King Charles Hosted His First State Banquet As King
Last night was King Charles’ very first state banquet as monarch. The dinner was held for South Africa’s visiting president, Cyril Ramaphosa, who was originally scheduled to make the trip in September. THE QUEEN’S death forced him to reschedule. This banquet was a very big deal (for people who actually give a rat’s ass about the monarchy), so the Royals decided to to bust out the big guns. Their version of “the big guns” is, of course, sparkly tiaras. Queen Consort Camilla wore THE QUEEN’S Belgian Sapphire Tiara and Kate Middleton wore Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot tiara. The King didn’t get to wear shit. He kept his dome diamond, sapphire, and hair-free.
First things first: I don’t give a shit if Camilla got that tiara from her mother-in-law; the true queen of blue sapphires is Princess Diana. She owns that look. Don’t even think about attempting to steal her style again, Cami Q-C!!!! OK, now that that’s outta the way, let’s talk about the Belgian Sapphire Tiara. The sapphires in this tiara were originally set in a necklace worn by Princess Louise of Belgium (1858-1924). Louise was a wild one. After a bunch of scandalous affairs, her husband locked her up in an asylum for six years. She eventually escaped, divorced the asshole, got remarried, and ended up deeply in debt. Louise had no choice but to sell all her jewels.
Cut to 1963, when THE QUEEN spotted the sapphire necklace at a luxury jewellers. Elizabeth wanted a tiara to match the George VI Sapphire Parure, sapphire earrings and a necklace given to her by her father, George VI, on her wedding day. She decided to take the sapphires in Louise’s necklace and set them in a tiara. Here’s a side-by-side of Camilla wearing the tiara and the parure necklace last night and THE QUEEN decked out in the whole shebang (tiara, necklace, extra necklace thingy, earrings):
Belgian Sapphire Tiara worn by Queen Camilla. © Getty Images. pic.twitter.com/ytruBEAXbR
— Gary Buckley™ (@myrddenbuckley) November 23, 2022
Now for Kate’s headgear. She went with her go-to tiara, the Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot tiara. The pearl and diamond tiara originally belonged to, you guessed it, Queen Mary. She commissioned the piece in 1913 and asked the jeweller to replicate Princess Augusta of Cambridge’s Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara. Augusta was Mary’s aunt. When Mary died in 1953, THE QUEEN inherited all of her jewels. She liked the tiara but decided to take off the top row of pearls. Originally, it was taller. In 1981, Elizabeth passed the tiara on to her new daughter-in-law, Princess Diana. After Diana divorced Charles, she politely returned the tiara to THE QUEEN. Me? I would have run for the hills, tiara on head, never to be seen again. Today the tiara is worth about a million dollars and has become a favorite of Princess Kate. Here’s Kate, Diana, and THE QUEEN all sporting the tiara:
Tiaras are timeless.
The Princess of Wales chose to wear Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara tonight, previously worn by Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana.
📸PA / @ChrisJack_Getty pic.twitter.com/1C23hNJUrO
— Cameron Walker (@CameronDLWalker) November 22, 2022
Last night’s state banquet was held at Buckingham Palace. Due to the pandemic and the late QUEEN’S health issues, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s three-day trip to the UK is the first state visit hosted by the Royals since Trump visited in 2019 (shudder). Wait, wait, wait. THE QUEEN’S last state visit was from that orange buffoon? 70 years on the throne, and that’s how Elizabeth ended her tenure as a fancy international hostess? Wow. Of all the low-down, dirty things Meghan Markle pulled, this one might be the very worst (bear with me, the media is still trying to figure out how they can blame her).
Pic: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images