This is a fascinating story of a colour that changed the world. Mauve was discovered by English chemist Sir William Henry Perkin in 1856 accidentally.

He was looking for quinine to treat malaria but stumbled upon the rich, beautiful mauve colour that revolutionized the fabrics industry. Before that only blue, red and black ruled.

Perkin was only 18 at that time. Fifty years later, while describing the discovery he said that he was about to throw a certain residue away when he thought it might be interesting. The solution of it resulted in a strangely beautiful color.

Perkin had stumbled across the world’s first aniline dye, a color that became known as mauve.

So we can say that a teenager invented the mauve colour that went on to become the favourites of royals worldwide.