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Karl-Ludwig Rehse with Windsor & Eton RW

Karl-Ludwig Rehse, who has been fashioning Her Majesty the Queen's royal clothes for more than 25 years, has died suddenly while on a holiday cruise in Greece. (June 2019).  A thoughtful funeral service was kindly arranged by Jean Phillips at St Botolphs without Bishopsgate where friends and colleagues, Royal Warrant Holders, cruise travel companions and Liverymen paid tribute to his impish sense of fun, and loyalty to Her Majesty The Queen.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's clothes designer Karl-Ludwig Rehse inside his couture shop in Chiltern Street, Marylebone, cental London. Rehse (75), a native of Essen, Germany, obtained his Royal Warrant in 2000 as the official supplier of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Karl-Ludwig Rehse: Worked for previous royal designer John Anderson and took over the business on his death in 1988.

 

Karl-Ludwig Rehse

Karl-Ludwig Rehse , MVO (born October 12, 1937 in Essen ) is a German fashion designer and one of three tailors of the British Queen Elizabeth II , they supply as court purveyors with wardrobe. His fashion has been with her since 1988.

 

Elisabeth II in a cloak by Rehse, here in 2013, a piece she wore - business as usual - also on September 9, 2015, when she set the world record of the oldest reigning monarch

Rehse, son of a graduate engineer and grandson of a bank director, grew up in Essen Moltkeviertel on Wallotstraße. His interest in clothing fashion was aroused by his grandmother, with whom he attended a craft fair, where elegant fashion was shown. After he had been told by the Chamber of Crafts that men could not become dressmakers, he decided to become a master tailor and to go through an apprenticeship. Nevertheless, he dreamed of designing women's clothes. The apprentice master tailor graduated from Rehse in Essen- Bredeney . After the journeyman examination Rehse worked in a Dusseldorf boutique for custom-made products. Then he went to Munich in the studio of Horst Klöß , who had advised to prefer a further education with him the visit of the German master school for fashion , and passed the master examination in the ladies' tailoring. There he already tailored fashion for nobles and movie stars. After a vacation trip to London in the 1960s, he dropped plans to settle in Paris and decided to work in the British capital. There he found employment with John Cavanagh and Bellville Sassoon, which were then among the most prestigious clothing stores in London. At the same time he learned the English language.

After a short break in Spain and a job as a banker, he made in March 1988 with his friend and partner John Anderson , who had previously tailored for the British royal family, independently and opened with him under the name of Your friend in London's Marylebone neighborhood owns a shop. In the same year, they created a summer collection that Elisabeth II heard about, inviting her to a presentation of the collection at Windsor Castle . This led to a long-standing business relationship between the queen and the couturiers. Soon she appointed John Anderson to the court supplier . The company John Anderson was thus entitled to carry the royal court supplier title and the corresponding coat of arms. When Rehse's friend and partner Anderson died on Boxing Day in 1996 after a serious illness, Rehse entered a deep crisis in which he considered leaving the business. After a personal conversation with the queen, he felt encouraged to continue. In 1997 she awarded him the Hoflieferanten title.

 

By 2007, he also led the " Royal Warrant " of Queen Mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon . In 2009, he downsized his business, which had changed in 2000 the previous name John Anderson in Karl Ludwig Couture . Since the reduction, only one long-time Spanish employee works for him. He also moved his studio into a small garden studio, which he calls his "Wendy House" after a character from Peter Pan . Besides some ladies, the queen is one of his few customers. The proposed designs and fabric samples she seeks out - often months before appropriate performances and occasions - even and expresses the fitting of his unique occasional wishes for changes, the rehabilitation for her, who calls him by his first name "Karl", Willingly executes.

On July 16, 2010, the City of London awarded him the Freedom of the City award.

On June 13, 2015, Elizabeth II made him an honorary member of the Victoria Order.

Karl was a liveryman and active member of the Bishopsgate Ward Club.

Much-missed member of the Windsor & Eton Royal Warrant Holders council.

Click to read The Daily Telegraph Obituary.

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