This is why the Queen wears gloves inside Buckingham Palace

queen gloves
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Gloves are a major accessory in the royal family, and even Princess Diana sometimes wore them during formal occasions, even if she refused to wear them in public.

The Queen of course wears gloves pretty much all the time when she is outdoors at official events, as it protects her hands from dirt and damage amongst other things. In fact, it's said she probably keeps a couple of spares with her just in case they get dirty.

What you might not have noticed is that the monarch often wears gloves inside Buckingham Palace, specifically for social engagements, such as state banquets.

Firstly, this is because they are a formal piece of eveningwear which goes well with a ballgown, and there are certain dressing rules that royal women follow, such as only wearing diamonds after 6pm.

Secondly, much like at her daily outings, the Queen is likely to have to shake a lot of hands, welcoming guests to the palace. Of course, this could mean picking up germs, and so gloves are a good barrier for this.

Of course it's hard to imagine anyone shaking hands during this time, however it's easy to see why no one this extra precaution would be taken at the time when these events were a regular occurrence.

We imagine they will be even more useful whenever these start again.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.