Queen's honesty on royal wedding dress a refreshing change

It's horrid isn't? Horrible!

Four words which will go down in royal quotes history as the moment the Queen saw the world's most famous dress in her own ballroom, accompanied by the new bride herself writes royal correspondent Shirley Tart.

Yesterday, we journalists were also invited to Buckingham Palace for first view before the doors open to the public today, but had naturally been ushered out before Her Majesty and the Duchess of Cambridge were ushered in!

And granny's clear consternation was surely more to do with the headless presentation which did look just as creepy as she very obviously felt it was.

I'm not surprised that the tiara and veil which were eerily suspended above the Sarah Burton designed gown, prompted that startled gasp of "horrible" and "horrid" as she and Catherine paused at the display.

The stunning gown is the highlight of this year's Royal Collection exhibition at the Palace which in the past few years has drawn increasing crowds from across the world.

But such ethereal, body-less ivory and white in stiffened organza, set against a dark backround is surely not the best way to show everyone else what we were privileged to see on that happy, colourful day in April when Prince William married his long time love

Yesterday, Catherine must have been in a terrible quandary as she and hubby's esteemed gran made what was really an historic visit by the Queen with any other new member of the family. Rarely will anyone have heard Her Majesty make such a comment in public, and her young companion scored again when she diplomatically said it did look rather '3D'.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said later: "This was part of a private conversation between the Queen and the Duchess of Cambridge and we do not comment on private conversations."

For goodness sake, every TV watcher across the globe heard it for themselves. Private it was not.

But it was like any normal, natural chat between two ladies visiting something a bit special, the elder being surprised at the way it looked and the younger diplomatically offering a neutral comment.

Refreshing, I thought. And another indication of how far our Monarch has led the family out of the shadows of State into the fresh air of public opinion, shared views and even mild differences.

The annual Summer Exhibition runs until October and far from being put off, the many thousands of visitors who are expected to flock to see the gown, will now have a new interest – to see whether they really agree with the Queen or not!