Tiara Watch of the Day: The Belgium/Australia State Visit

Programming Note: The blog returns Monday!

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde welcomed Australia's Governor-General and his wife for a state visit to Belgium yesterday, thus keeping us in tiara watching fun for a second time this week. (Thanks, Mathilde.)

Belgian Monarchy

Only the very grandest of settings will do for a state banquet! (This is at the Castle of Laeken.) Mathilde did not bring the grandest of tiaras - not a surprise, she tends to adjust her bling based on the guest - but longtime readers will already spot what I love here.

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PURPLE! Purple on top of purple, even. The dress almost looks blue here, it's very much on the cool violet/periwinkle end of things while the sash of the Order of Leopold is much warmer. I shall not let that get in the way of a good purplefest.

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She added in her diamond butterfly brooch, diamond and pearl earrings, and the Wolfers Necklace Tiara from Queen Fabiola.

The fabric shown on the runway, Armani Privé Spring 2016

The dress is custom Armani Privé, seen previously at King Carl Gustaf's 70th birthday banquet in 2016, when she also wore the Wolfers Tiara. Her Laurel Wreath Tiara would have been a good one to try here.

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Going backwards in time, the Queen's new Natan for the welcome ceremony has the delicate floral embroidery I love, and she's pulling her accessory color from those details, another thing I love. So it took me a while to figure out what wasn't clicking here for me: I think it's the forehead placement of the hat. I'd love to see her repeat this dress and pull a different accessory color out of the florals.

Speaking of florals, we'll continue to go back in time to last week, when Mathilde was also in a flower power mood:

Queen Mathilde attended the graduation gala at the Royal Ballet School
Belgian Monarchy

Also BIRDS! More animals in the florals, why not? It's got leaves and it's got ruffles, and if you think you smell an Erdem...

Erdem Florence Dress Agar Bird

...you are absolutely correct. She debuted this during the couple's state visit to Canada earlier this year; the designer is Canadian. I like this one on her, I really do.

Tiara Watch of the Day: National Day in Luxembourg

If you can start your week with tiaras, do. Right? Luxembourg's grand ducal fam provided over the weekend during the festivities for National Day. We'll start with some less shiny toppers, though: hats at the annual Te Deum.

L to R: Prince Sébastien, Princess Alexandra, Prince Louis, the Grand Duchess, the Grand Duke, Princess Claire, Prince Félix, the Hereditary Grand Duchess, the Hereditary Grand Duke
Grand Ducal Court/Claude Piscitelli

Two hats and two flowers, to be more precise. I love Grand Duchess Maria Teresa when she's in sleek and simple mode; I love her doubly so when she decides to do it in purple. She's my Te Deum winner by a country mile.

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It's a liiiiiiitle weird to me that Princess Claire repeated this Vilshenko dress from National Day two years ago? Like...there aren't that many events in Luxembourg you attend, you know? Anyway, I will give her credit for the improvement of a magenta flower over the pale flower she wore in 2016. Maybe she realized she needed a redo.

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I'd like to give Princess Stéphanie some credit for her hat interest, too, but that dress is making it real hard. She and Guillaume recently announced that they'll be moving to London for some post-graduate studies. I hope she'll carve out some quality shopping time, too.

Stéphanie did bring out the jumpy claps for the evening gala, I will say that. TIARA TIME!

Grand Ducal Court/Claude Piscitelli

Four tiaras! Not a shabby turnout at all. All National Days should have a gala, internationally. Make it so.

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Behold, the aforementioned jumpy claps: Princess Stéphanie didn't just wear the Luxembourg Turquoise Tiara, she added the entire massive necklace from the family collection. A good way to make the small tiara stand out, and also, YUM.

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Princess Claire is once again wearing Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde’s Tiara, which she debuted at the 2016 National Day gala. Her chic white dress is Alexander McQueen (the same style was worn with a tiara by a Danish noblewoman at Crown Prince Frederik's 50th birthday dinner). Stéphanie and Claire, by the way, are both wearing the Order of Civil and Military Merit of Adolph of Nassau. It's Luxembourg's second highest order.

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Princess Alexandra's got a lot going on here, with her Elie Saab of many colors and the sash (the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau, like her mother and brothers) and the shawl. She chose to bring out the blue with the Aquamarine Bandeau Tiara.

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The recent break in the Grand Duchess' streak of Belgian Scroll Tiara appearances - at the Danish birthday party - proved to be very short-lived indeed. She's right back to her Scroll antics, complete with what I believe is another Elie Saab gown. My affection for my formerly favorite Lux tiara is waning due to lack of variety and it's concerning. I'm sure Maria Teresa is terribly worried about it, too.

Royal Fashion Awards: Royal Ascot 2018 Day 2, Plus York Extras

We're sticking with the British royal goings on today, with highlights from Ascot yesterday plus a taste of what the York sisters have been up to in their non-Ascot time this week. (Spoiler alert: it's good.)

Let's begin with the second day of Royal Ascot. Two ladies for day two. (I'm not covering everyone; the Queen and Princess Alexandra have been covered at the Vault, the Duchess of Cornwall repeated her spearmint number from the garden party last month, and there were a few more.)

Best in Busyness

Autumn Phillips

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So we've got ruffles at the collar, ruffles on the sleeves, a tie at the waist, a whole lot of pattern, and a hat with an ornament stolen from an aquarium...and it's a success?! The hat's got just enough solid color space and clean enough lines to balance the print on this Beulah London dress. Autumn always makes it work.

Best in Millinery Distractions

The Countess of Wessex

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At least once an Ascot, Sophie will give us something worthy of a My Fair Lady remake. She's good like that. Her first attempt for 2018 comes from Jane Taylor (of course) and is paired with a new jumpsuit from Emilia Wickstead (of course). Yes, I said jumpsuit. Those are allowed in the strict Ascot dress code and she's taking advantage. For better or for worse. It's hard to tell that it's a jumpsuit, and with that glorious millinery distraction in place, you can just glaze on over that fact, if you like. Like me.

Emilia Wickstead Vida Jumpsuit

Now we'll steer away from Ascot for a sec. When the York sisters left the racecourse on Monday, their day wasn't over. Nor was their streak of sartorial excellence. They hit up the annual Serpentine Summer Party at The Serpentine Gallery and let their hair down (and up) in two outfits perfect for the arty occasion.

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As ever, I recommend abandoning all jackets slung across the shoulders - especially leather jackets, which don't have the drape to do it right anyway - but the rest of this is divine. The dress is feathers but the top makes me think of mermaid scales and I would be entirely here for Princess Beatrice deciding to go into mermaid mode. A+.

Mary Katrantzou Talon feather-jacquard midi dress

Princess Eugenie brought her fiancé, Jack, who frankly could use something more interesting than a business suit to wear when his date is going to be so sassy.

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SASSY. Oh, I like it. This top is gorgeous. I'd scoop one up for myself, had I a spare thousand bucks and a Serpentine party to go to. But do me a favor next time, Eug, and Just Say No to Barbie feet.

Roland Mouret Iris one-shoulder asymmetric fil coupé organza top

But wait, there's more!

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Princess Beatrice is soaking up all the arty summer parties she can - can't blame her for that - by attending the V&A Summer Party last night. GIMME THOSE SHOES. She's wearing a dress too. But gimme. those. shoes.

Kurt Geiger Stratton shoes (h/t to Polka Poppins)

Royal Outfits of the Day: British Royals at Garter Day

Ah, Garter Day, the one day in the royal year when a dramatic velvet cape and a jaunty feather in your cap isn't just desirable, it's mandatory.

On Garter Day, the Queen gathers the Knights and Ladies of the Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in Britain. Appointment to the Order is the Queen's gift and up to 24 Knights Companion can be members at any time. Two new members were installed yesterday, Dame Mary Fagan and Viscount Brookeborough.

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Then of course you have the Royal Knights and Ladies, those members of the royal family that have the Order of the Garter: the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, and Princess Alexandra. Absent this year was the retired Duke of Edinburgh. (Incidentally, Royal Knights and Ladies do not count towards that 24 member maximum. Stranger Knights and Ladies, the foreign monarchs the Queen has honored with the Garter, also do not count towards that max.)

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The members wear their Mantle (robe) and Bonnet (hat), along with the Collar and Great George of the Order of the Garter. (See the links for more details.) No one's mantle is more impressive than Her Maj's own, which requires two pages to manage. It's no surprise that she chose to ride in her car rather than walking to St. George's Chapel with the rest of her crew yesterday. As always, she and her enormous earrings - Queen Mary's Floret Earrings - have already been covered at the Jewel Vault.

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The royal ladies supporting their Royal Knight husbands were the Duchess of Cornwall, the Countess of Wessex, and the Duchess of Gloucester. While Camilla's sharp black and white outfit is new, the hat has been worn with a navy and white outfit in the past. I don't see a huge color difference and yet I don't like the crossing of the navy/black streams even in theory.

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Sophie's remixing her repeats again, including another hat redo. She added some festive frippery of her own to this chapeau and tied in the black from the dress. The dress is an Emilia Wickstead landscape print with horses galloping through it and I gather the print is even supposed to show an abstract Windsor Castle view. A frock with a built-in wink, of course I love it.

Emilia Wickstead Fall 2012 RTW

The Countess was my favorite royal wedding guest when she debuted this dress in Luxembourg in 2012, with a black belt and black accessories. Much as I adore her remixing, I'm thinking we need to bring back the black. No?

Royal Outfits of the Day: Swedish Royals at the Polar Music Prize

Psst: Looking for coverage of the Duchess of Sussex's big day out with the Queen? Click right here.

The Polar Music Prize was awarded yesterday, to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music and Metallica, with the Swedish royal family in attendance.

Crown Princess Victoria is usually the one to watch at this event, according to me, because she often uses it as an opportunity for some "edgier" garb. Sometimes that strategy works for her; sometimes it doesn't; sometimes it just proves that even the "edgy" side of a royal wardrobe is, in fact, not very edgy at all.

A post shared by World Of Stylein (@worldofstylein) on Jun 14, 2018 at 10:53am PDT

Let 2018 go down as a year where that strategy netted her both the first and the third results: this red toga-style Stylein dress may not be too much of a stretch, but it really works for her. That's a stunning look! I did want to find a picture to share where she wasn't holding the bouquet, though, because tucking her clutch under her arm messed with the sleek lines. That's my caveat #1. Caveat #2 is her black strappy shoes, a clunky end to an outfit with otherwise gold accessories.

Polar Music Prize Instagram/Maria Nilsdotter

Those gold accessories included jewelry from Maria Nilsdotter. The Cherry Valley earrings have one longer earring and one shorter one, a great play to balance the one shoulder on the gown. Victoria also wore the Spike headband, which at first made me wonder from far away if she'd worn her 18th Birthday Tiara for some unknown reason. (That was enlightening, because I learned that there is one occasion on which I wouldn't mind seeing that thing, and that occasion would be a non-tiara occasion.) The gold, of course, was a better match.

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Meanwhile, Princess Madeleine's Giambattista Valli dress is stepping all over Crown Princess Mette-Marit's signature territory (M-M, I can only imagine, either has this one in her closet already or will be swiftly making some calls), and Princess Sofia is knocking it out of the park.

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Knocking it out of the park, I say! She's really proving this week that green is her color. And that a halter neck is her neckline. And that statement jewelry is her best accessory. I'm surprised at how much I love this whole thing. I might be making a note for the best of 2018.

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Let's not forget about Queen Silvia, of course, who wore a tidy black skirt, evening jacket, and pearls. We can always count on her to add a final stately note to the family group.

Royal Flashback of the Day: Princess Madeleine's Christening Looks

Swedish royal christenings have been very good to Princess Madeleine, sartorially. Or, I should say, she's made them very good. A flashback of her looks during the recent run of Swedish christening fun - and in case you weren't keeping count, that's been a serious run; they've had seven of them in the last six years! - reveals two of my all-time favorite Madeleine outfits and only one I'd say was a disaster. That's not a bad record. Not bad at all. (Click the kids' names to return to the individual christening posts.)

2012: Princess Estelle

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The first one turns out to be the most forgettable, this lavender belted coat with veil headpiece. I remember it mostly because she made the delicious choice to use diamond drops from the Connaught Tiara as earrings.

2014: Princess Leonore

Anna-Lena Ahlström/Kungahuset.se

Two years later and it's Madeleine's turn to hold the baby. The first of her three was marked in a lace dress by Valentino which was very sweet and very short and very pink and very veiled. (I still think the veil with nothing much else to it looks silly.)

2015: Prince Nicolas

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Oh, but the second time was the charm, for this is one of those all-time faves. A Valentino so rich for the October season - and such a welcome break from all the pastels these christenings tend to produce - and so perfectly coordinated by bringing the color from the bottom of the skirt up to the fascinator. LOVE.

2016: Prince Oscar

Anna-Lena Ahlström, Kungahuset.se

She followed that all-time fave with the other all-time fave: the very best royal interpretation of the SLEEVES trend (sorry, Máxima), in a pink Roksanda Ilincic dress. Another fascinator is well deployed here. Best to leave all the volume to the SLEEVES.

2016: Prince Alexander

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Madeleine has a knack for picking the best from the Erdem pile. (Another example made your Best of 2017 list.) This one was practical, too; left all the froof at home and out of the way for the kid wrangling.

2017: Prince Gabriel

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One disaster, I said. Here it is. (She was pregnant with Princess Adrienne at the time.) The Valentino dress is kind of juvenile and it doesn't work with the coat, which she left on throughout the service. The whole thing feels more haphazard than we've come to expect from her.

2018: Princess Adrienne

Erika Gerdemark, Kungahuset.se

The latest addition to the christening outfit collection is, if nothing else, a return to a totally pulled together look. The Giambattista Valli dress, the flower crown, and the pieces of the Cameo parure make a pretty and carefully coordinated picture. My third favorite of the pack.

How do you rank Madeleine's christening looks?

Royal Dresses of the Day: Sofia and Mathilde go Retro

Princess Sofia attended the Sophiahemmet University's graduation ceremony yesterday.

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I daresay Sofia's come up with one of her best outfits for the year. It's described as a "modern take on a Forties tea dress," and I'm loving that little bit of retro flair on her. Plus, of course, the vibrant green. So bright and fresh.

Dress by L.K.Bennett

That's a winner. I won't be shocked if it turns up in another royal closet or two later on, plenty of them wear L.K.Bennett.

Some have likened Sofia's dress to the green Dolce & Gabbana worn in Canada in 2016 by the Duchess of Cambridge. It reminded me of another dress we saw just last week on another royal:

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde attended a concert for the Queen Elisabeth Competition on June 4.
Belgian Monarchy

This repeated Dries Van Noten dress from Mathilde definitely shares the same sleeve feel and a similar hint of retro, no? I can't help but love this on her. Even though it stole its color scheme from a bee. And even though that floral print is definitely trying to Rorschach test us all.

Royal Fashion Awards: Princess Adrienne’s Christening (Updated)

Princess Madeleine and Chris O’Neill celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary today by christening their third child, Princess Adrienne. Check out our open post here, with a link to watch the service.

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Princess Adrienne wore the royal christening gown we’ve seen several times in the past century, especially in the past few years. The heirloom details, from the royal court:

The christening gown worn by Princess Adrienne during the ceremony was first worn by Prince Gustaf Adolf when he was christened in 1906. The gown was also worn by Gustaf Adolf's siblings (Sigvard, Queen Ingrid, Prince Bertil and Carl Johan) and by Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sibylla's children, namely the Princesses Margaretha, Birgitta, Desirée and Christina, as well as The King.

The gown was also worn by Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Carl Philip, Princess Madeleine, Princess Estelle, Princess Leonore, Prince Nicolas, Prince Oscar, Prins Alexander and Prince Gabriel.

At the christening of Princess Margaretha in 1935, a cape and a cap made from cream-coloured silk satin were added. The names and dates of all the children christened have been embroidered in the lining of the cape.

The christening gown is made of cotton batiste and Valenciennes lace (bobbin lace) with a petticoat of satin woven silk. The gown has lace linings around the armholes. The gown is accompanied by a bodice of Valenciennes lace.

The christening gown also has a christening towel made of cotton batiste with Valenciennes lace.

Wee Adrienne grabbed right on to her baby sash of the Order of the Seraphim as soon as King Grandpa tucked it into place, because she knows what’s up.

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The rest of the family presented a united front with a gentle color scheme and a trio of floral frocks – all right on season and right on trend. Let’s hand out our awards:

Best in Floral and Best in Jewel Debuts

Princess Madeleine

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I had no expectations of any major jewel debuts from a christening, which made this even better: Princess Madeleine wore pieces of the Cameo Parure for the first time today! She used the bracelet and the earrings. As a card-carrying member of the Cameo Tiara Fan Club, I now have my fingers crossed for more, because that what’s happens when you give me a little bit. Madeleine and the royal ladies wore their portrait brooches of the King, as usual.

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The cameo pieces were perfect complements to the cream and gentle pinks of her floral dress by Giambattista Valli (h/t to Heaven). To my surprise, I even enjoyed the touch of flower power in her floral headband...or maybe that's just a little bit of carryover from my cameo delight.

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Princess Leonore joined the floral dress brigade led by her mother. She chose to de-accessorize by taking off her shoes. The Swedes let the kids be kids at these events (bless ‘em for allowing the antics), so go ahead and get comfy, girl. Leonore was without a partner in crime today; Princess Estelle was sick at the last minute and could not attend.

Runner Up in Florals

Princess Sofia

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My second favorite floral dress of the day belonged to Princess Sofia, interpreting the day’s pink color scheme in a bolder and sleeker fashion with this Ida Lanto dress. Little wrinkled after sitting through the service, but eh, that's life.

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If I quibble (and I will), I would have loved to see some more colorful accessories beyond the purse and perhaps more of an actual hat. A big ask of any Swedish royal lady at these events, I know.

Most at Home on the Prairie

Crown Princess Victoria

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Crown Princess Victoria could have used a dose of Sofia’s color contrast; on the broadcast especially, the colors in her dress blended together to muddy effect. It’s the only dress here that’s gonna make me say it: too Little House on the Prairie. (Only one prairie reference in a post full of florals, such restraint! Way to go, me.)

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I didn’t really understand her hat pairing, either; then again, I don’t understand her affection for these pile of embroidery hoop hats to start with. This is another version of the hat type she wore to Princess Leonore’s christening, at the time a nod to the headpiece Queen Silvia wore to Prince Carl Philip’s baptism (not the same hat, however).

Best in Standards

Queen Silvia
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As for Queen Silvia herself, well, she did her Silvia thing, and this faux wrap dress detail looks fantastic on her. Both grandmothers were operating at peak elegance. (Splendid brooch on Mrs. O'Neill, by the way.)

Best in Hat Sculpture

Princess Christina

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All four of King Carl Gustaf’s sisters were present at the christening; above from left to right behind the King and Queen, Princess Margaretha, Princess Birgitta, Princess Désirée, and Princess Christina. Only Princess Christina hatted up. (Lots of ladies didn’t and that’s par for the course at these events.) When Princess Christina hats up, she tends to hat up; this was sparkly and possibly capable of flight and I loved it. She had to make up for her sisters, after all. One hat to cover them all.

Who takes home your fashion awards for today’s christening?

 

UPDATE: The beautiful official photographs have been released. It's impressive, how they can always find the perfect corner of the palace to match their outfits. [All: Erika Gerdemark, Kungahuset.se]

 

Royal Outfits of the Day: Spring with Beatrice and Eugenie

I've been meaning to do a York sister update, because they sported some fun stuff in May after the royal wedding. Such as:

Princess Beatrice attended the Chelsea Flower Show with other members of the royal family.

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Florals? For a flower show? Groundbreaking, I know. Also, in this case, super cute! I am always tempted to do away with blazers worn over the shoulders, though here I like how it ties into her shoes - flats, you'll note, both sporty and practical for hoofing it around the flower show grounds.

Needle & Thread dress

Both Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie attended events for Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award holders at Buckingham Palace with other members of the royal family.

Royal Family

And just like that, I'm back to wanting to get rid of the extra blazer stuff. This cape/coat/thing is not a great match to what Princess Beatrice has going on here. A shame, because Beatrice in an emerald dress is an otherwise splendid idea.

Princess Eugenie Instagram

Princess Eugenie stuck to florals for the garden for this event, to much greater success. Liking her in Alice + Olivia, liking the uneven hem, liking this whole thing.

Alice + Olivia dress

Princess Eugenie attended a Buckingham Palace garden party with the Queen and other members of the royal family.

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A veiled boater hat with a message of love: WHIMSY ALERT! But after two very subtle royal wedding hats from these two sisters, I'm finding this little bit of whimsy a welcome relief. Let's not lose all the millinery fun. The dark color keeps this Misa Harada message hat from veering into twee territory. I think it's another solid win for Eugenie. What message will she bring to Ascot, I wonder?

Royal Family/Misa Harada

Tiara Watch of the Day: Triple Tiaras in Sweden

The Swedish royal family is here to keep us in sparkle for another week! (A true public service.) They held one of their regular Representation Dinners last night; King Carl Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip, and Princess Sofia attended.

A post shared by Royal Addicted (@royaladdicted2) on May 31, 2018 at 2:38pm PDT

That's a pleasingly orchestrated color palette, isn't it? All muted and tailor-made for that Order of the Seraphim sash and accented with diamonds galore. Princess Sofia's gown ties the whole group together. She wore her Emerald and Diamond Tiara without the emeralds again.

Henrik Garlöv/Kungahuset.se

Feels like Queen Silvia uses this basic gown shape often enough that I can no longer tell when one is new or repeated. That's definitely a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," though, because this is really flattering on her. She finished it off with the Connaught Tiara.

Henrik Garlöv/Kungahuset.se

Crown Princess Victoria kept this weekend's fringe fest rolling by repeating the Baden Fringe Tiara. She wore an H&M Conscious Exclusive dress we've seen before, but...

H&M

...I'm gonna go ahead and say that not every full-length gown is capable of handling a tiara event. This seems too casual. Besides, one never wants one's sash to be smushing one's ruffles.

Royal Outfits of the Day: Queen Letizia's Recents

It's been a minute, let's hit some selected highlights from Letizia's recent shenanigans:

Queen Letizia attended the inauguration of the 13th International Seminar of Language and Journalism yesterday.

House of HM the King

I saw the top half of this first and thought it seemed awfully tame for her. Lacking the Letizia touch, if you will. Until, of course, I saw the whole thing, and there it is. It works.

The Spanish royals attended Armed Forces Day on Saturday.

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This coat gives me a toothache, it's so sweet. Too sweet for her. Except I think she could get around that if she shook up the styling a bit; so far, we've seen this Carolina Herrera coat twice and both times she's worn it like this, like a dress with these pink heels. I'd nix the pink shoes, for a starter.

Queen Letizia visited the Dominican Republic and Haiti last week.

House of HM the King

This is my second favorite outfit from this trip. This is where those pink heels shine.

House of HM the King

And finally, my fave from the trip - and, really, my fave from all of her recent offerings - is a great polka dot dress. You can never go wrong with a great polka dot dress. From Carolina Herrera, natch. Extra points awarded for twirl-ability.

Royal State Visit of the Day: More from the Dutch in Luxembourg

Summer is almost here. Do you have your luxurious caftans ready for all the cocktail parties you shall be hosting on your yacht?

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima hosted a concert in Luxembourg, Máxima wearing a repeated Valentino caftan gown
RVD/Barney's

Queen Máxima's caftans come in the form of gowns and they are always ready, darling, whether for cocktails on a yacht or hosting a return event on the second day of the Luxembourg state visit.

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Grand Duchess Maria Teresa's looking ready for a little holiday glam too, with all the tropical foliage happening on her bespoke Elie Saab dress (per Heaven).

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And just a little tip for you from these ladies: Use those flowing garments as a showcase for your strongest necklace game. Queen Máxima wore the Ruby Peacock Necklace previously on this red gown; last night, she followed up on her Stuart Surprise with her Tutti Frutti-style necklace and bracelet. I wouldn't have thought that set would work so well with red, and yet it does. Just one reason that set belongs to her and not me, I guess. One of about 66,419 rea$on$.

Cour grand-ducale screencap

Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie may not have sported a caftan - her flowy dress is another Elie Saab nabbed from her mother-in-law's wardrobe - but she too came to play in the necklace department. One of the diamond rivière necklaces from the Luxembourg collection! Making up for the giant diamonds missing from the Lux side of the state banquet, are we? (Luxarazzi posted a video of these arrivals, worth a view if you're interested in Stéphanie's updo. Some impressive hair architecture going on there.)

Shall we hit the day events from days 1 and 2, briefly?

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For day 2, the Grand Duchess looked super cute - a great jacket in bold jewel tone, neatly paired with cropped trousers and a statement necklace. That is all I have to say about the day outfits on day 2. Moving on...

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Moving back, actually, to the arrivals and another can't-miss-it outfit from Queen Máx. If she'd leaned more into the green side of this and less into the yellow, she would have come pretty close to one of my all-time favorite QEII ensembles. But she didn't.

Speaking of hats, if you've ever wondered how royal women manage to greet each other when they're all hatted up, well:

Sometimes it doesn't work out so well. The Hereditary Grand Duchess won the prize for best welcome outfit anyway.

Psst: Check in over the weekend, fingers crossed we'll have some fun stuff to look at from Crown Prince Frederik's birthday!

Royal Outfits of the Day: Crown Princess Victoria's Latest

Hey, what's Victoria been up to lately?

Crown Princess Victoria attended an event focused on food waste.

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Wearing her hair down, that's what! This is BREAKING NEWS from like LAST WEEK OR WHATEVER but STILL. Big news. I don't even think you'd need both hands to count the number of times Victoria's worn her hair down during this site's existence. Three cheers for variety!

The Crown Princess attended the Nordic Museum and Skansen's Friends annual meeting in commemoration of their 100th anniversary yesterday.

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Thoughts on these puffy sleeves? My thoughts on the dress were pretty much yay! until I paid closer attention. And my thoughts may still be yay! after that, I am currently undecided.

Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel attended a wedding over the weekend. 

A post shared by @europeroyal on May 14, 2018 at 12:37pm PDT

This was a private event, but I also felt like finding one of these flowery, tiered Erdem dresses that actually works with a sash was an achievement worth mentioning, you know? Margot Robbie wore this one last year on the red carpet, too.

Erdem Resort 2018

(The model is styled with bug brooches. Nobody alert Máxima.)

Royal Dresses of the Day: A Mathilde and Máxima Update

Three cute dresses from two members of the M-Team:

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima attended the Liberation Day concert this weekend.

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This dress is a sparkly dream ready for a twirl, I just sooooo wish this shade of tan wasn't the color of choice for the accessories. The dress is a customized Claes Iversen and it seems like the belt on the runway version was maybe a touch darker, which I like better.

Queen Mathilde attended the vocal semi-finals of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition.

Belgian Monarchy

Asymmetrical navy, white, and bronze stripes? Yes please! I adore this. It's a new Belgian designer for her, Cédric Charlier, and this is a promisingly cute debut.

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde attended the first session of the vocal finals for the Queen Elisabeth Competition.

Belgian Monarchy

Nothing says Is it time for my summer holiday yet? like a boldly printed one-shoulder dress with starfish earrings. And nothing says absolute dedication to matching accessories quite like a clutch in nearly right shade of tennis ball. (I am completely dying that she went for it with the hardest color to match in this whole dress, honestly. Bless.)

Cédric Charlier asymmetric striped metallic knitted midi dress, Dries van Noten Spring 2018 RTW print dress (per Modekoningin Mathilde)