birkhead in northwest England.
She was pregnant at the time with her son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, and wore a purple dress from Babaton by Aritizia, a long red coat by Sentaler and matching red heels.
Related
Purple has historically been a color reserved for members of the royal family. In 2017, the New York Times reported that in the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I forbade anyone but her close relatives from wearing the hue.
The formal rule has relaxed over the centuries and in fact, purple was even designated the color of the year in 2018 by Pantone.