A small circle of Catholic royal women retains a rare right in Vatican protocol that allows them to wear white when received by the pope, a dispensation known as the privilège du blanc that excludes Britain’s queen consort and other non-Catholic royals who are expected to appear in black with a mantilla. The group, which court and Vatican watchers commonly enumerate as seven, consists of Spain’s Queen Letizia and her mother-in-law Queen Sofía, Belgium’s Queen Mathilde and Queen Paola, Luxembourg’s Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Monaco’s Princess Charlene and Marina, Princess of Naples from the House of Savoy, a former Italian royal house whose women have historically exercised the custom. The list reflects a tradition reserved for Catholic queens and princesses whose dynastic or princely status is recognised in papal ceremonial; it does not extend to Catholic consorts married to non-Catholic sovereigns, nor to all Catholic royal women worldwide. (Tatler)
Under the long-standing dress code for formal papal audiences, women wear a modest black dress with long sleeves and a high neckline, together with a black mantilla or headscarf. The privilège du blanc functions as a narrow exception to this rule and is not automatic even for Catholic royalty; it is invoked at the discretion of the woman entitled to it and is recognised by the papal household on specific occasions such as private audiences, canonisations and inaugural liturgies. When the privilege is used, the ensemble is typically a long-sleeved white dress or coat with a white lace mantilla. Everyone else in equivalent circumstances appears in black, a practice observed by British queens and consorts from Elizabeth II to Queen Camilla in their Vatican calls.
The contrast was visible in recent encounters between the British royal family and the Holy See. Queen Camilla wore a black dress and black lace mantilla for audiences at the Apostolic Palace, following the same protocol her late mother-in-law observed on formal visits, because the privilège du blanc is restricted to a defined set of Catholic royal women and does not apply to the Anglican consort of the British monarch. By contrast, when Catholic queens from Spain and Belgium attended major papal ceremonies this year, they elected to wear white in line with the custom, underscoring how the privilege attaches to specific dynasties and faith profession rather than to royal rank in general.
Spain’s royal house has one of the deepest associations with the custom. Queen Sofía used the privilège during audiences and liturgies in the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and Queen Letizia has continued the practice under more recent popes, appearing in white at significant Vatican events. The Spanish monarchy’s Catholic identity and historic ties to the Holy See underpin the recognition, which has survived transitions between generations and reigns.
Belgium provides a parallel example. Queen Paola, consort to King Albert II, exercised the privilege during her husband’s reign, while their daughter-in-law, Queen Mathilde, has used it since King Philippe’s accession. Both women, as Catholic queens of a country where Catholicism has shaped national institutions, figure routinely in contemporary explanations of the practice and in visual documentation from papal ceremonies where they appeared in white with lace mantillas.
Luxembourg’s Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, a Catholic consort whose family occupies one of Europe’s last remaining grand ducal thrones, belongs to the same circle. The grand duchess is listed among those with standing to wear white in papal presence and has been photographed doing so at high-profile liturgies, placing the small state alongside much larger Catholic monarchies in the ceremonial hierarchy observed at the Holy See. Her inclusion illustrates that the privilege is not constrained to kingdoms; it follows Catholic sovereign status and established Vatican custom.
The Principality of Monaco represents a more recent, negotiated extension. Princess Charlene, a South African-born Olympian who converted to Catholicism before her 2011 marriage to Prince Albert II, first wore white for a papal audience in January 2013 near the end of Benedict XVI’s pontificate, an unprecedented moment for the Grimaldi line that the Holy See later acknowledged in its communications. She used the privilege again in 2016 during an audience with Pope Francis. The late Princess Grace, despite being a Catholic consort, did not have access to the custom in her time, a distinction commentators attribute to the narrower interpretation that prevailed before the dispensation to Monaco’s princely house.
The presence of Marina, Princess of Naples, on contemporary lists reflects the enduring, if ceremonial, place of the House of Savoy in Vatican protocol. Although Italy is a republic, the Savoy line retains Catholic royal status in church ceremonial, and Princess Marina has been recorded using the privilege at St Peter’s, drawing on a precedent once exercised by women of reigning Italian and Bourbon-Two Sicilies branches. The Savoy inclusion helps explain why the number of eligible women is often cited as seven, counting two former reigning queens—Paola and Sofía—alongside current consorts and princesses.
For royal women outside the Catholic club, the default remains black, a point reinforced by etiquette briefings issued ahead of high-level audiences. Queen Elizabeth II’s Vatican wardrobes varied over her long reign, but for formal papal audiences she most often appeared in black with a veil and, on rare state occasions, with diamonds and orders arranged over the dark dress. Queen Camilla adopted the same template at recent meetings, as did other non-Catholic consorts and heads of state spouses, with the papal household emphasising modesty and sobriety as guiding principles.
The operation of the privilège du blanc is neither a doctrinal statement nor a legal right; it is a recognised customary exception that the papal master of ceremonies accommodates in seating plans, procession orders and dress guidance for liturgies and audiences. Vatican protocol offices repeat that the privilege is permissive rather than mandatory: an eligible royal may still choose to wear black, and several have done so in meetings where the visual tone of the event or personal preference dictated. Its application has nonetheless offered a reliable shorthand at major papal milestones, including recent inaugural liturgies in St Peter’s Square, where camera pans across dignitary sections captured Catholic queens in white and most other guests, regardless of rank, in black.
Misconceptions persist about who qualifies. Being Catholic alone is insufficient, which is why figures such as Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, a Catholic married to a Protestant king, do not appear in white at Vatican calls. Nor does the custom extend automatically to every Catholic monarchy or chieftaincy; it has never applied to Catholic royal women from non-European houses with distinct ceremonial traditions, and it does not encompass all Catholic first ladies. The delimitation, while rarely spelled out in codified law, emerges in consistent practice recorded by the papal household and in reference works on Vatican ceremonial.
The dress code remains one of the more visible markers of how the Holy See blends continuity with diplomacy. In the modern era, Vatican protocol has loosened in many respects, but the visual vocabulary of humility in black—a counterpoint to the white cassock of the pope—has endured in high-ceremony settings. The privilège du blanc, by making a small number of exceptions for Catholic royal women, functions as both an honor to those dynasties and a visual signal of their historic relationship with the papacy. Photographs from papal liturgies this year showed Spain’s and Belgium’s queens in white lace mantillas among a field of black, an instant cue to viewers versed in court and ecclesiastical etiquette.
Contemporary coverage has also highlighted the discretion with which eligible women deploy the privilege. Princess Charlene chose black, not white, during a 2022 audience despite having used white in 2013 and 2016, a reminder that the decision can reflect the mood of an occasion or personal comfort rather than a rigid rule to stand apart. Similar choices appear in archives for other consorts who, while listed among those eligible, have alternated between black and white across different pontificates and liturgical contexts.
Royal fashion publications and etiquette explainers return to the subject whenever a high-profile audience occurs, because the custom often surprises viewers unfamiliar with papal protocol. Recent explainers have reiterated that the count of seven refers to a living group and can shift as reigns change, dowager queens pass away or a papacy recognises a principality’s claim, as happened with Monaco. The core definition, however, has remained stable: the privilege attaches to certain Catholic queens and princesses by virtue of their sovereign or dynastic status, and others—even prominent Catholic women—are excluded.
The British royal household aligns with the protocol without exception. As supreme governor of the Church of England, the monarch engages the Holy See on ecumenical terms, and accompanying consorts dress in accordance with Vatican guidance, which points them to black. In a recent audience, Queen Camilla’s choice of a black silk dress and dramatic black mantilla echoed the photographs of Queen Elizabeth II standing before John XXIII and John Paul II in similar ensembles, a continuity that underscores the ecumenical character of such visits and the respect shown to papal ceremonial norms.
The privilège du blanc thus survives as a precise and limited courtesy within a broader code that still prizes visual modesty and hierarchy. It has not expanded to include the Catholic spouses of non-Catholic monarchs, nor to every Catholic royal across continents, and remains concentrated in Europe’s Catholic dynasties and the House of Savoy. Its persistence is visible at moments when the Vatican receives global leaders: black dominates the galleries, but a handful of women in white lace and satin move through the papal apartments under a custom that signals both faith and history. When a British queen visits, she does so in black, a deliberate contrast that reflects the confessional realities of her crown and the Vatican’s careful stewardship of its ceremonial language.