Figure 1.--Leopold and Charles are shown here in identical blue sailor suits. They appear to be wearing strap shoes, but the photograph is not claer enough to be sure. Charles has rather long, longer than in many of his other photographs.

The boys also wore sailor suits. I'm not sure at just what age they began wearing sailior suits. One photograph shows both boys wearing sailor suits while Prince Charles was still in curls. I'm not sure, however, if this was the first time he wore a sailor suit or at what age his older brother first wore them. So often the two were dressed identically. The sailor suits may have been reserved for when they were older boys. Some of their sailor suits were worn with wide-brimmed sailor hats. I'm not sure what the princes wore with their sailor suits. It may well be that the boys wore their first long pants with their sailor suits. One available photograph shows the princes wearing blue long pants sailor suits. I'm not sure if they also has short pants or kneepants sailor suits.

The Children

The boys were commonly dressed in identical sailor suits and photographed together. I have no informatuion about the boys wearing different sailor suits. I haven't noticed Princess Jose Marie wearing any sailor outfits.

Leopold

Sailor suits were the most common outfit that Prince Leopold was the sailor suit. I'm not positive to what age the Prince wore sailor suits. One photograph shows the prince wearing a long pants sailor suit at about 10 years of age. I'm not sure just what the conventions were. I'm not sure, for example, what the boys wore as play suits. They may have worn sailor suits for play. I do know that they were worn for formal events. This was the oufit he might wear even in formal public appearances with his father. How much longer he wore them I do not know.

Charles

Prince Charles wore sailor suits just like his older brother. He started wearing matching saiolor suits before his hair was even cut short. I'm not sure to what age Prince Charles wore sailor suits. The boys may well have switched to regular suits at about the same age. This would mean that Charles stopped wearing sailor suits at an earlier age than his brother.

Jose Marie

I have not noted Princess Jose Marie wearing sailor-styled outfits. Girls in the 1900s did wear sailor dresses. We are not sure if the Princess had ant sailor dresses, but in the available portraits of the Princes in sailor suits with her, Jose Maria wears plain dresses.

Styles

All of their sailor suits appear to be very tradiyionally styled. They have the tradition three white stripes. Some of their suits were all white or blue with the stripes on the collar in contrasting blue or white. Some white suits had the whole collar in the contrasting color, Availavle images do not show stripe detailing at the cuffs. They also do not show destinctive dickies at the neck.

Figure 2.--Prince Charles and Leopold here both wear identical sailor suits with soft caps. Note the plain styling and soft caps with streamers. Jose Maria wears a plain dress. I'm not sure when this photograph was take, but it could have been about 1914, perhaps just before World war I started. Leopold would have beebn about 13 years old and Charles 11.

Colors

The boys wore both white and blue sailor suits, presumably on a seasonal basis--white in the summer and blue in the winter. There may have been other conventions involved, but we suspectseasonality was the primary one.

Ages

I'm not sure at just what age they began wearing sailior suits. One photograph shows both boys wearing sailor suits while Prince Charles was still in curls, probably about 5 years old. I'm not sure, however, if this was the first time that he wore a sailor suit or at what age his older brother first wore them. So often the two were dressed identically. The sailor suits may have been reserved for when they were slightly older boys. I am also not sure to what age the boys wore sailor suits, but abailable images suggest that they were still wearing sailor suits as young teenagers.

Pants

I'm not sure what the princes wore with their sailor suits. It may well be that the boys wore their first long pants with their sailor suits. One available photograph shows the princes wearing blue long pants sailor suits. I'm not sure if they also has short pants or kneepants sailor suits. They commonly wore kneepants or shorts with other outfits, but may have just worn longs with their sailoir suits. The prtraits we have noted always show long pants with sailor suits.

Shoes

I'm not sure what kind of shoes they wore with their sailor suits. The long panys that they wear often covers over their shoes. One photograph suggests strap shoes.

Figure 3.--I believe this is Leopold. Like other European royals, he and his brother wore sailor suits. He he wears a natily cocked the wide-brimmed hat. The boys also wore soft sailaor caps with streamers.

Headwear

HBRC has incomplete information about the headwear the boys had for sailor suits. This is in part because so many of the photographs were formal indoors portraits and the boys were no wearing their hats. Some of their sailor suits were worn with wide-brimmed sailor hats. These hats sometimes were worn informally with the brim oartially turnned up. We note the boys often wore soft regulation caps with streamers wjen wearing theorvsailor suits.

Hair Styles

The boys wore long pants sailorvsuits even before their curls were cut. When very young the boys wore sailor suits while still in curls. Most of the available photographic images of the boys in sailor suits show them wearing short hair. Most of the available images of the boys in xsailor suits show them with sjort hair cuts.

Boys Attitudes

Unfortunately at this time HBC has no information indicating what the boys thought of their sailor suits or other outfits. They seem to have worn sailor suits to an older age than many other contemporary royals.

Created: February 26, 1999
Last updated: May 17, 2001