During Her first reign as Queen of An Tir, Her Royal Highness Gwyneth asked me to make a ruffled veil for her to wear. I could not pass up the opportunity to veil a beautiful 14th century Queen who happened to also be a dear friend of mine.
And so the search began…how to veil a Queen?
After gathering several images of Royal ruffles, I began to consider the best style of frilled veil for Queen Gwyneth. I decided to create a long veil that could be folded on itself three times to match many of the brasses that appear to have three layers of ruffles. I consulted with Maitresse Elisabeth de Besancon, who had created a longer 15th century ruffled veil in this style.
With much consideration, I set out to construct Queen Gwyneth’s veil at three times her shoulder to shoulder measurement with a front and back ruffle. This would be folded to create a layered ruffle look. After reading a report on a 14th Century Queen’s ruffled veil find in Prague that had included some embellishment, I made the decision to add a pearl embellishment to Queen Gwyneth’s veil.
Because of the style of this veil, it can be worn in more than one fashion. Below are three different ways in which Queen Gwyneth has worn her ruffled veil.
Bravermanová, M. (2011). Fragment funeral dress and veil, called kruseler, coffin of Czech queens of the royal tombs in St. Vitus. In Z. Měřínský & P. Kouřil (Eds.), Archæologia historica. Brno: Masaryk University.
Family de Huntington 