When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned on 2 June 1953, she left wearing a six-and-a-half-metre-long Robe of Estate (or Imperial Robe) made of purple velvet and silk, trimmed in ermine, and decorated in golden thread. It was a statement piece, created by Ede & Ravenscroft, robemakers to the Royal Family since 1689, which reportedly took a dozen embroideresses 3,500 hours to complete and befitted the grand occasion – the first ever televised coronation – which was watched by 27 million people in the UK and many more across the world.
