Queen Camilla and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh were among the royals supporting King Charles as he welcomed Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan to Buckingham Palace for the King’s first state dinner since his cancer diagnosis.
It was an evening of luxury and diplomacy in equal measure, with a dinner of langoustine, pommes Elizabeth, and Cornish Turbot accompanied by traditional Japanese folk music—and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. In his speech, King Charles celebrated the deep ties between Britain and Japan, including the nations’ shared love of mountain climbing, tea, and the Pokémon franchise—which the King said was a favorite of his grandchildren, likely a reference to Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
Among the gathered royals though, Queen Camilla and the Duchess of Edinburgh were paying tribute to the British royal family itself with choices of tiara that honored ties both familial and international.
Queen Camilla donned the Burmese Ruby tiara, which boasts the rare distinction of being one of very few pieces designed by the late Queen Elizabeth II herself. As Camilla walked down the corridors of Buckingham Palace side-by-side with Empress Masako, the rubies and diamonds of the tiara glimmered in the colors of the Japanese flag, a touch surely noticed by the Palace’s distinguished guests.
But rubies have not always been so prominent in the royal jewelry archives. As The Court Jeweller notes, Elizabeth did not inherit her mother’s own ruby tiara upon accession to the throne in 1953. The Indian Circlet, once owned by Queen Victoria and adorned with rubies by Queen Alexandra in the early 1900s, was much beloved of the Queen Mother, who was recently widowed and planned on wearing the piece for the rest of her career. By the 1970s, Queen Elizabeth realised that a tiara with red rubies, which match the colour of the St George’s cross and so many other national flags, was increasingly becoming a necessity for her royal engagements.
So Queen Elizabeth created her own. In 1973, she commissioned official royal jewelers the House of Garrard to repurpose the Nizam of Hyderabad Tiara, which had been a gift from an Indian prince—the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad. The rubies included in the new tiara—all 96 of them—were a wedding gift from the people of Burma, where local tradition suggests that the healing properties of the jewels can protect the wearer from 96 health afflictions.
Queen Elizabeth II wore this new Burmese Ruby Tiara, which pays homage to the red and white of the Tudor Rose, at a host of state dinners and diplomatic engagements, including trips to New Zealand and Slovenia. The late Queen chose the diadem, famed for its protective and healing qualities, to welcome the then President Trump to Buckingham Palace in 2019.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, also chose a tiara that many consider emblematic of a much beloved modern royal. The Lotus Flower Tiara was designed by Garrard in 1923, under a commission from the Queen Mother, who had recently married King George VI. According to the House, the tiara is an iconic piece of art deco design, taking inspiration from the Egyptian iconography that reached the nation following the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb the year before. Egyptologists found lotus followers, an ancient symbol of rebirth, throughout the sacred site.
The Queen Mother gifted The Lotus Flower Tiara to her daughter, Princess Margaret, who wore the piece throughout the decades, from 1959 to the early 1990s. Claire Scott, who oversees Garrard’s illustrious archive, said that the Lotus Flower Tiara “has easily adapted to the changing styles of all the royal women it has adorned over the past 100 years,” and, most recently, Kate Middleton chose the tiara for her first state banquet in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015. Kate Middleton also donned the piece in late 2022 for the Diplomatic Corps reception.
The Duchess of Edinburgh may have chosen the Lotus Flower Tiara in tribute to the Princess of Wales, who did not attend yesterday’s Japanese state dinner as she continues to recover from her cancer treatment. Prince William made an appearance at Buckingham Palace, alongside Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, and the Duchess and Duke of Gloucester—who jokingly asked how the figures on a traditional silk screen art piece kept their hats on, much to Sophie’s amusement.
A reunion of old friends—King Charles even keeps the Emperor’s thesis on the history of the Thames in his Highgrove private library—the visit to Buckingham Palace saw the exchange of gifts between the royal couples, including a whisky, a handmade fan, and a brocade handbag. The trip almost did not happen, however. After postponements due to Covid lockdowns, the announcement of the General Election necessitated the paring back of royal engagements to avoid distraction from the campaign trail—through there was little chance of that, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer, and Sir Ed Davey all in attendance to welcome the Japanese Emperor and Empress.
This article first appeared on Tatler.
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