The History Behind King Charles’s Kilt Collection

5 min read

King Charles has been photographed in a kilt since he was a young royal. He is often seen wearing the traditional Scottish garment at the Windsors’ summer residence at Balmoral Castle, various Highland games, garden parties in Edinburgh, and for other official engagements in Scotland.

Monty Fresco//Getty Images

A young Prince Charles at the 1956 Highland Games in Braemar.

While kilts have not been a wardrobe staple for most members of the royal family with the exception of his late father, Prince Philip, they have always been a hallmark for Charles. Below, a brief history on King Charles and his kilts.

The King Charles III TartanChris Jackson//Getty Images

King Charles in his eponymous kilt at the 2023 Braemar Gathering.

In 2023, a new tartan was created specifically for King Charles, the new monarch, to mark his coronation. The green, blue, and red design was developed by the Scottish Tartans Authority and woven from 100% Scottish wool by Lochcarron of Scotland, a weaving mill that has been producing tartan since 1947. Charles was consulted throughout the design process and made the final selection himself.

The pattern draws directly from the Balmoral tartan, which dates to around 1850, and incorporates a central triple stripe, one broad stripe flanked by two narrower ones, that appears in several other royal tartans Charles has worn over the years. The colors were matched to 18th century natural dye specimens held in the Scottish Tartans Authority’s collection, giving the finished cloth a deliberately historical feel. Charles first wore it publicly at the Braemar Gathering in September 2023, and it has since been officially registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans.

The Duke of Rothesay Tartan WPA Pool//Getty Images

Charles, then the Duke of Rothesay, wearing the title kilt at Bladnoch Distillery in 2019.

Before he became King, Charles wore two tartans tied to his Scottish titles. As heir to the throne, he held the title Duke of Rothesay while in Scotland, and the Duke of Rothesay tartan belongs to that role. (The current holder of the title is now Prince William.)

The Duke of Rothesay tartan has a history stretching back to the early 19th century, when it first appeared as part of the broader wave of tartan revival that followed King George IV’s 1822 visit to Edinburgh. The pattern is built around a base of deep navy blue crossed with lines of green, red, and yellow, giving it a rich, formal appearance well suited to ceremonial occasions. A hunting variation exists as well, in which those tones are softened and rearranged for a more muted, outdoor palette. Charles wore both versions at various points during his decades as Prince of Wales, most often at Highland games and official engagements in Scotland.

The Lord of the Isles TartanJulian Parker//Getty Images

Charles in the Lord of the Isles Tartan at the 1987 Bute Highland Games.

The Lord of the Isles tartan, and its hunting variation, is one of the older patterns in the royal wardrobe, with roots stretching back to portraits painted around 1750. According to the Scottish tartan historian Peter MacDonald, the title Lord of the Isles originally belonged to the chiefs of Clan Donald for more than three centuries before it was forfeited to the Scottish Crown in 1493. After the 1603 union of the Scottish and English crowns, it has been held by the Prince of Wales.

The modern royal family’s connection to the tartan dates to the mid-19th century, when a young Albert Edward, the future King Edward VII, was depicted wearing it in a portrait painted in 1849. Subsequent Princes of Wales wore variations of it throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and by the time Edward VIII was heir to the throne, a hunting version, in which the coloring is reversed, had also come into use.

The Royal Stewart TartanChris Jackson//Getty Images

Charles has rarely been seen in the Royal Stewart, but Queen Elizabeth regularly bundled up in a blanket in the same print at the Highland Games, as seen here in 2013.

Of all the tartans in the world, the Royal Stewart is the one most people will recognize, even if they do not know its name. The bright red pattern with its crossing lines of green, blue, yellow, black, and white appears on everything from kilts to shortbread tins, dog leashes to Christmas wrapping paper. It is the most widely reproduced tartan in the world, and its ubiquity is the direct result of a royal decision.

The design is said to have originated with the House of Stewart (also known as “Stuart”), the Scottish royal dynasty that produced monarchs of Scotland from the 14th century and monarchs of Britain until the death of Queen Anne in 1714. The Royal Stewart has been the official tartan for the British royal family since the days of Queen Victoria. It was also said to have been the favorite tartan of Queen Elizabeth II, who wore it frequently. That said, it is one of the ones Charles wears the least; he veers much more toward green and blue-heavy tartans as well as the grey Balmoral print.

Regardless, due to its popularity, the Royal Stewart has become something of a universal tartan, and per the Scottish Register of Tartans, anyone can wear it, regardless of clan connection or nationality.

The Stewart Hunting TartanMartin Grimes//Getty Images

King Charles in a Stewart Hunting Tartan at the 2026 Mey Highland Games.

Not all tartans are designed to be seen. Hunting tartans, as a category, were originally conceived for outdoor use, with muted greens and browns replacing the brighter reds and blues of their dress counterparts. The idea was simple: a pattern that would not stand out against the Scottish landscape. (Now the color palette is somewhat synonymous with British brands like Barbour.)

The Stewart Hunting tartan follows that logic. Queen Elizabeth II is said to have considered it her off-duty choice and the tartan she wore for informal occasions. King Charles wore it to this year’s Mey Highland Games in Caithness, a fitting choice for a day of outdoor sport in the far north of Scotland.

Although the Royal Stewart is technically the personal tartan of the monarch, the two are similar in that the Stewart Hunting has long been available to anyone without a clan tartan of their own. It is, in that sense, one of the most democratic patterns in the Scottish tartan tradition.

The Balmoral TartanJohn Shelley Collection/Avalon//Getty Images

Charles, with Princess Diana, wearing the Balmoral Tartan at the Braemar Highland Games in 1982.

The Balmoral tartan is a different matter entirely, and it is one of the most restricted pieces of fabric in existence. It cannot be purchased, commercially reproduced, or worn by members of the public. The only people permitted to wear it are members of the royal family and the pipers who serve the Sovereign at Balmoral, a restriction that Buckingham Palace formalized in 1937 when it explicitly banned commercial manufacturers and the general public from weaving or wearing the pattern.

The tartan’s origins are attributed to Prince Albert, who is said to have designed it around 1850 to 1853, drawing on the gray granite landscape of the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire. Whether the story of Albert’s authorship is fully accurate has been questioned by modern scholars, who have found examples of the pattern predating that timeline, but the tartan’s association with the estate and the royal family is unambiguous. Queen Victoria wore it frequently while in Scotland, and it has been worn by every monarch since.

Anwar Hussein//Getty Images

Charles holds Prince Harry’s hand as they view bouquets left at Balmoral in honor of Princess Diana in 1997.

King Charles is a particularly consistent wearer of the Balmoral tartan, reaching for it during the royal family’s annual summer holidays at the estate that gave the pattern its name. A photograph of then-Prince Charles wearing it at the Braemar Highland Games in 1982 alongside Princess Diana captures how long the pattern has been part of his Scottish wardrobe. He was also seen wearing it in the days after her 1997 death while viewing bouquets left outside of Balmoral in memorial of the late Princess of Wales.

The exclusivity of the Balmoral tartan is what sets it apart from every other pattern discussed here. It is not a clan tartan with a disputed history or a pattern opened to universal use by royal permission. It is, simply, private property.

Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.