Here’s What Queen Elizabeth Wore for 50 Years Because She Hated to Waste Money
Queen Elizabeth II lived in castles, wore exquisite jewelry, and was worth $600 million at the time of her death. But despite her wealth, life of privilege, and the pageantry that comes with being a royal, Queen Elizabeth was actually pretty frugal.
You may have heard stories about how when her children were growing up, the queen had the nannies dress them in hand-me-downs. Well, there was something the queen herself actually wore for more than five decades because she was not a fan of wasting money.
Here’s more on that, plus a few other ways the late queen was known to watch her pennies.
What Queen Elizabeth kept wearing for 50 years so she didn’t waste money on new ones
We’ve seen the Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton) recycle some of her outfits over the years. Well, she may have picked up that habit from Queen Elizabeth. Instead of buying new dresses all the time, the queen would re-wear her rainbow-colored outfits on different occasions. And something else she held onto for a long time, a really time, were her handbags.
According to Phil Dampier, author of the book What’s In The Queen’s Handbag And Other Royal Secrets, “[The queen was] careful with money and always watched the pennies. She [had] handbags for 30 or 40 years.”
And that goes for her shoes too. As Express noted, she continued to wear the same Anello & Davide shoes for 50 years. One of the queen’s shoemakers said that the late monarch would repair shoes rather than rebuy new ones, explaining: “We supply one or two pairs a year and occasionally renew the tops and re-heel them. The queen doesn’t waste money.”
The shoes were made from calf leather and molded from a wooden cast of the queen’s foot. And because she wore them so often someone had to make sure they were comfortable or if any adjustments needed to be made.
Queen Elizabeth’s former dresser Angela Kelly told People: “As has been reported a lot in the press, a flunky wears in Her Majesty’s shoes to ensure that they are comfortable and that she is always good to go, and yes, I am that flunky.” She added that her late boss had “very little time to herself and no time to wear in her own shoes.”
Other ways the late queen watched her pennies
But not amping up her wardrobe with new pairs of shoes wasn’t the only way the queen tried to save money. She was also mindful of her electric bill and how much it costs to heat Buckingham Palace so she implemented a rule in order to keep costs down.
There are approximately 40,000 lights in the Palace and therefore the electric bill can add up quickly. For that reason the late monarch banned light bulbs more than 40 watts and had signs posted throughout the residence ordering all staff members to turn off lights whenever a room was not in use. A former employee said that the queen would even walk around noting what lights were left on before turning them off herself.
She also gave up heating the entire building so in the cold winter months, only certain rooms that were used daily were heated by fireplaces or small space heaters.
