King Charles and Queen Camilla hosted a Buckingham Palace state dinner for the emperor and empress of Japan last night. Princess Anne is still being hospitalized, so she wasn’t there. Neither was the Princess of Wales (who was never scheduled for the state dinner). So it was left to the Duchess of Edinburgh to bring the under-60 royal glamour. Interestingly, there are very few photos of Sophie, even though I think she genuinely looked nice in her emerald-green Suzannah London gown. But what was really interesting about her styling was the tiara!
Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh is sparkling in one of Kate Middleton’s top tiaras at the state banquet at Buckingham Palace.
On June 25, the Duchess of Edinburgh, 59, shimmered in the Lotus Flower Tiara at the diplomatic dinner held in honor of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan’s state visit to the U.K. The style choice was significant as Sophie’s first time wearing the Lotus Flower Tiara, expanding her royal rotation.
Prince Edward’s wife has previously glittered in two aquamarine tiaras and her all-diamond wedding tiara made up of four detachable diamond anthemions, which were reportedly sourced from one of Queen Victoria’s crowns.
My first thought was “Waity, you in danger, girl.” But it’s possible that under King Charles’s reign – or more importantly, Queen Camilla’s reign over the Royal Collection jewels – the rules around tiaras have changed. Back in Queen Elizabeth II’s day, once she “assigned” a tiara to a royal wife, that was “your” tiara to wear to state events. That’s why Sophie always wore – for decades! – the same two aquamarine tiaras to state events, because those were the tiaras assigned to her by QEII. Apparently, Camilla is loosening up the tiara assignments, because now Sophie gets to wear the Lotus Flower Tiara, which the Princess of Wales has worn several times over the years? That was supposed to be “Kate’s” for a while. But with Kate still recovering and absent from events… well, I guess Sophie didn’t want to wear the same old aquamarines. Now that I’m looking closely at Sophie’s necklace and earrings, my guess is that this whole jewelry set up was set aside for Kate, but in Kate’s absence, Sophie was like “MINE!”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.