Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
The Princess of Wales has presented designer Patrick McDowell with the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. It’s a prestigious award and one that the Royal Family has given strong backing to throughout the past decade.
The Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design was first established in 2018. It was created to recognise the larger role that the fashion industry plays in both society and diplomacy and to highlight younger designers who are using their craft to build community and/or further develop sustainable practice.
The Award was originally thought of by the late Queen Elizabeth II’s dresser, Angela Kelly. Each year, the British Fashion Council works in collaboration with the Royal Household to choose the recipient.
In 2018, Queen Elizabeth presented the award herself, to designer Richard Quinn, and made her first ever appearance at London Fashion Week to do it. She handed the fashionable reins over to her family members to carry on the presentation after that.
Queen Camilla has handed over the award. In 2019, she presented Bethany Williams with that year’s prize, and in 2020, The Princess Royal attended London Fashion Week to award Rosh Mahtani, just weeks before lockdown took hold.
In 2021, a virtual ceremony had to take place because of the pandemic and the Duchess of Edinburgh presented Priya Ahluwalia with her prize online.
The Princess of Wales did the honours in 2022, presenting Saul Nash with his award.
King Charles himself awarded the prize to LABRUM London in 2023, a London-based studio founded by Foday Dumbuya.
The Duchess of Edinburgh returned to her presenter role again in 2024 when she was able to give Steven Stokey-Daley the prestigious award in person.