Lady Amelia and Lady Eliza Spencer's hairstylist shares his secrets to their blonde bombshell look
The Princess of Wales is often considered the ultimate royal hair icon, but delve deeper into the family tree of her husband Prince William and you will find three of his cousins who have perfected the blonde bombshell look.
Enter Ladies Kitty, Amelia, and Eliza Spencer – the nieces of the late Princess Diana who are often spotted at glamorous evening events or seen spending the day at Royal Ascot with the most fabulous hair.
Hairstylist to the stars and creative director of Neville Hair and Beauty, Jack Merrick-Thirlway, gets all the credit for the Spencers' sensational hairdos. HELLO! stepped into the salon in leafy Sloane Square to see where their hair is transformed from day to night and hear from their incredible stylist himself.
The Spencer blonde
The girls keep their signature blonde on point with trips to see Jack at the salon on Pont Street. "They love the really bright blonde, they love the sun-kissed hair and they don't like anything too over the top hair-wise," Jack tells us. "They leave it up to me, we trust each other now, so we never do anything too heavy or old-fashioned, it's always young, cool, and light."
With regular trips to South Africa where they grew up, the London-based models only get their hair coloured three times a year. "The sun hits it so it's always just touch-ups [in the salon]," Jack says. "The highlights are there and [I do] a little bit of balayage on the end and a tiny bit of toning here and there, but because they're quite light it's not a very difficult colour to get to."
Twinning looks
Amelia and Eliza are identical twins and always look incredible in fashion and beauty looks that complement each other perfectly. However, Jack tells us that looking different from each other is not on their radar.
"I think as long as they look cool and young is more our thing than looking different. They don't necessarily say to me, make me look different to Amelia or Eliza," he says. "Whenever we're together I'll judge it on the outfit they're wearing as opposed to trying to make them look super different."
Red carpet occasions
Though the hair is a crucial part of a Spencer look, it is the outfit, Jack says, that dictates his work. This was the case in October when Kitty, Amelia, and Eliza supported Prince William at the Centrepoint Awards.
"We turn up, we see the makeup artists we work with quite often and it's a matter of just seeing the outfits. I generally tell them if it should go up or down," Jack explains.
On this occasion, all three of the Spencer sisters wore billowing silky grey gowns – Kitty's from Dolce and Gabbana, and Amelia and Eliza's from Temperley. While Kitty wore a soft updo, Amelia wore her blonde locks slicked back and Eliza rocked beachy curls.
For events of this nature, Jack has a go-to hairstyle that he says suits the Spencers best. "We've done the ones where it's a little bit fluffy down the face and it works, but for events with the big ball gowns, we generally go slick," Jack says.
"I'll do something quite clever or cool at the back, change the bun shape or make one a bit fluffy, make one really slick."
Fabulous at the Fashion Awards
The proof is in the pudding when it comes to the Spencer girls' infamous buns, as Amelia and Eliza demonstrated when they arrived at the Royal Albert Hall in December for the Fashion Awards.
Dressed impeccably in Gaurav Gupta and Pamella Roland gowns, Eliza and Amelia wore slicked buns to showcase the Bardot neckline of their looks. Royal fans couldn't help but draw comparison to their late aunt who famously wore an off-the-shoulder Christina Stambolian gown to a dinner at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens in 1994.
The look has famously been dubbed her 'Revenge dress' moment due to its timing with her televised admission of adultery by her then-husband King Charles.
Though Kitty, Amelia, and Eliza have inherited Diana's natural beauty, Jack tells us that incorporating their late aunt's legacy into their look isn't necessarily intentional. "It's just a matter of doing their hair individually and treating them as individuals as opposed to treating them linked to that," Jack reveals.
"We just hang out as friends and I do their hair."
Hair rules
Unlike the likes of the Princess of Wales and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Spencer sisters are not bound by royal protocol when it comes to their look.
"They just know themselves very well and choose things that suit them and they never do anything because of other people," Jack explains. "I think they're so personally detached [from royal protocol], they just go to events and wear what looks good on them."
Recreating the look
When it comes to recreating the signature Spencer slick Jack says that the work starts before the hairbrush and the taming products come out.
"Once you've prepped the hair, if you put the right blow-dry lotions on, you blow dry it in the right direction, and you put the parting in where it's meant to be, the actual putting that up is very simple because it's kind of going where you put it already," the hairstylist tells us.
Deciphering the placement of the bun is also key, taking into account how best to complement the wearer's bone structure.
A Spencer hat trick
Prep is also key for creating durable hair for a day at Royal Ascot. The Spencer girls often grace the race course and look impeccable in an eye-catching hat.
"You just have to depend on how it sits. If it's got a band on it, then it will just sit into the hair up and if it hasn't, if he's got teeth on it you may have put a little braid across the top of the head and it slides into that," Jack tells us. "The dresses are a lot so the hair can be a bit more subtle, so it might just be a bun and like a nice piece of hair going across the back of the bun."
