How a Monaco princess and one of the world's greatest pop stars turned Geri Haliwell into Cotswolds royalty, revealed by CLAUDIA CONNELL

Ask anyone to name Geri Halliwell's most famous outfit and there's no doubt which one instantly springs to mind.

Her iconic Union Jack micro mini-dress, which she wore at The Brits 27 years ago, is the one most associated with the former Ginger Spice. Stitched together from a flag tea towel and struggling to contain her voluptuous curves, the dress worn by the then 25-year-old singer while performing with The Spice Girls epitomised an era of Girl Power and Cool Britannia as she belted out a medley of their hits Wannabe and Who Do You Think You Are?

Fast forward to today and the answer to the question of who 51-year-old Geri Horner thinks she is appears to be... Grace Kelly.

The loud, cheeky upstart from Watford, who once famously pinched the bottom of King Charles (then the Prince of Wales), has reinvented herself as a genteel and polished Lady of the Manor. Gone are the loud, revealing clothes. 

In their place is a wardrobe of understated pieces in white (and very occasionally pastel shades). Simple, chic and flattering, many bear a close resemblance to styles the late Princess Grace of Monaco once wore.

American actress Grace Kelly in the blue silk gown she wore to the 1955 Academy Awards

Geri Halliwell channels the Hollywood icon in a similar floor-length gown

On Wednesday, for her first appearance alone since her husband Christian Horner's 'sexting' scandal, Geri made sure she looked both elegant and unfazed.

She was dressed in a soft, feminine two-piece from Australian brand Zimmermann to promote her new children's book, Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen.

The £695 blouse was buttoned up to the neck while the £925 skirt reached down to her ankles. With not an inch of flesh on show, it was a far cry from the brazen styles that made her famous. Her outfit at the Hay Festival looked remarkably similar to the silk organza dress by Helen Rose that Grace Kelly wore in the hit 1956 movie High Society.

Grace's iconic wedding dress in High Society was made out of silk organza 

Ms Halliwell wears a Zimmermann two-piece which looks very similar

Grace wears a white veiled headpiece

Ms Halliwell matches Grace's headpiece with one from Jane Taylor London

Grace wears a pink glittery headscarf in the 1950s 

The actress's High Society scarf finds new life in Ms Halliwell's racing car

That Geri's skirt and blouse even featured a splash of colour was something of a revelation, as she has pretty much dressed exclusively in white for the past five years. 

Whether walking the red carpet or playing house at one of the two country piles she shares with her husband of nine years and her two children — Bluebell, 18, from her relationship with screenwriter Sacha Gervasi, and Monty, seven, her son with Horner — Geri wears white.

While things have become a little murky for Red Bull boss Horner lately, after he was accused of sending inappropriate texts to a female employee — an allegation he denies — Geri's wardrobe has stayed pure and wholesome.

The petite pop star claims that she sticks to whites and pales because they go with everything and it takes the headache out of choosing what to wear. As for looking buttoned-up and demure, as she recently revealed, that's because she has come to appreciate the concept of less is more.

Looking angelic in a strapless white dress with a draped detail 

Ginger Spice copies the model in a £7,000 Halfpenny dress

Grace in a lace boat-neck dress

Ms Halliwell pays tribute to the star in an £805 Paco Rabanne gown

Grace wears this beautiful number in 1956 to an  exhibit that traces her life from growing up in Philadelphia to starring in films and marrying Prince Rainier III

Resplendent in Rebecca Vallance, Ms Halliwell mimics Grace's 1956 gown

Grace Kelly looks elegant in a bow-collar blouse

The singer wears a dignified bow-collar blouse on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

'There's a power in covering up,' she told The Times. 'I didn't realise that. I don't need to overshare.'

It all fits in neatly with Geri's lifestyle transformation, which started when she married Horner in 2015. Geri's 1.4 million Instagram followers see her idyllic Cotswolds life full of cake baking, horse riding, gardening and sewing. When it comes to using Grace Kelly as her muse, it seems her close friend, the late George Michael, was the man who planted the seed.

'He started taking me shopping and tried to turn me into Grace Kelly,' she said in 2019. 'He'd take me to, like, Armani and show me black polo-neck jumpers. He was always trying to refine me.'

She also revealed that the Wham! star gifted her a watch inspired by Princess Grace when she left the Spice Girls. 'He bought me this beautiful watch, and it's very elegant,' she said. 'It's like a Grace Kelly watch, and he was almost helping me evolve from one stage of my life to the next. And that watch just means everything — support, kindness — which I really appreciate.'

Thanks to the head start George gave her, along with her go-to stylist Martha Ward, Geri now has that understated refinement down to a tee. The belted Alexander McQueen dress she wore in the Royal Box at Wimbledon in 2019 resembled the fitted one Grace wore in the 1955 Hitchcock movie To Catch a Thief, by costume designer Edith Head.

And what about the cream Halfpenny silk gown Geri wore to the 2023 BAFTAs — doesn't it look uncannily like one Grace wore on a modelling shoot?

It's not just when she's dressed to the nines either. When she was behind the wheel of a sports car, Geri wrapped her hair in a scarf — just as Grace did when she sat beside co-star Frank Sinatra in High Society.

At a recent book signing, Geri sported a chunky-knit sweater, as her idol did on a boating trip in Monaco after her marriage to Prince Rainer III.

From the prim ribbon-tie blouses, to polo necks and pillbox hats, it seems Geri's Grace-ful transformation is well and truly complete.