Queen Mary says her daughters ‘would not be caught dead’ in their clothes

Queen Mary of Denmark may have a royal wardrobe, but her daughters still aren’t the biggest fans of her wardrobe.

King Frederik’s wife of 20 years took the stage at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen on May 22, where she revealed that although her two daughters, Princess Isabella, 17, and Princess Josephine, 13 years old, could fit into her clothes and shoes, she doesn’t need to share rooms often.

“The age difference means they won’t be trapped,” she said, according to the Northwest Star.

“However, when you see them in something of mine, it always makes me smile,” added the royal mother of four, 52.

One such occasion was Princess Isabella’s confirmation in 2022, when the teenage royal wore a white suit previously worn by her mother during a trip to Stockholm in 2017. Adding her own touch to the outfit, the Princess Isabella opted for a different brooch than the one her mother wore with the ensemble. She accessorized with a diamond and pearl brooch given to Isabelle by her grandmother, Queen Margrethe, on the day of her baptism in 2007 and which once belonged to Queen Alexandrine.

At the same event, Princess Josephine wore a pink dress previously worn by her older sister.

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At the Global Fashion Summit, Queen Mary praised sustainable fashion trends such as borrowing pieces and shopping at second-hand stores.

“New clothes are no longer pitted against used clothes,” she said.

Queen Mary is known for recycling her favorite ensembles again and again. In fact, she wore the same burgundy dress (with the same repeated tiara!) multiple times to the Danish royal family’s annual New Year’s reception, making only slight changes to her hair and jewelry.

Many royal women around the world also repeat their fashion choices, particularly Kate Middleton, who often recycles pieces from her wardrobe, sometimes going several years between wearing them.

In a royal first, Princess Kate wore a rented dress to the Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in December 2022 in Boston. In keeping with the eco-friendly theme of the event, guests were asked not to purchase new dresses or suits for the evening. The Princess of Wales adhered to sustainable fashion guidelines in a bright green off-the-shoulder dress by Solace London, which she rented from HURR, a UK rental platform for designer dresses.

She accessorized her look with the ultimate piece of clothing: an emerald and diamond choker that belonged to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana.

Richard Dalton, Diana’s longtime hairstylist, recently recalled how she came to wear the necklace as a headband in an iconic fashion moment.

“I think she had a sunburn on her neck, so we said, ‘Let’s make it a headband,'” Dalton said during the Styling Princess Diana panel at Fotografiska New York on May 21, an event coinciding with the 50th anniversary of PEOPLE.

“I asked Evelyn, her dresser, for six inches of panty elastic, (the kind used by) grannies,” he added of how he transformed the accessory into a headpiece.