Buckingham Palace shines again, on the evening of 22 November, with a reception in honor of a head of state on an official visit, the first since the new king, Charles III, ascended the throne. The guest is Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa, e the debut is important for two women of the royal family: Kate Middleton, for the first time as princess of Wales, and of course Camilla, queen consort.The king’s wife wears a set of jewels with a tiara inherited from Queen Elizabeth II and seems at ease in her new role, yet it is Kate who appears to be the true “lady of the house”, in her flaunting a self-confidence – and class – fruit of a long experience in his “career” as a royal.
The princess does not fail to confirm what has been hypothesized in recent days by the press, which in recent days has bet on which tiara Prince William’s wife would have worn for the occasion: it is the Cambridge Lover’s Knot, the tiara most loved by Lady Diana, who wore it many times before Kate. And the latter’s favorite, as she wore it eleven times before the banquet for Ramaphosa. Featuring a set of pearls complementing a diamond design, the tiara was commissioned from jeweler Garrard by Queen Mary in 1913 after a tiara owned by her grandmother, Princess Augusta of Hesse, Duchess of Cambridge. Queen Elizabeth II received it as a gift from her grandmother and gave it to Lady Diana as a wedding gift when she married her eldest son, Charles, in 1981.
In Kate’s choice it is therefore clear Kate’s tribute to Lady Dthe mother-in-law she never knew, but more important than the tiara is the brooch that the princess wears pinned on her beautiful long white cape dress with silver embroidery by designer Jenny Packham: the “Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II” is a symbol of the honor bestowed by the Queen recently disappeared to members of the royal family, at its discretion, as a reward for their service. An award in the form of a brooch that includes a small portrait of the monarch painted on ivory, surrounded by diamonds and set on a yellow ribbon, and is only worn at formal events. According to reports from the British press, the decoration worn by Kate may have been painted on glass and not on ivory in compliance with Prince William’s commitment to put an end to the trade in this material, obtained from elephant tusks.
Also Camilla wears the same honor pinned to her chest, to complete a heartfelt tribute to Elizabeth II; dressed in electric blue, the color she loves very much, with a Bruce Oldfield designer dress (and already worn for the Vogue photo shoot), she in fact chose for her important debut as queen consort a set of jewelry inherited from the mother-in-law: sapphire tiara, necklace and earrings, one of the most precious sets of jewels kept in Elizabeth’s casket. The earrings and tiara were a gift from her father, King George VI, on her wedding to Philip in 1947; Camilla has chosen to personalize the latter by removing the large sapphire pendant to wear it as a chocker.
In 1963, Queen Elizabeth added a tiara and a bracelet to the set (both already seen on Camilla): the first made by reusing an ancient necklace of sapphires and diamonds that belonged to Princess Louise of Belgium. The late Queen last wore the precious set in 2020, when she posed for official portraits destined for Canada, which also marked the last time Queen Elizabeth was photographed wearing a tiara, which which makes Camilla’s choice, today, even more touching.
