Date in History: 1947
About to be married in devastated, post-war Britain, Princess Elizabeth planned a conservative trousseau. Taking pity, a woman from Wisconsin wrote to the princess asking if perhaps there was something she could send from the states. Elizabeth, answering in her own hand, replied she’d be pleased to accept some nylons – then hard to get in Britain – and gave her size and address. Fortunately the woman was a devoted customer of Bettersox Knitting Mills in Fort Atkinson and so sent Elizabeth 2 pairs of Bettersox Nylons.
Now despite the headline in our local paper, “Hosiery Made in Fort Atkinson to be Worn by Princess Elizabeth on Wedding Day,” we can’t really be sure that the future queen actually wore the nylons on Nov. 20th, 1947 when she married Phillip Mountbatten. However Bettersox was quick to point out that Elizabeth was hardly the only famous person to wear Bettersox products, as shipments had also been made to Pope Pius XII and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
This historic document aired on the radio as an Historic Minute on 04/25/2005.