Royalty, presidents, prime ministers and a legion of faithful catholics from around the world paid their last respects to Pope Francis at a funeral mass held in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Pope Francis, who was from Argentina, died on Easter Monday, April 21, after a weeks-long health battle. His body has been been lying in state since Wednesday, April 23, in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Europeans are masters when it comes to symbolic dressing for formal ceremonies, using clothes, colours, hats, handbags and jewels to subtly communicate a message. On Saturday, April 26, at the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican City, most heads of states and other dignitaries followed the dress code for a papal funeral, which requires men to wear a dark suit with a white shirt, black tie and a black button on the left lapel. The dress code for a papal funeral for women requires them to wear a long black dress – at least knee-length – black gloves and a headscarf, head covering or veil. Their jewellery should be limited to a string of pearls worn around the neck. Guidance from the Catholic Church also states that women must wear black, closed-toe shoes.
“These are the prescriptions for those attending the Pope’s funeral, according to well-established protocol manuals that also define the seating arrangement for dignitaries and heads of state,” according to the well-known Italian national newspaper Il Messaggero.
Interestingly, the dress code for a papal funeral is strikingly similar to royal mourning attire.
For the most part, the dress code was followed by attendees as the Argentine pontiff was laid to rest. Many who attended the funeral of Pope Francis would already be familiar with State funeral protocol, and while the Vatican stipulates some specific details, standard formal funeral attire – modest, predominantly black – was considered acceptable, as were elements of national and ceremonial dress.
Notably, US First Lady Melania Trump, Dr Jill Biden, Queen Silvia of Sweden, Queen Letizia of Spain, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway were among the many high profile women who attended the funeral at St Peter’s Square in Vatican City wearing traditional black lace head coverings, also known as mourning veils.
Melania Trump wore a black double-breasted coat-dress, lace gloves and a black lace mantilla-style veil over her hair, and wore a simple diamond-studded cross pendant. Her predecessor, Dr Jill Biden, also adhered to the dress code for the sombre occasion, donning a delicate black lace mantilla-style veil and sheer black tights, carrying a simple black clutch.
Queen Silvia of Sweden, Queen Letizia of Spain, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway all wore similar black lace mantilla-style mourning veils.
What is a mourning veil?
A mourning veil is worn by someone who is grieving as a symbol of sorrow and unlike other religious head coverings, which typically sit atop the head and cascade down the hair, mourning veils also cover the face of the wearer. Today they are made of a dark-coloured lace or netting and are nearly transparent, serving both an aesthetic purpose as well as a practical one, used to grant privacy during a period of mourning.
Interestingly, this tradition of wearing mourning veils dates back to Queen Victoria’s reign (1819-1901). At this time, widows were expected to display their grief publicly.
Queen Victoria: The perpetual widow
Queen Victoria is often referred to as “the perpetual widow,” and after her husband Prince Albert passed in 1861, she famously chose to wear a mourning veil and some form of mourning dress up until her death on January 22, 1901. In fact, she never wore her Imperial State Crown again because it would have required her to take off her mourning veil. Queen Victoria also began a tradition of wearing pearls while in mourning. Pearls were he only jewellery that she would permit herself to wear during this period- as they symbolized grief and tears.
Queen Victoria’s dedication to her deceased husband had a significant influence on the Victorian mourning customs of women.
During the Victorian Age, widows were expected to display their grief publicly rather than quietly reflecting in private. Mourning veils, which were worn for months or sometimes years, were much thicker and longer than they are today, and often covered both the front and back of the head. Because the black crêpe fabric used at the time was designed not to reflect any light, it was also considered a symbol of the removal of light from the widow’s life.
Previously, a tradition of ‘white mourning’ had lingered among the royal family, which was established by Mary Queen of Scots who wore white to symbolize the loss of members of her family in the late 16th century. The Queen Mother herself adhered to this ancient uniform as late as 1938, at the funeral of her own mother, the Queen’s grandmother.
Ceremony and tradition
Catholicism and royalty have given the world some of its best traditions, including dictating the clothing worn for formal occasion like funerals. Both catholicism and royalty are built on ceremony and tradition, and Queen Victoria’s use of the mourning veil became part of the tradition for solemn royal events. 70 years ago, Queen Elizabeth II wore a long mourning veil that covered both the front and back of the head, for the funeral of her own father, King George VI on February 15, 1952.
Over the decades, the impractically long mourning wardrobe traditions went out of style, but Victoria’s influence is still present in modern royal mourning periods.
Today, custom dictates that royal women must wear black knee-length dresses or coats, black hats and may also wear face-covering veils when attending a state funeral. Custom dictates that men attending a state funeral wear black coats, while men who are working members of the royal family traditionally wear military uniforms.
For Princess Grace of Monaco’s funeral in 1982, Princess Diana wore a black straw hat with a black veil. More recently, Princess Anne wore a mourning veil to her father, Prince Philip’s funeral, in 2021. At Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, which was held on September 19, 2022, her family, heads of states and other dignitaries from around the world opted to abide by the royal mourning attire dress codes. Most notably Queen Consort Camilla and Catherine, Princess of Wales, opted to wear traditional mourning veils.
Not everyone followed the dress code for Pope Francis’ funeral
Of course, not everyone followed the dress code for a papal funeral in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday, which sparked some debate over violating Vatican procedure.
The requirement for a head covering was considered optional by some women who attended the funeral for Pope Francis, among them Brigitte Macron, Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni. The latter three also opted for suits over dresses.
There were also some deviations from the traditional requirements among the men who attended the funeral. Some men who attended the funeral opted to wear navy suits instead of black, among them US president Donald Trump and Prince William, while Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wore a charcoal grey suit. Nor were ties universally black, or shirts white. Sombre, muted colours were evidently respectful enough.
It is interesting that so many dignitaries chose not to follow the exact dress code for the papal funeral. Could it be a sign that even an institution as steeped in tradition as the Catholic church can and must evolve with time?
RELATED:
