I’ve written about being regal in a previous 30 Chic Days Series, and I thought I’d revisit the topic because I love the concept of
being Queen-like. Doing
this brings to mind someone who is disciplined, majestic, elegant, refined, in
charge of her emotions and strong yet lady-like.
I watched a telemovie recently which was a dramatization of
the courtship of Mary and Frederick of Denmark and it was very enjoyable. Mary is Australian and the movie followed
their love story from when they first met in Sydney, through to their wedding
in Denmark. The whole tele-movie had such a joyous and happy feeling and I really got caught up in their romantic, almost fairy-tale-like courtship.
When I'm in the mood I love to study the European royals - there are many elegant examples of chic personal style (both casual and dressy) and, my goodness, they are all model-thin. These ladies are useful inspiration for when I'm feeling lazy and uninspired. A brief viewing of Pinterest pictures and I'm sitting up straight, drinking water, forgoing unncessary cake calories...
With their clothing, yes, I know they have a big designer budget, but I love to see the colours they wear, types of garments etc, especially in their casual clothes, because I don't have a lot of call to wear a ball-gown and tiara.
My favourite Euro-royals to be inspired by are Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, Princess Caroline of Monaco and her daughter Princess Charlotte, and the Swedish, Spanish, Belgian and Norwegian royal ladies. I also used to love watching two English minor royals - Lady Helen Taylor and Vicountess Serena Linley, although you don't see them around much any more.
My royal ladies encourage me to:
Enjoy my clothing and dress up more
Take more care with my hair, and blow-dry it to be silky and smooth
Wear makeup that is striking and defined, yet flattering and classic
Be ladylike and elegant
Eat with discernment to be slim and healthy
Be refined and sophisticated in my home style
Be well-read
Cultivate good habits
Speak well
Comport myself well
Such fun! I love being the Queen of my own life. What about you? Are you a royals fan? If so, who's your favourite? What inspiration do you take from them?
See you tomorrow, be chic!
Hi Fiona, thank you for this; I think it's my favourite Day so far! The royals, at least the ones worthy of the label, behave, dress and carry themselves as they do, because they are aware of their duties as role models for society. They know that someone is always watching. In my small life, I don't have that. I live in a big city where it is a shock to run into someone I know. The anonymity is an excuse for letting my standards of dress and, yes, even comportment droop. Yet, who knows who may be watching? A young girl at church, deciding what kind of woman she is going to be, or even a tired mom on the train. It would be nice to think that I could set an example that would cause her to shake her shoulders back, lift her chin, and smile. My day today is just going to be grubbing in my sister's ranchyard garden. Fiona, thanks to you, I shall handle my day like a hard-working European duchess. Now where are my sunblock and my safety gear?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. I enjoy your creative look at life. I'm impressed with how Kate Middleton has changed her life. If you look at pictures of her before Prince William married her, she looks quite different. She deserves credit for working hard to upgrade her life and style. She's an inspiration for many. "If she can do it, so can I".
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a very creative look at life and most inspiring. American "celebrities" are not often chic and elegant. More's the pity... It doesn't cost a bundle to emulate a lady, be she a royal or a person at the market. Who knows how many people one could influence by thoughtful care to choosing an outfit and personal grooming, a well-modulated voice, and a smile. Fiona, you have no idea how much you have encouraged this old gal. At sixty-nine, I figure it's not too late to make some changes.
ReplyDeleteHello, Fiona and also Hello to Donna ...
ReplyDelete... and I say Hello to Donna as she admits to being 69 and I admit to be 71, and yes, its never too late to learn. Mind you, we can teach the relative 'youngsters' a few tricks, too, perhaps Donna?
I was about to say that a well-modulated voice is important in 'Queenly behaviour' but you have just beaten me to it, Donna! Clear speech with no awful glottal stops (glottal stops are awful regardless of accent, they're just plain sloppy), no dropped aitches from the beginnings of words that require the aitch to be pronounced (and the letter is pronounced 'aitch' and not 'haitch' as some people do today.) Also, always being polite to checkout people and those attending you anywhere ... when I visit my dentist, I always make a point of thanking his dental nurse and if I see a cleaner working (as I did in the shopping mall in Exeter last week) I say hello and mention how nicely kept the place is. When I saw the Exeter mall's cleaner's smile, that someone had appreciated her work, it looked like I'd made her day and that made me happy, too.
Margaret P
I love mentors who are ladies, and like the prior comments mention, it doesn't cost anything to emulate good behavior and decorum.
ReplyDeleteHi there Fiona, Mary of Denmark is my favorite royal. I'm surprised she isn't talked about more often, but I think it's actually better that she isn't. It adds to her allure and class. I prefer her style to any other royal, she is so much more elegant and sophisticated in my opinion. Her blouse in this photo is GORGEOUS. I first found out about her through the Australian blog Grace and Poise. You might enjoy that blog too :)
ReplyDeleteD.
You know, honestly I'm not a fan of royalty - I'm a member of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) which is a lineage-based society of women who can trace an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution (we do lots of volunteer work and education). My 5th great-grandfather fought in the American Revolution in the 1780s so I'm not a big fan of the concept of royalty :)
ReplyDeleteI tend to find my role models in elegant actresses of the Golden Age of cinema - Grace Kelly, especially.
Kerry, I love your perspective and it does make a difference thinking how you will be viewed. I love being anonymous is the city and would rarely see anyone I know, however that is no excuse to be anything less than my best self, because I can see me and so can others.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I thought the same about Mary in the telemovie I watched. She really elevated herself to the position by the way she was. Very inspiring.
Donna, aah, thanks so much, I really appreciate your comment. Also, 69 is actually quite young :)
Margaret, I'd never heard of a glottal stop, but now I have thanks to you (and a bit of YouTube research). I don't mind that people talk differently or say words differently. The H thing, some people do and some don't. I think it's Australian to say 'haitch' and in New Zealand we say 'aitch'. I don't think one way is more correct, that's just my opinion. The only thing I truly can't abide with speech is excessive, unnecessary swearing.
Stephanie, me too. My ideal self is quite ladylike :)
D, I love Mary's blouse as well. It's half the reason the photo caught my eye, plus, she's even more gorgeous in it. Thanks so much for the blog mention, I'll take a look, it certainly sounds like I'll love it.
Amy, I know what you mean. The 'being born into royalty' (or married into it) doesn't sit well with me either, however I can still appreciate that these ladies are elegant and poised role models. And I can also enjoy the Golden Age actresses too :)
Your society sounds fascinating, how fabulous to have that heritage.
Amy, how lovely it is that we can all differ in our opinions and yet have a common goal - chic-ness, elegance, a certain soignee way of being, and yet I am in favour of a royal family and you are obviously more in favour of a presidential first family. The only reason I favour royalty is that it saves the country money in the long run; there isn't the necessity to have an election every four years and your primaries starting about two years in advance of the actual vote. But we are unusual in that we have a royal family and a democracy, so I think we have the best of both worlds. I don't think they're any better than we (the ordinary people) are, it's just that every country has a figure-head, and the royal family, regardless of whether we like them as people or not, are always there and save having to go through the presidential rigmarole - believe me, it's bad enough having to vote on our Government every five years without having to vote for a president as well. But as I say, how good that we're all different and have such differing views and all come together to read Fiona's lovely blog!
ReplyDeleteMargaret P