Before she became queen at 25 years old, Queen Elizabeth II was featured in a fashion show, Anna Wintour has revealed.
Writing for Vogue, Wintour remembers sitting at designer Richard Quinn’s exhibition right before she awarded him with the first Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design.
The Queen was “very happy to be there, telling me how she had been in a fashion show long before she became queen,” Wintour said in a tribute.
She continued: “She said it with excitement and laughter that leaped through the room, lighting it up: An daily event for Her Majesty, a memorable one for the rest of us.”
Queen Elizabeth died at her castle at Balmoral at the age of 96 Thursday. Her son, Charles, was promptly instated as King.
“For 70 years, Her Majesty was a beacon of continuity and a magnificent example of someone who lived by a clearly defined set of beliefs,” Wintour concluded.
“We hear so much about the end of an era, but Her Majesty’s departure, after so many decades of loyal service, is surely that,” Wintour remarked, adding that “the adoration and regard I had for her has never lessened.”
The 2018 visit at Fashion Week with Wintour was the Queen’s first, but she was a fashion star in her own right, rocking an assortment of colourful outfits and — of course — hats during her remarkable 70-year reign.