Kate Middleton and the Queen Mother in the Strathmore Rose tiara.Photo:Yui Mok-WPA Pool/Getty; Daily Herald Archive/National Science & Media Museum/SSPL via Getty
Yui Mok-WPA Pool/Getty; Daily Herald Archive/National Science & Media Museum/SSPL via Getty
WasKate Middleton’s latest tiara a subtle tribute toKing Charles?
On Tuesday evening, the Princess of Wales, 41, wore theStrathmore Rose tiarato the Buckingham Palace banquet celebrating the South Korean state visit to the U.K. The tiara wear was an exciting surprise because it was Princess Kate’s first time sporting the sparkler and the piece had not been seen for nearly a century, since the 1930s.
The Strathmore Rose tiara originally belonged toQueen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and Kate became just the second person to wear the Strathmore Rose tiara in public at the state dinner. The fashion statement signaled a sentimental connection to King Charles’ beloved grandmother, and Lauren Kiehna ofThe Court Jewellertells PEOPLE the tribute was deliberate.
“Kate has always signaled that she’d like to emulate the Queen Mother’s royal role and wearing her jewels is an important symbol of that continuity,” says Kiehna. “It’s fitting that Kate — likely with some assistance from King Charles — would choose to wear the tiara exactly a hundred years after the Queen Mother originally received it. The piece is an antique that wasn’t fashionable for many decades, but many jewels once considered fussy or unstylish have now been embraced again.”
Kate Middleton and Choo Kyung-ho Deputy Prime Minister of South Korea enter the state banquet at Buckingham Palace on Nov. 21, 2023.Yui Mok-WPA Pool/Getty
Yui Mok-WPA Pool/Getty
Bethan Holt, author of the bookThe Queen: 70 Years of Majestic Style, tells PEOPLE the tiara felt like a “lost treasure.”
Sally Bedell Smith who authoredGeorge VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy, tells PEOPLE, “It underlines the link that Kate appears to be making to her husband’s great-grandmother and a very strong partnership that she and the Duke of York (who became George VI) had. The couple today are doing things as a real team, and a real partnership, much as the then Duke and Duchess of York did.”
The Queen Mother received the all-diamond Strathmore Rose tiara as a wedding gift from her father, the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, when she married Prince Albert, the Duke of York (the future King George VI) in 1923.
The future Queen Elizabeth and King George VI in 1923.Hulton Archive/Getty
Hulton Archive/Getty
While Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (as she was known at the time) did not wear the tiara for her wedding at Westminster Abbey on April 26, 1923, she later slipped it on for an official wedding photo with her groom.
Queen Elizabeth’s mother sported the Strathmore Rose tiara for other portrait sessions in the 1920s and 1930s,The Court Jewellerreported. She stylishly wore it across her forehead — a truly royal spin on the flapper trend at the time!
Breaking down the way Princess Kate wore the floral headpiece, Kiehna said, “The tiara comes with two frames, allowing it to be worn either across the forehead or on top of the head. The Queen Mother used it both ways, and Kate chose the more traditional setting for the banquet.”
The Queen Mother then seemed to send the sparkler into the royal vault and reached for larger tiaras following theunexpected accessionof her husband in 1936.
Queen Elizabeth in 1926.Daily Herald Archive/National Science & Media Museum/SSPL via Getty
Daily Herald Archive/National Science & Media Museum/SSPL via Getty
King Charles, 75, wasfamously closeto his grandmother, who died in 2002, and Princess Kate bringing the tiara back into the public eye is likely a nod to her bond with the monarch.
While speaking at the state banquet speech during his state visit to Kenya in October withQueen Camilla, the monarch touched on how his sonPrince Williamproposed to Kate in the country in 2010, affectionately referencing her as"my beloved daughter-in-law.”
Charles even proposed to Camilla in 2005 with an art deco-styleemerald-cut diamond ringthat had belonged to his grandmother.
Camilla Parker Bowles shows her engagement ring when she arrives for a party at Windsor Castle after announcing her engagement on February 10, 2005.Anwar Hussein/WireImage
Anwar Hussein/WireImage
Commenting on the bond between them, royal historian Gareth Russell previouslytold PEOPLE, “In some ways, the Queen Mother was a mother figure to Charles just because the Queen became Queen when Charles was so young. There were a lot of tours of the Commonwealth and every time the Queen had to go away, Prince Charles stayed with the Queen Mother.”
“They had a great sense of humor, and she always encouraged him,” added the author ofDo Let’s Have Another Drink!: The Dry Wit and Fizzy Life of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
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Ingrid Seward, author and editor-in-chief ofMajestymagazine, tells PEOPLE that Princess Kate wearing the Strathmore Rose tiara was a perfect choice for the occasion.
“It is because it is very delicate looking. The delicate ones are easier to wear. And it looked really lovely on her,” Seward says. “It was appropriate too. It wasn’t too much, because there wasn’t another royal family there, where the jewels might have been grander.”
Queen Camilla and King Charles at the at the Buckingham Palace state banquet on Nov. 21, 2023.Yui Mok/POOL/AFP/getty
Yui Mok/POOL/AFP/getty
Princess Kate wasn’t the only one who made a debut statement in an heirloom tiara at the state banquet held in honor of the President of the Republic of Korea Yoon Suk Yeo and First Lady Kim Keon Hee on Tuesday.
source: people.com
