Princess Anne goes bold in white wedding guest dress and sultry red lip in rare photos with husband Timothy

Princess Anne's wardrobe is filled with casual raincoats for outings at her home in Gatcombe Park and stylish coat dresses for her royal engagements, but she ditched her usual attire for a bolder look back in 2008.

Flipping back through her style file, it's clear to see the Princess Royal is not afraid to experiment with her wedding guest looks – case in point was Lady Rose Windsor and George Gilman's nuptials.

Instead of keeping clear of white, the one colour that is typically reserved for the bride, Anne chose an ivory summer frock that fell to her knees. In true 60s style, it featured a wrapover bodice with a ruffle trim and subtle jacquard polka dots with the bridal colour broken up by a feminine orange floral print.

A pearl necklace, white shoes and a clementine and lemon-coloured floral headpiece with a birdcage veil tied in with her dress perfectly. She was joined by her husband Timothy Laurence, who chose a more classic look with his morning suit.

Colour expert Gabi Winters from Chromology has previously told HELLO! about the possible special meanings behind the bridal colour.

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"Scientifically speaking white contains an equal balance of all the colours of the spectrum, so naturally, white's most fundamental feature is equality, neutrality and independence. Culturally speaking white is a symbol of purity, cleanliness, immaculacy and perfection, which is why it's the natural colour choice for bridal dresses, doctors' coats and seafarers."

Anne is not the only royal to have chosen a rebellious white wedding guest dress. In the past, the late Queen Elizabeth II wore a cream dress flecked with yellow to her son Prince Charles' wedding with his second wife Camilla. At the time, Queen Camilla had chosen a blue and gold embroidered wedding dress, so her mother-in-law's choice of gown was not as eyebrow-raising as you may assume.

Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales rocked an off-white Stella McCartney dress for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding in 2018.

Traditionally, guests avoid the colour to ensure they don't upstage the bride, but royal weddings have their own set of rules. Up until around the 1940s, it was a given that your bridal party would be dressed in white, which is a custom that many members of the royal family continue to practice.

It's believed that the likes of Princess Kate chose snowy-hued bridesmaid dresses due to a historical belief that white deterred evil spirits.

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