New Barbie doll honors Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee year
Queen Elizabeth II just got the Mattel royal treatment.
The manufacturing brand behind the iconic Barbie doll is celebrating Britain’s longest-ruling monarch for her Platinum Jubilee by making a doll in her likeness. The new figure, the “Barbie Signature Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Doll,” comes as the British monarch celebrates her 96th birthday.
“This eminently collectible doll, sculpted in the Queen’s likeness, celebrates her extraordinary reign, during which she’s led with an immeasurable devotion to duty,” the Mattel Creations staff explained in a statement about the doll, which also underlined how rare a Platinum Jubilee is. A Platinum Jubilee typically marks the 70th anniversary of a monarch, and Queen Elizabeth is the first British monarch to have one.
The collectible doll debuted on April 20 and is already sold out.
To create a doll worthy of a queen, Mattel tapped its Senior Director of Barbie Design, Robert Best, to lead the project and create a doll “inspired by the Queen’s iconic looks.” The figure’s regal ensemble features an ivory gown and bright blue sash, outfitted with her decorations of order.
“The gown is not a copy of any one dress she wears, but rather a gown inspired by the style and color of gown that she’s favored in royal portraits of herself for the past several years,” Best told Mattel. “If you look at those portraits or how she dresses for important events, she very much has a signature style and look — always a very simple design in white or ivory, which makes sense given that she must then wear all the accompanying jewelry and sash as befits her rank.”
Topping it all off is a tiara, which also serves as a sentimental nod to the queen’s late husband, Prince Philip, who passed away last year. The tiara is based on the Queen Mary’s fringe tiara, which Queen Elizabeth wore back in 1947 for her wedding to Prince Philip.
The Queen Elizabeth Barbie doll is just the latest in Mattel’s ongoing effort to pay tribute to women who shaped history. Earlier this year, the brand released the Ida B. Wells doll as part of its “Inspiring Women” series. In 2021, the company debuted its Lucille Ball barbie as part of its Tribute Collection.
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