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Date: 2015-10-07; view: 559.

The Royal Family is well known for their upper class prim-and-proper style, and the Queen's outfits always spark a response among the public. It's usually about what colour she will be wearing that day, and what style of hat she will be wearing to match. She always wears a similar style of outfit, the two-piece jacket and skirt. This is a lot more updated compared to back in the Elizabethan times when the bigger and puffier the skirt was, the more fashionable. It got to the point where ladies had to even walk through doors sideways as their skirts were too wide to fit through! Even back then Royal fashion was very important and influenced the public in what they wore. The size of your skirt showed wealth, power and prestige in society. Nowadays, the Queen's style is admired but not exactly copied throughout England, which is just as well as it would be rather odd if it suddenly became fashionable to wear a two-piece coloured jacket and skirt! I can just see the teenagers latching onto that style...it will be in the shops this spring..!

Princes William and Harry are known to always dress smartly too, and follow in their father Charles' footsteps of wearing classic suits, and even the odd kilt! But they have often made a fashion faux pas, and caused a huge uproar from the public. Like in January last year, Prince Harry was attending a fancy dress party, and turned up in a Nazi costume. The country was up in arms, and comments and insults were flying about the Prince's misconduct, especially since he was soon to be joining the army. The Prince immediately commented back saying: “I am very sorry if I have caused any offence. It was a poor choice of costume and I apologise.” This issue continued for months and even now continues to be raised as a major Royal fashion no-no, and Harry still gets a lot of stick for wearing this expressive outfit.

Since then, there has been more successful Royal fancy dress parties, in the form of Prince William's 21^st Birthday party, having the theme ‘Out Of Africa', an idea he hoped would liven up the more formal Royal bashes. The Queen and other senior royals would all be turning up at Windsor Castle's state rooms in fancy dress. He commented beforehand: “I thought it would be quite fun to see the family out of black tie and get everyone to dress up.” William also said his grandmother was probably “apprehensive” about her costume but added: “She's very much looking forward to it. She's very positive towards the whole thing.” The young Royals like breaking the fashion rules from time to time and pushing the boundaries a little further, since they are always expected to dress a certain way, they have not been able to go through the experimental dressing phases most teenagers go through. So they have to do so in more controlled environments such as fancy dress parties and other events. One of these phases was seen when Prince William dressed up as the stereotypical English ‘Chav' - the new breed of streetwise no-hopers roaming the streets of Britain. This word has spread like wildfire and is now so common that it has even been added to the Oxford dictionary. William gleefully joined in the fun as his platoon donned chav-themed fancy dress for a photo to mark the completion of their first term at Sandhurst. He donned a loose-fitting top and bling jewellery — then added an angled baseball cap and glare to complete his menacing look. One cadet friend said: “William has a great sense of humour and went to a lot of trouble thinking up what to wear.”

Mostly the Royal sense of fashion is very classy and understated, and their girlfriends are expected to dress the same. The Princes and their girlfriends are trend setters among the public, and their style and elegance is craved for, always in magazines and the papers. If only we had the shopping budget they have to achieve this look!

A15 What kind of clothes does the Queen usually wear?

1 She wears casual clothes.

2 She wears up-market clothes.

3 She wears formal and conservative clothes.

4 She wears suits.

A16 How did the Queen's clothing influence the fashion?

1 It was of great importance.

2 Everybody copied it.

3 The bigger skirt was, the wealthier a person was.

4 Similar clothing demonstrated wealth and power.

A17 What does the expression 'faux pas' mean?

1 outstanding thing

2 disgusting thing

3 gaudy thing

4 embarrassing mistake

A18 What was the effect of Harry's wearing a Nazi costume at the fancy dress party?

1 The British people were offended.

2 They were shocked by his misbehavior.

3 They were amused.

4 They were furious and mad.

A19 Why was the 21st birthday party more successful?

1 because it was more formal.

2 because it was devoted to Africa.

3 because it helped to see the royalty as ordinary people.

4 because the Queen took part in the party.

A20 When do Prince Harry and prince William break the rules of the Royal clothing?

1 only during fancy dress parties.

2 from time to time on different occasions.

3 only during their stay at the University.

4 during official meetings

A21 Why should princes and their girlfriends wear formal clothes?

1 because they are icons of style.

2 because they represent the royalty and the country.

3 because many people consider them fashionable.

4 because they are celebrities and often appear in magazines and papers

_____/ 7 points

Grammar and vocabulary