The cute story behind Archie’s christening gown

meghan harry

Baby Archie's christening this weekend was a very private affair, with only a few members of the royal family attending (the Queen reportedly wasn't able to make it, due to prior commitments).

Prince Harry and Meghan are still keeping Archie's godparents a secret, however they did share a couple of lovely portraits from the day on their Instagram page.

One of them is a posed shot of the parents with their baby in Windsor castle, surrounded by Prince Diana's sisters, Meghan's mum Doria Ragland, William and Kate and Charles and Camilla.

The second picture is a more candid black and white snap of the happy parents holding their sleeping son.

A photo posted by on

We are also given a glimpse at the baby's christening gown, which some of you might know, is a replica of the gown worn by several generations of royal babies before him. The reason he isn't wearing the real one is that it's sadly become too delicate with old age, so needs to be preserved.

They explained on Instagram, 'Their son, Archie, was baptised wearing the handmade replica of the royal christening gown which has been worn by royal infants for the last 11 years. The original Royal Christening Robe, made of fine Honiton lace lined with white satin, was commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1841 and first worn by her eldest daughter. It was subsequently worn for generations of Royal christenings, including The Queen, her children and her grandchildren until 2004, when The Queen commissioned this handmade replica, in order for the fragile historic outfit to be preserved, and for the tradition to continue.'

What a lovely tradition.

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.