Claudia Winkleman reveals which British royal inspired her ‘trenches and tweed’ Traitors wardrobe

Claudia Winkleman has revealed which British royal inspired her ‘Highland goth’ wardrobe on The Traitors in a new interview. 

The BBC’s award-winning reality series has given Claudia’s image a complete makeover – with the Strictly Come Dancing presenter trading her sequinned dresses and stilletos for boots, trench coats, kilts, chunky jumpers, and turtlenecks.

The 52-year-old presenter’s style on The Traitors has found favour with viewers, with several fans eager to get their hands on similar outfits. 

Deconstructing her look on the show, which is filmed in the Scottish Highlands, Claudia recently shared her stylist Sinead McKeefry turned to the Princess Royal for inspiration. 

During a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Claudia, 52, said that she and McKeefry – who have worked together for 20 years – ‘always like to have a muse’ when choosing her outfits. 

‘For Strictly, it has been [EastEnders legend] Anita Dobson and this year it was [Greek singer] Demis Roussos,’ she told host Graham Norton. 

 ‘For Traitors, it’s Princess Anne meets [English soprano] Sarah Brightman,’ she continued. 

This isn’t the first time Claudia has referenced Princess Anne – whose timeless ‘countrycore’ aesthetic has earned her fashionista status – while discussing her looks on The Traitors. 

Ahead of the show’s season two premiere last January, Claudia creatively described one of her outfits as ‘sea monster meets Princess Anne, and then they go to a golf sale, and nod at Jane McDonald’. 

Along with Claudia and her longtime stylist McKeefry, Princess Anne, 74, has also served as a muse for Silvia Venturini Fendi, the matriarch of the revered Italian fashion house Fendi, who dedicated a menswear collection to the mother-of-two. 

‘I fell in love with the style of Princess Anne who, to my mind, is the most elegant woman in the world,’ Venturini Fendi previoulsy said. ‘When I saw the Coronation…with Princess Anne in her uniform, I thought she looked beautiful.

‘So I said, “Let’s be inspired for a men’s collection.”‘ 

During Fendi’s AW24 men’s show last year, models walked down the runway in wax jackets, welly boots, and lashings of tartan as the prolific fashion designer paid tribute to Anne’s timeless style. 

Gushing over Princess Anne’s wardrobe choices, equal parts practical and feminine, Venturini Fendi added: ‘I liked the idea of breaking barriers, breaking the masculine and feminine codes. 

‘The Princess Royal is very rigorous in how she dresses, with his kind of military-minded attitude, but feminine at the same time,’ she continued. ‘She’s kind of an anti-fashion person and, to me, that’s something that’s actually very fashionable and chic.’ 

Princess Anne, who is just as comfortable in her wellies and Barbour jackets as designer dresses, is known for her sustainable approach to fashion – with the royal often recycling her outfits for public events. 

In an interview with Vanity Fair, she said she reused outfits ‘because I’m quite mean’.

She also spoke out against disposable fast fashion during her tour of Sri Lanka last year, saying: ‘You think about how much is going into landfill…we need materials that can do more than one evolution of fashion.’

The Princess previously quipped that she enjoyed wearing military garb, like the Gold Stick in Waiting uniform she picked for her King Charles’ coronation, ‘because it solves my dress problem’ in an interview with Vanity Fair. 

The third season of The Traitors is currently ongoing, with a fresh batch of Faithfuls racing to find and banish the murderous Traitors amidst them in the hope of earning a whopping £120,000 prize. 

Claudia reprises her role as the show’s host, presiding over the Ardross Castle in Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands, where the show is filmed. 

Her wardrobe has been masterminded by McKeefry, with fashion columnists saying the aesthetic befits the show’s Scottish castle setting and ominous themes. 

Fans and critics alive have also praised the duo for spotlighting the work of Scottish designers and brands on the show. 

Some of these include fashion firms Barrie, one of the oldest cashmere knitting manufacturers in Scotland, Brora, and Johnston’s of Elgin.