Dragon Review: By Royal Appointment – Yvonne Arnaud Theatre

Published on: 30 Jul, 2025
Updated on: 30 Jul, 2025

Magnificent: Anne Reid as Queen Elizabeth II

By Alice Fowler

Photos Nobby Clark

How does one signal one’s relief at another decade on the throne, despite stirrings of republicanism? In bubble-gum-pink dress and matching hat, of course.

And how might one meet Wallis Simpson, the famously fashionable Duchess of Windsor, when her husband – the former Edward VIII – is dying? In dowdy, British Rail-check suit and hat, with – in an act of jewel-encrusted one-upmanship – one of the largest diamonds in the world.

A special relationship: the Queen shares a moment of affection with her Dresser (Caroline Quentin)

The entertaining premise of Daisy Goodwin’s new play By Royal Appointment, showing at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre this week, is that the late Queen Elizabeth II – renowned for concealing what she really thought – sent coded messages through her wardrobe.

Anne Reid, herself a national treasure, is magnificent as the Queen, capturing her spirit, clipped speech and love of racing, corgis and Prince Philip without ever straying into caricature.

The Dresser (Caroline Quentin) shows the Curator (Grainne Dromgoole) a gift from the late Queen.

Caroline Quentin also excels as her Dresser: a frank and fierce outsider, proud of her northern roots, who, through control of the Queen’s wardrobe, guides the hand of monarchy.

Working alongside the Dresser – though not always happily – are the Milliner and the Designer (James Dreyfus and James Wilby respectively).

As the play unfolds, from 1969 to her death in 2022, the Queen shares poignant moments in their lives. Wilby movingly depicts how the Designer won an MC in the War, but never the respect of his father, who despised his homosexuality.

Suits you, Ma’am: the Milliner shows off a handy new invention, the see-through umbrella.

The Milliner, a camp and tactless Australian from Urania, New South Wales, must stand by as his lover dies of Aids. At such moments, her Majesty offers kindly and profound advice, superbly delivered by Anne Reid.

How much of this is true? A great deal, we may surmise, as the Queen’s real-life outfits, described in detail by the Curator (Grainne Dromgoole), flash on screen in Jonathan Fensom’s simple but effective set.

As Dromgoole lists the key points of each year – from Aids and the miners’ strike, to Dirty Den serving divorce papers on Angie in Eastenders – we see not only the decades of the Queen’s life, but our own, flash by.

Another day, another fitting: the Designer (James Wilby) adjusts a sleeve.

Other characters, too, are firmly rooted in reality. The Designer is based on Hardy Amies, while the Milliner is Freddie Fox, who designed some of the Queen’s most iconic hats.

Her dresser, meanwhile, is Angela Kelly (known in the Royal household as AK47), who, through access to the monarch, became highly influential in the latter years of the Elizabethan court.

Goodwin’s script is witty and moving by turns, while director Dominic Dromgoole keeps the action tight. Only at the very end, after the Queen’s sad death, does the pace drop off, and could be quickened slightly.

This is a minor criticism of an evening which, through its affectionate portrayal of an era just beyond our reach, brought the Yvonne Arnaud audience to its feet.

Next year, in a strange case of life imitating art (or perhaps it was inevitable), an exhibition of the Queen’s dresses will open at Buckingham Palace, exploring the “soft power” of her wardrobe.

This stirring play sets the scene. Do go and watch, if you can.

By Royal Appointment runs at the Yvonne Arnaud until Saturday 2 August. See www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk or Box Office 01483 440000.