THE BRITISH Royal Christmas family church service has seen a touch of Spain on the front-row pew on the last three occasions – Princess Charlotte's coats have been coming from Marae at Amaia Kids, based in Zamora (Castilla y León), since she was two.
Now four, she was wearing a bottle-green double-buttoned wool coat on Christmas Day when four generations of the Royals went to church, in accordance with tradition – although not including Prince Andrew who, due to the scandal that erupted due to his old friend Jeffrey Epstein's being found guilty of child abuse, has stepped out of the limelight and official duties.
Zamora-based brothers Manoli and Raúl Escudero received an order three weeks ago at their textiles workshop, Zaust, in Coreses, close to the eastern Portuguese border, for a made-to-measure coat for the young Princess.
The design is by Amaia Arrieta, from San Sebastián, who has a branch of her childrenswear collections in London which is one of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's favourites for dressing Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
According to the Escudero brothers, the coat commissioned was exactly the same as the one the Duchess of Cambridge first chose from the shop at Christmas 2017 and is one of the Marae range's most-sold items.
That time, the coat came in maroon and Princess Charlotte's photograph wearing it on her first day at nursery school in January 2018 made the covers of fashion magazines all over the world.
Given how fast very small children grow, she has not, clearly, been able to wear the same coat for more than one winter at a time, so by Christmas 2018 she was seen at the annual service wearing a blue one – but not by the public, as not photographs were taken on that occasion.
The Escudero brothers say the made-to-measure coat they made in just two days this year was, as requested, longer than the standard size for a four-year-old girl, since Princess Charlotte is apparently tall for her age.
As all Amaia Kids' Marae range items are hand-stitched, and with a skeleton staff in the weeks leading up to Christmas due to the holidays, Zaust has not been able to make any other coats in the collection besides the one for Princess Charlotte, but say they will start on them again after the New Year.
They are predicting a massive surge in orders and in sales online and via the Amaia Kids stores in the next few weeks now Princess Charlotte has been seen in the coat on national TV in the UK.
For the age four version, the price comes in at around €150.
The entire Marae childrenswear range is hand-made in the Coreses workshop with Austrian wool and the majority of it is sold outside of Spain – mostly in the USA, but also in the UK, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and even China.
Princess Charlotte's coat comes in 20 colours and is the most popular of the Marae range, a collection the designer describes as 'very easy to wear' and 'clothes kids like'.
This and other pieces graced the catwalk at Castilla y León Fashion Week in the cathedral city of Burgos earlier in the year.
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