As part of the exciting season of events to commemorate the 250 year anniversary of the birth of Lady Henrietta Herbert a replica dress will be unveiled at the Castle.

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This is a reproduction of the dress Henrietta wore in her Joshua Reynolds portrait of 1777/8 and was commissioned to coincide with the anniversary. The dress will be displayed in the ballroom, which is very appropriate as the ballroom was built for the coming of age of Henrietta's brother, Edward, and she is likely to have attended this celebration. Visitors will be able to see this dress produced by Alison Phillips of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust Costume Project.

Lucy Armstrong from the National Trust has studied Henrietta’s costumes and describes the dress:
'She wears a typical day dress of the period in a beautifully muted and elegant greysilk. It was made from large quantities of extremely expensive material to demonstrate her status - and also perhaps her prospects of finding a suitable husband!. As was customary, the artist may have exaggerated the folds of the silk for artistic license; and he was known for his ability to portray the richness of silk. The hat was added some years later in an attempt to update the portrait'.

Volunteers at the castle have also been working on the final touches to their own 'Regency' style costumes in the Powis Castle ballroom. These unique dresses were made by the Historical Costume Company in Nottinghamshire and will represent the costume Henrietta would have worn in her later life.

Volunteers Ann Jackson, Ann Shaw, Tricia Payne, Fiona Ashby, Pat Kempster and Jeanne Hill, ably abetted by historic costume consultant, Rachel Iliffe,have been adding Indian-inspired trimmings to reflect Lady Henrietta Herbert's strong ties there. The volunteers will then wear their costumes to lead visitors on the new tours of the castle which start on 20 June, based on the life of Lady Henrietta Herbert, and her time spent at the castle.

On19 June, Historical Costume Consultant, Rachel Iliffe, will be giving a lecture in the ballroom at Powis on the changing fashions of the late 18th century to early 19th century. Rachel will speak about the exotic fashions of choice for an aristocratic and well-travelled woman like Henrietta.