The exhibition offers visitors a unique chance to get a close look at the finely tailored and embroidered civil uniforms donned by high-ranking British and colonial officials at state occasions during the 19th and 20th centuries. It provides a unique window into the contemporary counterparts that are rarely seen at the Court of St. James’s nowadays.

Cabinet ministers were the first to adopt civil uniforms, which soon spread throughout the British Empire as the norm for civil servant attire. The display showcases all five gradations of the 19th-century uniform, along with its transformation into the foreign service uniform in the 1950s. This uniform is still in use today, albeit restricted to ambassadors and the marshal and vice-marshal of the Diplomatic Corps.

All five grades of civil clothes are exhibited, from the sombre fifth-class garb to the magnificent gold-embroidered tailcoats used by secretaries of state and governors. The flamboyantly plumed cocked hats that go with these ensembles are part of the magnificent show, contributing an exotic flair, as the museum explained.

The Governor-General’s uniform, the Tropical White uniform of the Colonial Services, and the Field Dress and Full Dress uniforms of the King’s bodyguard for Scotland, The Royal Company of Archers, are among the other uniforms on display. The Alternative Dress Coronation Robe for a Baroness, created by renowned British fashion designer Norman Hartnell and worn by Baroness Delamere for Queen Elizabeth II’s 1952 coronation, is also on exhibit.