ROYAL CLOTHING

ROYAL CLOTHING

f. Royal clothing in general consist of those articles that have come to be recognized symbols attached to this one office and no other and is known and recognized world wide; A crown, a sceptre, a cape. There are other symbols of office but they are not world wide but local, such as the Royal color of purple, crimson, blue, gold, silver, as well as certain furs such as Ermine, sable. While the rich have always had access to all of these separatly when worn all at once they constitute the Regalia of a king or prince, Queen or prince.

It is interesting to look at how some of these items became assocciated with Royalty. Scarcity! This becomes the criterion for some of the items . Symbolizm is another reason.

The Crown: Symbolism, the Circle of Eternity? This circle has been made of many materials during the course of our history, and reaches far into the past. For the ancient Celts it consisted of a gold ring. When and where it developed its points is a mystery. For the Druids it consisted of a woven wreath of leaves or rare mistletoe. Flowers were used to crown maidens as a religious rite. The Romans used the laurel wreath to crown heroes and it became the symbol for the crown of Ceasars. The strange thing about this need for a crown is that there was no king in Rome. It was supposed to be a republic of some kind. Yet the need to grace their leader with the symolism of a crown was impossible to ignore.

The metal crown began as a cirlet of Iron then progressed to gold. Jewels were embedded as they became a sought after stone. Soon Points were added and other designs of the goldsmith craft, as well as the arch meeting at the top to hold a large jewel. In some countries it took the form of a very elaboratly made hat or headpiece, heavily adorned with jewels or feathers.
In the North and South America the royal head piece was a feathered band.
In Japan a specially shaped silk hat.
In China an elaborite sculptured headpiece.
In India and the Islands they wore a very high sculptured metal headpiece also.
In Africa feathers or rare birds were used on a circlet.
In Egypt a headpiece with a symbol of a snake was used until the well known blend of two crowns were put together of upper and lower Egypt.

In the near east and Europe the metal crown of varied design became an elaborite headpiece as the centuries passed. The most commonly known today is the crown of England with its rare and large jewels and red velvet lining , with the symbol of Christianity, the cross, as its highest adornment.

The Royal Cape has no esoteric meaning other than royal adornment and was not always used. However it does appear in many lands and has many colors and forms of adornment. For the British kings and queens of history it has consisted of the color purple with Ermine border adorned with ermine tails. The fabric is velvet as that was considered a very costly and hard to make fabric. Down through the ages it has been finely woven cotten to elaborite designs of gold and silver and rare feathers of irridesent birds to the beautiful beaded blankets of the North American Indians.

Royal colors came about as the result of the scarcity of the dye stuffs. The Royal Purple is made from a rare crustacian found off the coast of portugal. Its scarcity made it desirable for royal prerogative. As it was in short supply it became forbidden dye for all but royal cloth.

It made good business sense in the past to encourage the royal prerogatives for rare items as it put its value up. What good is a rare stone or wood or feather or dye stuff to the poor who found it? They cannot eat it, but they can trade it for money to buy food.

Royal furs have consisted of the Ermine and the sable as these were always in short supply as well as being beautiful rich furs. There was also another reason for their use in expensive clothing as the pelts are dense which means they do not become scraggly as time goes by.