The best royal hair colour swaps over the years

The Duchess of Sussex with highlights, the Duchess of Cornwall a brunette, and Sarah Ferguson not a red head? Sometimes we all need to change up our look and hit the hair dye – and the Royals are no different.

Sarah Ferguson


Sarah Ferguson’s red hair is one of her defining features so surely she’s never messed around with it? Wrong. The Duchess of York flirted with the bottle in 2004, dying her hair much blonder. Fortunately, it wasn’t for long and her gorgeous red hair made a return.

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Princess Beatrice


Like her mother, Princess Beatrice isn’t afraid to play around with her trademark red hair. The princess’ brassy locks of 2012 are worlds away from this 2018 hair colour which is darker, more toned-down and plays more on her natural hue.

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The Duchess of Sussex


It’s difficult to imagine Meghan without dark, glossy hair these days but this hasn’t always been the case. For a short time in 2012, the actress added some subtle light brown highlights to her hair, giving her locks a sun-kissed feel that’s definitely more LA than London. 


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Queen Letizia


Queen Letizia of Spain was a fan of highlighting circa 2014, colouring her hair to give it a subtle caramel hue. More recently however, she’s gone much, much darker, getting rid of the highlights altogether to create a sleek, business-like look.

The Countess of Wessex


The Countess of Wessex had brown hair with the odd highlight, when she was newly married to Prince Edward in 2000. Fast-forward 14 years and Sophie’s gone all-out blonde.

The Duchess of Cornwall


In 1991, Camilla had the odd highlight, but she was essentially still a brunette. By 2001, that had all changed, with Prince Charles’ wife sporting a full head of blonde. 


Princess Charlene


This 2011 up ‘do shows Princess Charlene of Monaco with light brown hair but the royal also had lightened up tresses with an all-over golden blonde look.


Princess Diana


When Princess Diana first came to public attention, her hair was its natural light brown shade. Over the years, her time in the spotlight allowed the princess to experiment with hair colour and this platinum blonde hue from 1997 was her most dramatic transformation.

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Queen Maxima


When Queen Maxima first joined the Dutch royal family, she was definitely a fun-loving bleach blonde. As she’s matured, so has her hair colour and she’s now a darker, more muted shade. 


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Lady Kitty Spencer


It’s 2009 and there’s no mistaking Lady Kitty Spencer with her white-blonde curls. Cut to 2016 though and the royal socialite looks unrecognisable with a chocolate-coloured, poker-straight ponytail. She obviously didn’t like life as a brunette as it wasn’t long before she was back to blonde.