It is well-accepted that royal women are subject to many regulations and conventions regarding their appearance. In public, coats must remain on, skirts must not fall beyond the knee, and hats must always be worn to formal occasions unless they are after 6 p.m., in which case tiaras are necessary.
However, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Meghan Markle broke royal protocol when they attended Easter Sunday services in St George’s Chapel in 2023 and the British Fashion Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in 2018.
They chose to paint their nails in striking colors rather than adhering to the long-standing custom of wearing nude nail lacquer to formal events. According to reports, the late Queen Elizabeth II thought bright polish was “vulgar,” even though this didn’t violate any royal rules in and of itself.
Remember when Meghan Markle complained on her Netflix doc that she wasn’t allowed to wear colorful nail polish? Why isn’t Meghan wearing color now, but Princess Catherine is? Why did she intentionally throw the Queen under the bus for absolutely no reason?!… pic.twitter.com/NSIiprYsV0
— Stephanie Sidley (@StephanieSidley) January 6, 2025
“It needs to be skin colored, so hot red and bright pink, for example, are not correct, especially for official occasions and particularly during mourning,” etiquette expert William Hanson told The Sun.
The Queen preferred more socially acceptable hues like “translucent or dusky pink,” frequently reaching for her favorite brand, Essie, in the light pink shade Ballet Slippers, which was said to be “the only color Her Majesty would wear.” As a result, it was assumed that the rest of the family would do the same. On her wedding day, the devoted Catherine chose to wear Essie, the Queen’s favorite brand, in Allure’s sheer white hue.
However, royal women occasionally favored defying the beauty fad. Here, MailOnline examines the occasions when they decided to paint their nails in unusual hues. The Duchess of Sussex unexpectedly appeared at the 2018 British Fashion Awards at the Royal Albert Hall while wearing a custom-made, asymmetrical Givenchy gown.
Even though the designer dress was designed to highlight her growing baby belly, astute royal observers were more interested in her rich burgundy nails. “There is no actual protocol about dark nail polish,” royal correspondent Omid Scobie told Harper’s Bazaar in response to accusations that Meghan was “breaking royal protocol.”
‘It’s simply about being appropriate – we’d never see this at a royal engagement. ‘[The British Fashion Awards ceremony] is a celebration of fashion, and there’s a lot more flexibility on what one can wear.’
When the world’s attention was on Meghan’s hand during her engagement announcement on November 27, 2017, she did follow the Queen’s nail paint preferences. Meghan’s nails were painted a naked pink as she displayed the gorgeous ring that Prince Harry had created, with two diamonds from Princess Diana’s personal collection and one stone from Botswana.
9 June 1995: Princess Diana with David Tang and Julia Peyton- Jones, Director of Visual Arts at the British Council, attends the Centenary Biennale Exhibition in Venice, Italy. pic.twitter.com/VeGeS7znZq
— ALL PRINCESS DIANA (@princessdibooks) June 8, 2020
The Duchess used CND Shellac to marry her Prince on May 19, 2018, in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, maintaining a stylish yet subtle manicure. According to British Vogue, Salon DryByLondon disclosed that they were responsible for her neutral nails and used the colors Unmasked and Negligee to produce the opalescent effect.
Princess Diana’s propensity to bite her fingernails may have contributed to the royal’s lack of nail varnish in earlier pictures. After breaking the practice, she gradually acquired the confidence to paint her nails in striking hues. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Sam McKnight, Diana’s hairstylist, discussed her 1991 Vogue cover shoot.
“She had just stopped biting her nails and was so proud of how they looked,” McKnight remarked. Princess Eugenie enjoys unusual nail art and is upending the conventional wisdom on royal beauty. In 2017, Eugenie wore bright red paint to Trooping the Color when she rode in a carriage with her father, Prince Andrew, and sister, Beatrice, even before she became a mother.
