Lifestyle
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Her first style slip-up! The knitted bonnet that Princess Charlotte wore when leaving hospital with Kate and William was actually on backwards
| By Rebecca English, Royal Correspondent |
HER mother and grandmother are fashion icons, so Princess Charlotte most likely has an innate sense of style running through her veins.
But the newborn has unfortunately already made a sartorial slip-up after she wore her bonnet the wrong way round.
According to the US magazine PEOPLE, the knitted area that surrounded the little girl’s face was actually meant to be hidden.
Revealed: The bonnet Princess Charlotte wore to make her grand entry before the press is understood to be a gift from the mother of Kate’s Spanish live-in nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrello
Ayajo Villar, who owns the Spanish shop called Irulea that stocks the item, told the magazine: Yes, she is wearing it backwards – the part that surrounds the face should be on the neck.”
As she left hospital on Saturday Princess Charlotte melted countless hearts in the very traditional knitted baby bonnet.
Not even a day old, she was already sparking trends as mothers rushed to locate similarly home-spun clothes for their own little bundles of joy.
But when asked where the bonnet had come from, Kensington Palace refused to comment, saying it was a ‘private’ matter – even though, bizarrely, they had already released details of the shawl the little princess was wrapped in.
Widow Maria Teresa Borrallo is said to have sourced the present (pictured on Princess Charlotte) from an exclusive children’s boutique called Irulea in San Sebastian, northern Spain
In fact, the bonnet was a charming and very thoughtful gift from the mother of the Duchess of Cambridge’s live-in Spanish nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrello.
Widow Maria Teresa Borrallo sourced the present from an exclusive children’s boutique called Irulea in San Sebastian, northern Spain.
It is understood she told the store owners that she had read about their beautiful clothes and asked for several pictures to be sent to her, before going to the shop personally to make her final choices.
In the end she ordered several pieces – including a coat, shoes, pram cover and mattress – all in a neutral ivory colour in ages 0-3 and 3-6 months and arranged for them to be sent to London just a month and a half ago.
Susana Villar, 57, who owns the 82-year-old city centre clothes shop with her sister Ayago, said today: ‘We had no idea the clothes were for Princess Charlotte. It was a complete surprise and we’re obviously delighted.
‘Some clients of ours phoned us to tell us they’d just seen the new royal leaving hospital wearing one of our bonnets.’
She continued: ‘It was bought as part a matching outfit that included a little coat and shoes but it was impossible to tell if she had them on as they were covered up by the blanket wrapped over her.’
She added: ‘The woman who bought them…first phoned us a couple of months ago about clothes for a new-born baby.
‘She said she liked the style of clothes we sold, inquired if we had a website and asked if we could send her some photos.
‘She phoned about five or six times after that before ringing about a month ago to tell us she wanted to come to the shop personally.
‘She explained she had to make the return journey from Palencia [where the nanny’s widowed mother lives] to San Sebastian by train in the one day and asked if she could be served outside of our normal working hours because she was arriving at 1.45pm just before we close for lunch and had to leave again around 5pm.
‘She was very discreet and never gave anything away.
‘All she said was that she had a daughter who was in London and so we naturally assumed everything she bought was for her daughter.
‘I wasn’t in the shop the day she came and my sister served her but she spoke with her daughter during her visit here.’
The shop owner, Susana Villar, 57, said the lady buyer – believed to be Ms Borrello – had told her that she didn’t know if the child was going to be a girl or a boy, so avoided anything in pink or blue
The shop owner said the lady buyer had told her that she didn’t know if the child was going to be a girl or a boy, so avoided anything in pink or blue and asked to see clothes in a range of neutral colours.
This ties in with Kensington Palace’s assertion that William and Kate did not know the sex of their new baby until she was born.
Susana continued: ‘She didn’t just buy the bonnet. She bought the little coat and shoes that went with it, and other clothes for a newborn baby like a pram cover and mattress.
‘Most of what we sell is hand-made so we sent a couple of the things she purchased by post once they were ready.
Fit for royalty: The up-scale boutique (pictured) has also been frequented by the late Duchess of Alba, formally Spain’s richest woman, as well as former Mexican president Vicente Fox
‘She didn’t know if the child was going to be a boy or a girl so she didn’t buy anything that was pink or blue.
‘Everything she bought was white or beige. We’re therefore hoping it won’t be the last time we see Princess Charlotte dressed in one of our garments.’
The shop’s owners wasted no time in boasting of their royal connections today on their Facebook page.
They said in a post: ‘You all know the new royal baby, a princess called Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.
‘What you don’t know is that for her début into society her parents chose an off-white little outfit made by hand by Irulea.
‘From San Sebastian direct to the Royal Court.
‘Dress the princes and princesses of your house in Irulea….just like the Royal Households do.’
When asked where the bonnet had come from, Kensington Palace refused to comment, saying it was a ‘private’ matter
The shop, in San Sebastian’s old town, was opened by the current owners’ grandmother. It sells women’s lingerie and bed-linen as well as baby’s clothes.
Previous clients have included the Duchess of Alba, Spain’s richest woman and the holder of more titles than the Queen when she died last November aged 88; former Mexican president Vicente Fox and Spanish opera singer Ainhoa Arteta.
Rock singer Bruce Springsteen also took time out of a concert performance in the city to visit the shop with his wife.
He bought clothes for her while their bodyguards kept watch outside and their children looked around a nearby surf shop.
Princess Charlotte is now ensconced in the Cambridge’s country bolthole, Anmer Hall, with her parents and elder brother, Prince George.
William and Kate drove up to Norfolk yesterday and plan to spend all of the summer in residence there as the prince embarks on his new career with East Anglia Air Ambulance.
Culled from Daily Mail
— May 18, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
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