State visit season is starting to wind down for now, but there are a still a few visits kicking around. One with a tiara watch, even, and you know we'll take all of those we can get.
First up, we're back in Bhutan! The King and Queen of Sweden are on a state visit, where they were received by the King and Queen of Bhutan.
His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck Facebook
I like what Queen Silvia's done here, if you can tear your eyes away from Jetsun Pema, resplendent in her pinks. Silvia's respecting the location by lengthening her skirt, but otherwise sticking with something that would normally be a part of her wardrobe. A classy way to go about it. I'd expect no less.
Back in Europe, Luxembourg's grand ducal family welcomed the President and First Lady of Romania for a state visit. The Grand Duchess had to pull out of the visit at the last minute for
unspecified family reasons, so the Hereditary Grand Duchess held court as
the visit's top royal lady.
Luc Deflorenne/SIP
Stéphanie repeated a detailed Phase Eight dress, which I want to like a whole lot more than I actually like. But! She sported the Diamond Vine Leaves Tiara and carried the tiara torch when Maria Teresa's absence left us perilously close to suffering a tiara-less state banquet. For that, I am grateful. (See more from the state visit here.)
So many royal women out and about in prints n' patterns these days! Let's breeze through a few of them real quick:
King Felipe and Queen Letizia attended audiences at Zarzuela Palace on Monday House of HM the King
This, in fact, is our second case of Who wore it best? for the week, because Crown Princess Mary owns this Hugo Boss design in a skirt. They've both worn it many times, and I'm still trying to figure out what hidden messages lie within this Rorschach test of a dress. (Can you get dresses custom made with subliminal I need another tiara messages?)
Princess Madeleine attended a folk music mass over the weekend
Madeleine's racking up the events while home for National Day. Given that this dress is from Somerset by Alice Temperley, I am only surprised that one of our other royal Temperley fans didn't get to it first. (Sure, sure, the Duchess of Cambridge, but I'm thinking someone else: Queen Mathilde, step right up!) It's really lovely, and the addition of the belt takes it to another level.
Queen Mathilde attended a concert for the Queen Elisabeth piano competition Royal Palace
Actually, Mathilde's been a little busy racking up Dries van Noten dresses for herself. This one's part groovy, part hotel carpet. But as I am all for something a little different, I'm going with groovy.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima attended the opening of the Holland Festival
This is your basic, pretty floral dress, no problems there. Which leaves me free to concern myself with the possibility that she could pair these earrings with that lobster necklace, and to contemplate what sort of marine life she's coming for next.
A sampler platter of recent choices out of Spain, shall we?
Queen Letizia closed a conference on rare diseases last week House of HM the King
My absolute favorite take on this collar? Nah. But it is flippy, as is her hair, and I like a bit of flip with an otherwise prim neckline.
Magrit shoes
I'm also unreasonably happy that she didn't just go with a plain old nude pump here. It's the little things, you know.
Lunch for the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, with this year's honoree, Fernando del Paso House of HM the King
This is very monochrome, from her lips to her toes. Verging on too monochrome for me, but saved by the fact the fact that more Letizia in red (red Carolina Herrera, at that) can't be a bad thing.
Presentation of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the highest literary honor in the Spanish-speaking world, on Saturday House of HM the King
I can say only what I said last time around: lose the jacket to this Felipe Varela ensemble. Also, lose the Bulgari aquamarine earrings. (So that you can give them to me. I need them. For reasons.)
While we were looking the other way, Queen Máxima got herself into a spot of trouble.
She and King Willem-Alexander headed out to Bavaria last week - the Dutch royal couple make an annual working trip to Germany - and on day two, she repeated a coat first worn during the Dutch state visit to Denmark last year.
I wasn't a huge fan of this coat when we first saw it, but it was a clever bit of diplomatic dressing; the designer, Claes Iversen, is based in the Netherlands and is originally from Denmark. On this German outing, however, that diplomatic dressing turned disastrous when some interpreted designs on the coat as swastikas. (Yikes.)
Obviously, this was unintentional on the part of both Queen Máxima and of the designer, who used bits of plexiglass and hardware among other ornaments on the coat, making art out of everyday items (which isn't for everyone, but then art never is). (And it probably bears noting that - even though its resemblance wasn't intended - the swastika itself has a longer history as a positive symbol than a negative one.)
The controversy has been blown out of proportion, but it also would have been terribly easy to avoid. Considering we just spent a week discussing the intent behind a tour wardrobe, this is a prime example of why so much thought goes into such things.
nordbayern.de and Bayerischer Rundfunk screencaps, see here and here for video
At least coats come off, and this one quickly did. Throughout the visit, the couple sported pins from the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. On her other shoulder, Máxima wore a fascinating piece from the Dutch collection, a sapphire brooch with a pair of diamond wings below it. (She wore the same brooch with another larger sapphire suspended below for the state banquet in Denmark.)
Coat controversy aside, the rest of the visit had everything you expect from your standard Máxima tour checklist. Big hat: check. Sparkle: check.
I almost thought the evening dress (right, above) had a built-in sparkly collar until I came to my senses and realized that there was a diamond rivière there, because of course. This dress is different from the one she wore for the state visit to France this year, yet it is almost exactly the same. Sparkleblergh must have really been speaking to her this season.
Black + white bouclé tweed = close enough to throw in with the grays, and this is a good dress for our friend M-M. (As with many garments, it's probably done a bit of a disservice here in an action shot, but I like that she looks like she's in a still from a shampoo commercial.) AND, she put a brooch on it! This is an interesting piece, maybe with baroque pearls or something of that nature. She's worn it in the past, and you can see here for a better look.
Queen Mathilde commemorated the 100th anniversary of the execution of Gabrielle Petit in Brussels on Sunday.
Photos: Royal Palace, @MonarchieBe
I love a stripe. This one is playful, yet still 100% solemn and appropriate for this event. A stripe that does double duty, I love even more.
King Felipe and Queen Letizia attended the investiture of honorary doctors at the University of Salamanca yesterday.
Photo: House of HM the King
I always have time for Letizia in Carolina Herrera. I also always have time for an ensemble that could have walked off the set of The Good Wife. This is a very simple gray suit, but it is a very good one. (We've seen it before here; see here for a full gallery from this current event.)
Certainly you do, because the Duchess of Cambridge turning up at this year's Commonwealth service in a gray John Boyd hat with an upturned and angled slice style brim was something different.
The hat quickly drew several comparisons to other royal hats, and of course it did, because while it was different for Kate, it wasn't necessarily unique. It's a classic style in a useful neutral color that has been interpreted many times by many different milliners on many different royal women.
Two of our regular leading ladies were most frequently cited in said comparisons, so let's see how two different styles of this classic have been handled in other situations.
First we have Crown Princess Mary and her more angular version.
One of the things I love about Mary's style is the way she finds new color combinations for her accessories. She wore this hat with a black coat before pepping things up for the Luxembourg royal wedding in 2012 with a wine colored suit, driving the color combination home in beautiful fashion with the ruby and diamond stud earrings with gray pearl drops from her Ruby Parure. This is how you give a neutral accessory a new life.
If you want to talk about getting full value out of a hat style, then you need to talk about the second royal that came up when discussing Kate's hat: Queen Máxima.
This version is similar in shape and darker in color, but fear not, she has lighter colors and other variations, no problem. The Royal Hats Blog catalogs no fewer than fifteen slice hats in Máxima's wardrobe, and no less than seven different looks for this dark gray hat. Nobody owns this brim style quite like Máxima does, and there's no better example of how to have as much fun as possible with a classic shape...even if it is just another gray hat. Photos: via Getty Images
We need to check back in with Zara Phillips and her Cheltenham Festival routine. Friends, I think she stuck the landing.
She started out with a matching purple ensemble on day one, then moved into matching navy pieces for day two with this understated outfit. Understated on its own and certainly understated when put next to what her mother wore with her own navy hat.
I'm sure several of you have already clutched your pearls at a coat above the knee, but I think the length gives her day three ensemble a mod look, and I love that style on Zara. Those giant feathers on her cap should come in handy to deal with any dissenters.
Gold Cup Day brought what I might have to name my gold cup outfit for the racing event. I'm most certainly here for an accent hat in a lovely teal shade (the Duchess of Cambridge has this same hat style in green; Royal Hats has a comparison), and with a cozy belted coat? Sign me up. Well played, Zara.
Queen Máxima has been a busy bee since returning home from her French state visit. A busy behattedbee, specifically. Autocorrect just tried to change specifically to spectacularly on me there, but that's your call to make:
Wednesday: Queen Máxima visited the Outsider Art Museum.
I'm so used to seeing her in hats with big brims or no brims, a short brim like this is destined to feel stumpy. You don't have to sell me on the animal print accessories, though; I'm all in.
This is not so much a hat as it is a linen bagel. You can browse this gallery for proof or just take my word for it, I don't know how your Friday is going. (By the way, several readers have written to say that these repeated gold fan earrings are from JAR, exclusive jeweler and favorite of Princess Marie-Chantal. That's an interesting development for Máx and her statement jewelry love affair.)
Tuesday: King Willem-Alexander presented the Military Order of William to the Commando Corps with Queen Máxima in attendance. Photo: Defensie
I saved the best for last. She loves her a gray hat, and this one had something special: three diamond ears of wheat brooches from the family collection attached to the side of her gray pillbox hat. This is the second time Máxima has used these brooches (the first as a hair ornament during the couple's 2015 state visit to Canada), though she has yet to use them in their most familiar format, the Dutch Ears of Wheat Tiara.
NOS / L1 screencaps
I love this. I mean, of course I love this, but for more reasons than my standard love of unexpected jewel deployments. The Military Order of William (Militaire Willems-Orde, also Military William Order) is the oldest and highest Dutch honor, presented for bravery; this is an important event, and I love that she's brought out some old and important brooches for the occasion. Paired with a simple gray coat with gray lace underneath, it's an incredibly elegant look. (For more: Video here, second video here, gallery here.)
Yesterday, available members of the British royal family - the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Cambridges, Prince Harry, and the Duke of York this year - moseyed on over to Westminster Abbey for the annual Commonwealth Day service.
The Queen got her Commonwealth flair on via brooch, and you can check our her outfit and Australian brooch selection over at the Jewel Vault. The Duchess of Cambridge got her Commonwealth flair on (and her Lady Mary Crawley flair on) via coat. Canadian designer Erdem made this contribution to the Royal Coat Museum, and milliner John Boyd added a matching gray hat.
And there's your sartorial headline for the event: Kate wore a hat with a brim, oh my. As a fan of variety more than just about anything, I am bound to love the choice, but I also appreciate that she paired the strong lines of this coat with the simple, architectural silhouette of this chapeau.
Similar Erdem pieces
While I'd love to see the coat belted up in the future, it's a solid appearance just like so.
This outfit surprised me, this loose open coat and loosely tied scarf on our most tailored queen. But it surprised me in a good way. That scarf gives some much-needed color to a sea of gray and the whole coat arrangement gives some much-needed freshness to the dress underneath, a Felipe Varela design we've seen many times before.
Photo: House of HM the King
What I liked most, though? The hair. Those curls! Perfect choice for this outfit, and definitely one of my favorite styles to come out of her hair experimentation.
A Te Deum thanksgiving service was held yesterday to celebrate Prince Oscar's birth in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace of Stockholm. Most of the royal family was on hand - minus Crown Princess Victoria and her new son, obviously.
Everything's in order here, pretty much. Queen Silvia's doing her Silvia thing in a shade of blue that really works for her. Princess Madeleine's also doing her thing, with some added accessory interest in the form of a hefty necklace.
(As longtime readers know, SHOOTIES are never in order in my little world, but I'm liking the combo of Madeleine's jacket and necklace so much, I'll get over the footwear.)
Princess Sofia probably made the most Te Deum effort in a new dress by Ida Lanto, but I can't help but wish it was in a different fabric, something with a little more drape and a lot less creasing. On the bright side, her hair is excellent here, and it's a very pretty look overall.
And finally, with her purse in hand and her mini throne deployed once again, the new big sister was the star of the show. So like I said, everything's in order here.
Is this a sweater, or a coat? (Why not both?) It's not often you find a garment that is both cozy and comes with built-in accommodation for your space suit control panel, right there on the cuff. I dig it.
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde visited Antwerp province last week.
Royal Palace Twitter
This one has enough volume to wear your space suit right underneath, so that's handy.
Queen Letizia visited a children's hospital last week.
This happened a while ago - in a pre-leather culotte world - but this repeated embroidered Zara jacket is worth a chat. I see the logic in picking something bright and cheerful for a visit to a children's hospital. Also, it looks like something my second grade art teacher would have worn. (She was rather fond of dangly fish earrings, as I recall...)
I tweeted about this yesterday, and of course we're going to cover it here today. I might cover it here every week for the rest of time. This event is my new happy place.
Photo: Kate Gabor/Kungahuset.se
Princess Madeleine is the patron of Min Stora Dag (My Big Day), a foundation that makes dreams come true for children with serious illnesses. Yesterday, she invited twelve kids to the Royal Palace, where she received them in full princess mode for a fairy tale party.
Photo: Kate Gabor/Kungahuset.se
Actually, that deserves some caps lock: this is FULL PRINCESS MODE. Most of her look from the 2015 Nobel Prize Ceremony was repeated, including her gorgeous Fadi El Khoury gown, her orders, and the Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik Tiara. And she threw in some impressive new chandelier earrings for good measure.
Photo: Kate Gabor/Kungahuset.se
The look alone would have brought out my jumpy claps - it was one of my favorite royal looks in 2015 - but the occasion sends it over the top. These kids got the full royal red carpet treatment, right down to the fancy table dressings and a princess in a tiara to sit on the floor with them. (Two princesses, actually - Princess Leonore attended in her own fairy princess getup!) I'm sorry, is someone cutting onions in here? This is my favorite Tiara Watch of all time, is what I'm saying.
L to R: Princess Margaretha (her husband, Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, is just out of the frame), Queen Mathilde, King Philippe, Princess Esmeralda (daughter of King Leopold III and Princess Lilian), Princess Lea (widow of Prince Alexander of Belgium, son of Leopold III and Lilian)
This is an annual event, and calls for something on the solemn side. Queen Mathilde is threading that needle perfectly in her gray coat and hat. It's a lot of volume, but the outfit handles it well. A+. (Click here for a gallery with more.)
Have I said something was Peak Máx yet? (Yes. Entirely too often.) Well, ignore all those other times. This is Peak Máx, I mean it this time. Big hat, cape-y coat-y thing, big printed dress, you know the drill. And - you know the drill here too - big facial expressions. No one else has quite this much fun while on the royal rounds, and this is the true hallmark of a Peak Queen Máxima appearance. (Here's a gallery.)
The King and Queen of Spain visited the Prado Museum.
Queen Letizia has worn this suit before, usually with something showing underneath (like this, or this), but I love this cleaner look. That flowery, twisty thing on her lapel is subtle, but it benefits from a little room to breathe. Plus, her choice of a swinging red coat when outdoors gave a little life to her accessory choices, and you know I approve of that. (Here's a gallery.)
I hope you all had a holiday weekend (or non-holiday weekend) as cozy and chic as the one the Windsors had.
Yes, I said chic! This might be the first time in the short history of this blog where I can honestly apply the word to pretty much all of the British royal family at once, at their annual march to Christmas service at Sandringham.
The Queen got things rolling in her jolly red coat and hat with snuggly fur trim. Change the fur to white and add a black belt with a gold buckle, and we'd really be in business. That fur trim did mean she went without a brooch, but other family members were ready and willing to pick up the slack in that department. You can read all about her brooch pick for her traditional Christmas speech over at the Jewel Vault, of course.
Here's one brooch stepping in, a diamond moth from the Duchess of Cornwall. She pinned it on this chic charcoal and black outfit - one of my favorites from Camilla's current wardrobe. She looks great in these coats with clean lines and selectively placed trim, and should buy them in bulk.
Lady Sarah Chatto also helped out in the brooch department, in a diamond
and pearl star brooch that belonged to her mother, Princess Margaret. It's a lookalike to the Queen's Jardine Star Brooch, but that style is really quite common (the Princess Royal has one too).
She and Princess Beatrice represented the black coat team, a look which is not particularly interesting but is also hard to get wrong. It did make me glad for Princess Eugenie's shot of teal, though.
Princess Anne - who I like to imagine was having a stern conversation with her umbrella here, just daring it to defy her and attempt a windy getaway - sported a feather in her cap and a chicly cut light green coat.
And it was green for the Duchess of Cambridge as well, as her parade of new coats rolls on. I love the empire waist variation (when one has one's own coat museum, one can afford to switch it up), and of course I appreciate that she made a rare brooch appearance. The acorn motif brooch has been seen once before, in 2012, and is thought to be in her personal collection.
All that said, there was one family member that really swept the chic competition. I may need to make a quick addendum to my Best of 2015 honorable mentions...
Hello, Sophie! The added faux fur collar elevates the Countess of Wessex's Suzannah coat by about a million points for pure Christmas perfection.
On that chic note, the holiday hiatus is back in effect! We'll return with our annual coverage of the first tiara events of the year, the New Year's receptions in Denmark and Japan.
The thing I love above all else is variety – especially of the jewel sort – and this year’s Nobel Prize ceremonies delivered a pleasing mix of fabulous variety and business as usual. Check back on the open post for links to view the ceremonies, and there are gallery links at the bottom of this post. Also, we've covered all of these tiaras before, so click the links for more. To the awards!
We start in Norway, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded at a ceremony attended by King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.
The Crown Princess loves her some white coats, and she loves her a white ensemble for this ceremony. This year’s Alexander McQueen version, repeated from Queen Margrethe’s birthday celebrations, adds some swing to the usual silhouette, and I love it. I’d love it even more with a hat instead of this headband thing (she swaps out the ribbon color and has worn it several times before), but I’ll take what I can get.
She managed to shake up her usual white dress business at the evening dinner. Look, Ma, not a prairie flower in sight!
The Norwegian royals attended the Nobel Peace Prize banquet this evening at the Grand Hotel in Oslo pic.twitter.com/rD8bJJIZqS
This teal on Sonja is like a cool drink of water after a hot run of years in a white/red or dark/black palette for this event. Fab.
Next up is Sweden, where they fill the evening presenting shift with sparkles galore to hand out the rest of the Nobel Prizes. The whole Swedish royal family was in attendance: King Carl Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip, Princess Sofia, Princess Madeleine, Christopher O’Neill, Princess Christina, and Tord Magnuson.
Let’s start with some jumpy claps: Princess Madeleine in the Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik Tiara! This tiara belongs to her aunt, Princess Margaretha, who has also loaned it to Princess Christina in recent years. She also wore the diamond floral earrings usually worn by Queen Silvia and a ring from Princess Lilian.
Madeleine looks so great in aquamarine stones, and this tiara - one of my favorite aqua pieces, and irresistibly sparkly in motion - looks perfect on her. Her gray Fadi El Khoury gown (probably the one we thought was destined for Victoria) is sparkly yet soft, and the whole ensemble gets a big A+ from me.
I assumed Sofia would wear her own Emerald and Diamond Tiara again, and she did. She still gave us a surprise in the form of new (looks new, at least Update: they are borrowed from Queen Silvia!) emerald and diamond earrings to match and a large diamond brooch from the family collection.
I’m surprised her gown is from Oscar de la Renta, and I’m surprised I don’t love it as much as I usually love OdlR. But I am happy to see that the pesky sash issues from October have are all sorted out and she looks like a pro this time around.
I hoped Queen Silvia might break her recent Nobel tiara streak, which involves alternating between the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Parure and the Nine Prong Tiara every year. But no, the Party Antlers rode again. She paired them with one of her favorite pairs of earrings, the Karl XIV Johan Earrings, and a red gown with a jacket top and massive skirt.
Princess Christina also continued her love of the Six Button Tiara, and I continue to be glad that she makes it look the best out of all the royal ladies.
Oh, you didn’t think that a new-to-Madeleine tiara was going to distract me from giving my top prize to the one in purple and in a fun tiara choice, did you? The competition was close, but my predictable old self won out in the end.
I LOVE Crown Princess Victoria’s flowing purple gown with a cape on top, which is a custom creation in aubergine silk chiffon from By Malina. I love the amethyst jewels that she paired with it (two brooches, earrings, and necklace from Queen Josephine’s Amethyst Parure), and I love that she wore the Connaught Tiara! It’s not a totally new-to-her piece, since she first wore it at Prince Carl Philip’s wedding and had worn the diamond drops before that, but it is a nice development to see the tiara shared outside of a family wedding. My best of the best tonight.
In Norway, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess attended the annual concert for the Nobel Peace Prize, and I like this dress on Mette-Marit, but...well, that's about as much enthusiasm as I have for that.
I do have more enthusiasm for the King's Dinner in Sweden, and not just because they have tiaras. Okay, partly because they have tiaras, but also because there are some interesting dress selections going on here.
Swedish royals are attending the Kings Dinner for the Nobel winners tonight at the Royal Palace pic.twitter.com/rYwpl6RoW6
I wondered if Crown Princess Victoria would repeat her lovely Pär Engsheden lake of sequins worn to the Nobels in 2011, when she was pregnant with Estelle, and sure enough...here we go! And with the Baden Fringe Tiara for bonus points.
Photo: Kungahuset.se
Also riding the shiny blue train was Queen Silvia in the Leuchtenberg Sapphires, with...an extra tablecloth attached to her hip, just in case? Never know when you're going to need that emergency table linen.
I've seen labels from "showgirl" to "Downton Abbey" applied to Princess Madeleine's lace dress with its sheer top and high lace collar, which is quite a gap to span. I suppose that's an achievement on its own. Personally...well...I think it's too complicated for a sash and all that lot, for starters.
She paired it with the Modern Fringe Tiara, returning to her favorite. Princess Christina kept to her favorite as well with the Six Button Tiara two nights in a row.
And finally, Princess Sofia. She did not take this opportunity to dive into the family vault, instead sticking with her Emerald and Diamond Tiara. She also stuck with that middle part in her hair (you know, the one that makes the tiara look like it's precariously balanced right up top), with a half updo this time. I'm growing tired of that, but I have a feeling this Zetterberg Couture dress is one of which I could never grow tired. Similar in certain ways to Princess Madeleine's dress from the previous evening, so apparently I have a type.
Armistice Centenary Service
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*The Queen ** and members of the Royal Family attended the National Service
to mark the centenary of the Armistice at Westminster Abbey, London.*
*BBC*
The ...
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