Photos Revealed: How the Queen’s Grandmother Sparked Halloween Tradition

Queen Camillas Grandmother in one of the first UK's Halloween Costumes
10th October 1930: The Hon Mrs Roland Cubitt dressed as ‘Three Candles’ in a costume made by L&H Nathan Ltd, for the Pageant Of The Superstitions. [Photo: Sasha / Getty Images]
As Halloween approaches, let’s dive into an untold story from 1930. On October 31st that year, London’s elite gathered at the Park Lane Hotel for a glamorous Halloween ball. The highlight? A “Pageant of the Superstitions” featuring 13 society women – the ‘It Girls’ of their era – dressed in witty costumes inspired by old superstitions. The creative mastermind behind these costumes was Mrs A.G. McCorquodale, better known as Dame Barbara Cartland (novelist and future step-grandmother of Princess Diana), who herself dressed as ‘Good Luck’. Among the pageant’s stars was Queen Camilla’s grandmother, the Hon. Mrs Sonia Cubitt, who dressed up as ‘Three Candles’—a humorous take on the old superstition about lighting three candles at once, as the person closest to the shortest candle will be the first either to marry or die.

The London Daily News on the 1st November 1930 reported: “At the Hallowe’en ball at the Park Lane Hotel there was a midnight pageant of the superstitions, in which society woman in gorgeous costumes represented “Upsetting the Salt,” “Crossed Knives,” “Friday,” “The Moon Thru’ Glass,” “Broken Mirror” and many other omens of bad luck.

This unique pageant, featuring imaginative costumes, marks one of the earliest examples of the modern tradition of humorous Halloween costumes we see today. With newly uncovered photos and details, Faircado is excited to share this piece of history that had been lost to the archives for too long.

Today, however, there’s a side to Halloween which is not so funny – the frightening amount of waste that is produced from single-wear costumes and discarded cheap decorations. It’s estimated that 7 million Halloween costumes are thrown away in the UK each year! These single-use costumes, especially if purchased from fast fashion brands which use plastic-based fabrics, have huge environmental and social impact. These scary impacts include CO₂ emissions from production and transportation, water consumption during production, and ultimately releasing microplastics and contributing to massive amounts of non-biodegradable waste in landfill, not to mention questions around the ethics of practices in the supply chain. 

 

An Old Tradition and a New Challenge

Faircado’s co-founder and CEO, Evolena de Wilde d’Estmael, shares: “Halloween costumes should be about fun and creativity, not harming the planet. Instead of buying cheap, single-use outfits, why not challenge yourself to create a unique look using pre-owned pieces? Barbara Cartland’s witty designs remind us that creativity is the key to a memorable costume.”

This Halloween, challenge yourself to compile your costume creatively from items you already have or can buy pre-owned, to reduce its environmental impact. Tools like Faircado make it easier than ever to find pre-owned treasures online. With features like ‘image search’ you can easily right-click any Halloween image on the internet and uncover items that fit your spooky vision—while also supporting sustainability.

 

A Royal Pageant and What We Can Learn

The original 1930 Pageant was designed to be both humorous and symbolic, featuring costumes like ‘Crossed Knives,’ ‘The Moon Through Glass,’ and ‘Broken Mirror.’ Unlike today’s costumes, they were not only associated with the supernatural but were witty takes on common superstitious beliefs. The costumes were created by L.&H. Nathan Ltd. (today’s renowned Angels Costumes), and the event raised funds for Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital on the 10th October 1930, ahead of the main event on Halloween itself. Renowned photographer Alexander ‘Sasha’ Stewart even captured the costumes at a special charity matinee at the Haymarket Theatre.

 

Tara McCorquodale, Cartland’s granddaughter, recently shared a definitive list of the costumes from the family archive, revealing Queen Camilla’s grandmother’s role in the event.

  • The Witch – Miss Mary Pitcairn
    Archived Newsletter Article with Costumes of the Pageant
    A feature of the ‘All Halloween Ball’, and repeated as a matinee at they Haymarket Theatre, London, in aid of the Queen Charlotte Maternity Hospital Maintenance Fund. [Photo: Hulton Archive]
  • Green – the Princess George Imeritinsky 
  • Crossed Knives – Miss Betty Hulton
  • One Magpie – Miss Carl Bendix
  • Peacock Feathers – Mrs E. De Winton Wills
  • Thirteen – the Hon. Mrs Parsons
  • The Moon through Glass – Mrs Edward Baron
  • Broken Mirror – the Countess of Carlisle 
  • Opals – the Hon. Mrs Evan Morgan
  • Three Candles – the Hon. Mrs Roland Cubitt (grandmother of Queen Camilla)
  • Upsetting the Salt – Lady (Hamilton) Grant
  • Friday – the Hon. Mrs John Russell 
  • Good Luck – Mrs A.G. McCorquodale / Barbara Cartland

So, this year, as you think about Halloween, remember if these It-Girls could come up with their own DIY costumes, so can you. Otherwise, there’s always Faircado at your service.