Coronation dress of Queen Alexandra by Morin Blossier with embroidery by Manick Chand, 1902

At Alexandra’s suggestion, the coronation dress became the first royal outfit to include the national emblems of Britain (rose, thistle and shamrock), a tradition continued on every subsequent coronation dress, including those of Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Camilla. Forty needle-workers in Delhi spent five months embroidering the gown’s gold net, before it was sent to Paris to be laid over cloth of gold and made into the final gown. The rarely displayed dress is very fragile, and conservators have spent more than 100 hours preparing it for display.

Exhibition curator Kathryn Jones said: ‘While it has darkened over time, Alexandra’s choice of a shimmering gold fabric would have been incredibly striking at the coronation; there are denoscriptions in contemporary newspapers of moments in the ceremony where the Queen appears in an extraordinary blaze of golden light, the dress glowing in the new electric lighting. It’s a powerful example of Edward and Alexandra’s attempts to balance tradition and modernity as they stood on the cusp of the 20th century: a shining moment of glamour before the world was at war.’

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