SEVEN famous dresses worn by the Queen Mother during a state visit to France are to go on public display for the first time at Buckingham Palace - but three have already been on show in the North-East.

The dresses, worn by the Queen Mother during a state visit to France in 1938, were part of an exhibition which was a huge success at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham, in 1992.

That event, opened by the Queen Mother herself, included dozens of her outfits, and helped to double the museum's annual attendance to a record of about 120,000.

Joanna Hashagen, keeper of textiles at the museum, who thought up and arranged the exhibition, said yesterday: "I went round the exhibition with the Queen Mother before she opened it, and she told me a lot about all the exhibits, including those from the French state visit."

The seven magnificent dresses, all designed by Norman Hartnell, helped make Queen Elizabeth, as she was then, something of a fashion icon.

The three displayed at the museum were a lace and tulle creation which she wore at a garden party at Bagatelle, near Paris, a silk organdie gown worn in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles and a satin crinoline worn at a gala performance at the Paris Opera.

Mrs Hashagen added: "Perhaps this new exhibition at Buckingham Palace has resulted from our own exhibition, which was an enormous success. It was estimated that around 88,000 people saw it between June and November that year."

The seven dresses will form the centrepiece of an exhibition at the palace from July 30 to September 27 next year. It will include a tiara containing 2,678 diamonds made for Queen Victoria.

Published: 14/12/2004