The Princess Royal made headlines when she stepped out wearing her late mother’s vivid violet coat

Queen Elizabeth II’s technicolour wardrobe will forever be synonymous with her sartorial legacy, so it’s no wonder her only daughter, Princess Anne, has taken style notes from her mother’s best fashion moments over the years.

Princess Anne’s sartorial prowess is nothing short of fabulous. From her head-turning Royal Ascot ensembles to her psychedelic-print skirts of the sixties, the royal has effortlessly carried herself through decades of fashion, with many of her royal looks deemed far too adventurous for her late mother.

That hasn’t stopped Anne from echoing the Queen’s elegance on several occasions, however. Many times the mother-of-two has chosen to wear her late mother’s clothes and glittering royal jewels, keeping the monarch close to her heart since her death.

From repeating her clothes to hitting the races in matching outfits, here, HELLO! revisits the two royal style icons’ most memorable fashion hits and twinning style moments.

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Queen Elizabeth II’s beloved purple coat

In February, Princess Anne made royal style history when she stepped out wearing a plush purple coat that was actually from her late mother’s wardrobe. It marked the first time the Princess Royal had been seen publicly wearing an item directly from Her Late Majesty’s wardrobe, rather than just embodying her regal style.

“Wearing the clothes of someone you loved is very comforting,” noted a royal style watcher on Instagram page Royal Fashion Police at the time. “Gotta love Princess Anne. She never lets a good piece of clothing go to waste!”

© Tim Graham

The buttercup yellow mother-daughter duo

There was no mistaking the royal mother-daughter duo at the Derby Races on 1 June 1988 when they arrived in practically identical buttercup yellow outfits.

From the flattering fit to the flared skirt and even the matching butter-hued berets, Princess Anne and the late Queen couldn’t have looked more similar.

To this day, it’s not known if the royal duo planned their matching attire – though if they had planned to look like twins at the races, they certainly pulled it off.

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The symbolic 33-year-old dress in Dubai

Princess Anne paid sartorial homage to her late mother when she hit headlines in Dubai earlier this year for re-wearing a 33-year-old dress from her wardrobe. While the charming tea dress, first debuted when the Princess was just 26, did not belong to the late Queen, it does appear to share a striking resemblance to a dress her mother wore in September 1967.

Even more touching, is that Princess Anne wore the aquamarine ensemble to launch Queen Elizabeth 2 – Dubai’s newest floating hotel. The brightly coloured dress is the same colour that the late monarch wore to launch the ship of the same name in Glasgow 56 years ago.

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The Queen’s Admiral’s cloak

Echoing her mother during a carol service held at All Hallows by the Tower in December 2023, Princess Anne wore Her Late Majesty The Queen’s Admiral’s cloak, a majestic and regal black cape that adorned the monarch in several memorable portraits throughout her 70-year reign.

Twinning in tartan

Tartan is an incredibly important part of Scottish heritage worn by the royal family for centuries.

In 2023, Princess Anne attended a morning service at Crathie Church near Balmoral, the late Queen Elizabeth II’s beloved Scottish residence.

She donned a silhouette-enhancing tartan coat embellished with golden buttons and contrasting red lapels – and was the image of her mother wearing tartan in 1994 at the Braemar Games.