The ensembles worn by Her Majesty The Queen for her two appearances on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the Platinum Jubilee weekend will go on public display for the first time from this Sunday, 3 July at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

The outfits form part of a special display commemorating The Queen’s historic Platinum Jubilee, which will be included with a ticket to Edinburgh’s royal palace from Sunday, 3 July until Sunday, 25 September. Visitors will see a display of five outfits worn by Her Majesty on occasions to celebrate the Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilees, as well as a selection of gifts presented during The Queen’s official engagements in Scotland throughout her 70-year reign.

Watched by millions around the world, The Queen made her first appearance during the Platinum Jubilee weekend this year when she stood on the Buckingham Palace balcony to take the salute and watch the flypast during the Trooping the Colour ceremony on Thursday, 2 June. For the occasion, Her Majesty wore a pale blue dress with a matching coat and hat, both featuring a delicate beaded and diamanté trim. The ensemble was designed by Angela Kelly, Personal Adviser to The Queen (Wardrobe), and was also worn by Her Majesty for the official Platinum Jubilee photograph, taken by Ranald Mackechnie the previous week. The official portrait, which shows The Queen at Windsor Castle, will be displayed as part of the exhibition.

Her Majesty’s second Platinum Jubilee ensemble consisted of a vivid green wool-crêpe dress and coat designed by Stewart Parvin, with a coordinating wool-crêpe hat by milliner Rachel Trevor-Morgan. Her Majesty wore the outfit when she appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony following the Platinum Jubilee Pageant on Sunday 5 June, marking the end of four days of celebrations across the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.

Visitors will also see a display of items relating to Her Majesty's first official visit to Scotland as monarch, just 20 days after the Coronation, as well as a wide array of gifts presented to Her Majesty during official engagements in Scotland. Each summer, The Queen spends a week visiting various regions in Scotland, in a celebration of Scottish culture, achievement and community known as Royal Week or Holyrood Week. The week always begins with a ceremony on the forecourt of the Palace of Holyroodhouse known as the Ceremony of the Keys, in which Her Majesty is welcomed into the city of Edinburgh and offered the keys to the city and to the Palace. This event most recently took place on 27 June 2022, and visitors will be able to see the silver-gilt Ceremonial Key to the Palace of Holyroodhouse that was offered to Her Majesty as part of the display.

The Queen has undertaken several thousand engagements in Scotland and in support of Scottish causes since the beginning of her reign. The display includes a wide range of gifts presented to Her Majesty during these engagements, including a silver model of a miner’s Davy lamp, presented in Fife in 1958 when The Queen made her first descent into a working coal mine, and a silver bowl engraved with a traditional blessing, presented by the Caledonian Club on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee in 2002.

Other gifts on display include a silver quaich (a traditional drinking cup) presented by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in 1982, a glass and silver curling stone given at the opening of Aberdeen Curling Rink in 1983, a stainless steel and wood model of the Kelpies presented at the opening of the Queen Elizabeth II Canal at the Helix in Falkirk in 2017, and a silver, wood and granite model of the Queensferry Crossing, presented by the Scottish Government at the opening of the Crossing in 2017.