‘I’ll continue wearing black for the foreseeable – it represents how fragile we are’

telegraph.co.uk:

Her late Majesty died and will continue to do so until the moment feels right not to, whether this is when the Royal family’s official mourning ends on September 26, or some later date.The royals will remain in black until a week after the Queen’s funeral, according to the King’s stated wishes, a mode observed by “Royal Household staff and Representatives of the Royal Household on official duties, together with troops committed to Ceremonial Duties.” The Queen upheld mourning for 30 days after Prince Philip’s death.However, the uptake of black has not been generally much in evidence.

Civil Service employees have merely been encouraged to wear sombre dress, only those taking part in ceremonial events to don mourning attire.

For all those newly-minted KCs, Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett decreed that mourning is an option for those appearing in court, but not expected. “A disgrace,” Adam Solomon KC, of Littleton Chambers, tells me, “the entire bar should be in mourning bands and weepers,” pleated linen strips and white cuffs last assumed to mark the death of King Olav V of Norway in 1991.Jermyn Street’s gentlemen’s outfitters may be scrambling to stock up on black ties amid demand from diplomats and MPs; Turnbull & Asser, shirt maker to King Charles III, diverting all its artisans to their creation.

However, those filing past the Queen’s coffin have been required merely to “dress appropriately for the occasion”; subsequent directions vague beyond no “political or offensive slogans”.