Queen Elizabeth sent a clear message with her latest outfit

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth II made a rare official outing yesterday to attend the opening ceremony of the sixth session of the Senedd in Wales, and she made headlines for several reasons.

Firstly, she accidentally let slip her views of climate change, which was surprising since royals are known for staying neutral at all times.

Secondly, it was the first time in 17 years that Her Majesty was pictured using a walking stick. The last time she publicly used one was in 2004 following a knee operation, so it naturally sparked concerns for her health.

Speculation aside, another reason she caught the headlines was her fabulously colourful outfit. She donned a pink coat with black buttons by London-based designer Stewart Parvin, which perfectly matched her pink Rachel Trevor-Morgan hat, which was embellished with flowers.

As is her custom, she let her jewellery send a little message out for her. Her brooch featured diamonds and jewel daffodils, which are the national Welsh flower, thus showing her support for the country.

The Queen wore gloves as per usual, which is her way of avoiding germs when she shakes several hands at official events.

A wise habit indeed when we've just gone through a global pandemic.

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.