Category: Weekly Reviews

Weekly Reviews

Major Glittering Events w 47/2022

Regal EventsLeave a comment

It was very interesting to witness the first State Visit to the United Kingdom under the reign of King Charles III, albeit from a distance. I think there was a lot of interest, at least among Royal watchers like myself, to see whether a lot of changes would be made to the traditions and elements connected to such an important visit between two Heads of State. In the end many of the ceremonies remained the same, at least from what I was able to see. And I must say I felt relieved that it was so. This visit was a rather short State Visit though compared to the “normal” three days as the two Heads of State bid each other farewell already on the second day. Hopefully this will not be the trend for future visits. But the welcome on the first day was just as splendid as for previous visits; military honours, welcoming ceremony on Horse Guard Parade, a Procession in State by horse drawn carriages and with a Sovereign’s Escort to Buckingham Palace.

The South African president had already arrived the day before by plane and had taken in at a hotel in London. Buckingham Palace is still undergoing extensive refurbishments, so it was probably a bit difficult to accommodate the president there this time. It was the Prince and Princess of Wales who came to meet President Ramaphosa at his hotel the next morning and who accompanied him to the Welcoming Ceremony where he met Their Majesties the King and Queen.

More splendour followed when the King and Queen hosted a State Banquet at Buckingham Palace that same evening. After such a long time without any State Visits to the United Kingdom it was really wonderful to see elegantly dressed guests gathering again in the grand Ball Room with the occasional glitter from the ladies’ diamonds.

Many were excited to see what the Royal ladies would wear, especially when it came to the jewels. Queen Camilla had as the Duchess of Cornwall mostly stuck to the same tiara; the impressive Greville Honeycomb Diamond tiara previously worn by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Although this tiara suits the new Queen very well, it was hoped that she might chose another one for this State Banquet as it would be her first one as Queen. On the other hand some people thought that it might be a bit too soon after the demise of her mother-in-law Queen Elizabeth II. In the end the Queen chose indeed to wear one of her mother-in-law’s tiaras. But it was not one of the tiaras that were strongly associated with the late Queen. With her fresh and vibrant blue gown she chose to wear the Sapphire tiara together with some other wonderful Sapphire jewels. It was also the first time she had been seen wearing the Sash and Breast Star of the Order of the Garter without the other insignia since her investiture. She looked amazing, the colour of the dress suited her so well and it was good to see her wear something colourful rather than the dimmed colours she had worn since the funeral of the late Queen. Also it was refreshing to see a different colour than white at a State Banquet, which was the usual go-to colour during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.

White, however, was worn by the Princess of Wales. She looked a dream in her new white gown which she combined with Pearls. She did not wear a new tiara for her, but maybe she had decided to let the Queen catch the attention of everybody when it came to jewels.

The South African President wore the Sash and Breast Star of the Order of the Bath which he must have received on the first day of the visit. One would then expect that the South African President would reciprocate the gesture and award the King with the highest South African honour. I believe that would currently be the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo which had been awarded to the late Queen during the previous South African State Visit to the United Kingdom in 2010. Looking at the list of awards, however, they seem to now only award it on the National Day of South African: 27th April. So maybe the King will be awarded it next year come April.

You can read more about the State Visit with more details on the programme, attire and more on my page here.

Although the State Visit taking place in the United Kingdom last week was the most anticipated grand Royal event it was not the only one. Just across the Channel another State Visit took place when King Phillip of the Belgians received the President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis and his wife. In the evening the King and Queen hosted a State Banquet where the Queen was seen wearing her wedding gift tiara and some impressive Diamond earrings.

Weekly Reviews

Thoughts on the grander Royal Events weeks 45 & 46/2022

Regal EventsLeave a comment

After a period of absence where we had a very quiet summer at least when it came to grand Regal events and the beginning of an autumn that was filled with a plethora of splendid and indeed historical Regal occasions I decided to return to the blog. I will be catching up with two of the most special events that happened, but I wanted to do a bit more than just a list of names attending as they definitely deserve a bit more attention. The two events I’m thinking of are of course the powerful, and to many Royal watchers like myself emotional, funeral of the late Queen of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II and the magnificent celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II. Two very remarkable ladies indeed and I will be coming back to both of them shortly.

But the autumn has been very busy when it comes to State Visits too. It seems like many Heads of State wished to catch up on the black-log after the Covid pandemic. Especially the Dutch Royal Couple has been active in this respect this side of summer with two State Visits abroad (Sweden & Greece) and one at home (Italy).

Peter Stuyvesant Ball 2022

Those, however, are not the only tiara events that have taken place in the recent times. Only a few days ago there was a Royal tiara sighting in the US. The Netherlands America Foundation (NAF) held their annual ball, also called the Pieter Stuyvesant ball, at the Plaza Hotel in New York on the 18th November. This was the 41st time the ball took place. True to tradition one of the guests was Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands together with her husband Pieter van Vollenhoven. Her youngest son His Highness Prince Floris of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven and his wife Princess Aimée were also present. The younger sister of the former Queen of the Netherlands (now styled Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands) looked very elegant in a grey evening gown. Even though the dress code was black tie she had opted for a tiara and she wore the Diamond Laurel Wreath tiara from the Dutch Royal collection. She had just worn that jewel recently at the State Banquet during the State Visit to the Netherlands from Italy. Her other jewels for the evening, which included a pair of sparkling diamond earrings and a modern looking silver necklace with diamonds in the front, had also been worn at the said State Banquet.

Birthday of His Royal Highness the Sultan of Kelantan

And the week previous to the Peter Stuyvesant ball another glittering event took place in South East Asia. As I have already mentioned on this blog before, the ruling families of the nine monarchies in Malaysia are often overlooked. But this is such a shame, because these families have magnificent collections of glittering jewels and they are still making good use of them. They are not only used for coronations, State Visits and special anniversaries. In several of the states they for instance celebrate the Sultan’s birthday on a grand scale – every year. This was the case on 12th November when the official birthday of Sultan Mohammed V was celebrated with a lavish investiture ceremony for honours awarded by the Sultan. On the top of the list of recipients was his wife, the Sultanah Nur Diana Petra Abdullah. She is originally from the Czech Republic and is the second of three wives to the Sultan and the only one still married to him. They married in October2010, a month after he succeeded his father, and by then he had already divorced his first wife. However, by marrying the Sultan she did not automatically become the Sultanah. Instead she received the title of Yang Berbahagia Che Puan Nur Diana Petra Abdullah. It was only in August this year that the Sultan granted her the title of Sultanah. And now, on his birthday, he awarded her with the Royal Family Order of Kelantan. This would be her second Kelantan honour as she was already a Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Kelantan.

At the investiture ceremony she was seated on a golden throne next to that of her husband. And she was already wearing the Collar and Breast Star of the Royal Family Order. The Sultanah also wore a collection of sparking diamond jewels. The most impressive one was the tiara she seems to have worn for the very first time. It is a tiara that belonged to Queen  Zainab, the Sultan’s grandmother, and it has cleverly incorporated the state emblem of Kelantan. Though it was not seen during the ceremony itself, in the official portrait that was released she also wore a large diamond necklace, also a piece which was seen worn by the Sultan’s grandmother, with a large pendant with an emerald centre. The Sultanah also wore a diamond brooch pinned to her pale green dress and a diamond bracelet around her right wrist.

Another glittering lady was the mother of the Sultan, Yang Maha Mulia Raja Perempuan Tengku Anis. She wore a copper coloured gown and the Sash and Breast Star of the Royal Family Order. With this she wore her diamond tiara which looks very much like a copy of the Rundell tiara of Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom that was a wedding gift to her from her husband King Edward VII. She also wore a substantial diamond and ruby necklace which was also worn by her only daughter in one of her wedding ceremonies back in 2013. And pinned to her dress the dowager queen consort wore a large diamond floral brooch. Around her wrist a large diamond bracelet could also be seen.

But the glitter did not stop there. Attending the investiture ceremony was also the current Crown Prince (Tengku Mahkota Kelantan) of Kelantan – a brother of the Sultan – and his Swedish-born wife Sofie Louise. Both the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess wore yellow garments. He was seen wearing the Sash and Breast Star of the Royal Family Order and the Collar of the Order of the Crown of Kelantan. The Crown Princess wore the red bordered dark blue Sash and Breast Star of the Order of the Crown of Kelantan. Her headwear was a small (relatively compared) diamond tiara consisting of many small diamond circles set in a line on a diamond base. She have already been seen wearing something similar (for instance at her wedding celebrations), only that on those occasions there have been several addition rows of small diamond circles placed immediately above the first row of circles. Now, whether it is the same piece (only with the top rows removed for this occasion) or not, is a bit difficult to determine. What is certain is that her sister-in-law wore these same diamond circles as a necklace at one of her wedding events. Furthermore the Crown Princess wore a grand diamond and ruby set consisting of a necklace, earrings, floral brooch and bracelet.

Weekly Reviews

Thoughts on the grander Royal Events week 20/2022

Regal EventsLeave a comment

Knowing there were two State Visits taking place this week, I was looking forward to what I hoped to be two splendid regal events. One of the State Visits took place in Sweden with the President of Finland making his second State Visits to the country. The Swedish Royal Family almost never disappoints when it comes to State Banquets hosted for foreign Heads of State. So I knew that we would see some wonderful, and very possibly grand, jewels from their impressive collection worn.

I was more doubtful when it came to the other State Visit taking place in Spain. True, it was a meeting between two Royal Heads of State as the King of Spain received the Emir of Qatar. But that in itself is still no guarantee at the Spanish court for bringing out the glittering tiaras and putting on a spectacular show. When looking back on the previous State Visit to Spain from Qatar, which took place in 2011, the dress-code was white-tie, yes, but the ladies without tiaras and no orders worn (except the King’s neck-tie of the Order of the Golden Fleece). Having seen that this was the case then I should not have put my hopes that high for a tiara appearance this week’s State Visit either. But I thought to myself that things do change and lately the Spanish Queen had worn more tiaras to these special events. Or at least that is what I tried to convince myself was the case.

One of the facts that made me increase my expectations was that the Emir had been decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel the Catholic. Maybe a odd choice, some might think, for a muslim to be decorated with an Order with such a name and the actions of the Queen the Order is named after. But it is the Order normally given by the King to Presidents and rulers without the style of Majesty.

And then the welcoming ceremony, which took place in the courtyard of the Royal Palace, also gave rise to my hopes. Because it was indeed a very impressive ceremony with splendidly uniformed troops, many of them mounted on shiny horses. Breast plates and helmets glistened in the bright sunshine as the Emir and his consort were escorted in the Royal car by mounted detachments to be welcomed by Their Majesties. The car drove up to the red carpet which had been laid down and where Their Majesties stood waiting. As soon as they got out they were warmly greeted by the King and the Queen. And then the welcoming ceremony followed the usual pattern with National Anthems being played, the inspection of the Guard of Honour and the presentation of the Spanish representatives from Parliament, Governmen and other civil and military authorities.

At least I think the Emir and his wife were presented to military authorities. Because if one looks closely on the video one can see that once the Emir is guided along the line-up by His Majesty himself one can spot an empty space at one point. And no uniformed personnel can be seen in the line-up. When I spotted this I immediately went back to an earlier point in the video when the whole line-up can be seen at a distance from above (a drone camera probably) and I saw that the space that was empty during the presentation was occupied at that earlier point by a uniformed person. I was later able to identify him as Admiral General Teodoro Esteban López Calderón, Chief of the Defence Staff, the highest professional military authority on the Kingdom after the King. So why he had left his place in the line-up just when the King made the presentations to the Emir is still a mystery to me. Maybe somebody out there would know the answer to that? If so, I would love to hear from you.

So, as I said, with this grand welcoming ceremony I had expected something equally grandiose in the evening. Sadly, the dress-code was the same as the one used for the previous Qatari visit; white-tie yes, but without tiaras and sashes of the Orders. It cannot be denied that the Queen looked very elegant in her evening gown. And she did wear a small pale blue and white bow with the bade of the Order of Charles III suspended from it. But I have to say that I was rather disappointed in that no tiara was worn. It can be argued that since the Emir’s consort did not wear a tiara it would have looked bad if the Queen had worn one. But I personally do not agree with that. When the late Emir of Qatar visited the United Kingdom for instance tiaras were still worn by the British Royal Family.

It was therefore a comfort of sorts to witness the glitter at the Swedish State Banquet taking place on the same day. And it was not just one tiara, but at least three as the banquet was attended by both the Crown Princess and Princess Sofia as well as the Queen. There might have been more, as the ladies at the Royal court also wear tiaras when attending these banquets, but sadly I have not been able to spot any of them in the footage I have had access to from the event. Should you have any additional information, please give me a shout 🙂

You can check out more about the Swedish splendour on my blog, here. Eventually I will also create a page on the Qatari State Visit to Spain, but that will wait until I have recovered sufficiently enough from the disappointment to “revisit” it and the tiara-less event.

As I followed the two State Visit realising that only Sweden would bring out wonderful treasures from their collection little did I know that another Royal tiara event had in fact taken place earlier at that very same day!

Many of the rulers of Malaysia and Brunei really know how to celebrate their birthdays. Like the monarch of the United Kingdom a birthday honours list is made by these rulers to mark their birthdays also. But contrary to the British monarch the Malaysian / Brunei rulers put on considerable pomp and circumstance when these birthday honours are awarded.

Now, I discovered a few days after the State Visits happening in Europe on that day, that 17th May is in fact the birthday of the current Raja of Perlis, His Royal Highness Sirajuddin ibni Almarhum Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail. He succeeded his father as the 7th Raja of Perlis in 2000.

Part of the Royal birthday celebrations was an investiture ceremony at the Raja’s Palace Istana Arau. 325 worthy recipients of different awards had been included in the birthday honours’ list. Since the Covid pandemic is not fully overcome some necessary precautions had been taken and masks were worn. It did not take away the grandeur of the ceremony though.

The Raja wore the Collar and Breast Star of the Order of the Royal Family of Malaysia as a former King of Malaysia, the Sash and Breast Star of the Royal Family Order of Perlist (which he founded in 2001) and the Breast Star of the Order of the Gallant Prince Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail.

His wife, the Raja Perempuan (Queen Consort), wore the Collar and Breast Star of the Order of the Gallant Prince Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail and the Sash and Breast Star of the Order of the Crown of the Realm. The latter is a federal order which she received during her time as Raja Permaisuri Agong (Queen Consort) of Malaysia. At former events Her Royal Highness has been seen wearing a grand diamond tiara. But this year, like for the event in 2019, she wore a smaller tiara, also of diamonds. Whether this is a new piece, or one that has been in the family for some time but has only been given some outings now recently, I do not know. It could be that this smaller tiara is easier to wear, especially taking into consideration the Raja Perempuan’s age.

Also attending the ceremony were the Raja’s son and heir, Raja Muda (Crown Prince) Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail, and his daughter-in-law. He wore the Collar and Breast Star of the Order of the Crown of Perlis, the Sash and Breast Star of the Order of the Gallant Prince Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail and the Neck-tie of the Most Gallant Order of Military Service. Royal Family Order of Perlis, which is a Malaysian Federal decoration. His wife wore the Collar, Sash and Breast Star of the Order of the Crown of Perlis. She also wore a beautiful diamond tiara in her hair

Weekly Reviews

My thoughts on Royal events week 14/22

Regal EventsLeave a comment

For the first time since November 2019 Their Majesties the King and Queen of Sweden invited to a splendid official dinner at the Royal Palace on April 6th. Usually such a dinner is held at least once each year in Sweden. But due to the exceptional situation with Covid, lock-down and several waves of the virus made such gatherings impossible until now. An official dinner had in fact been planned for March 4th in 2020, but it had to be cancelled at the very last minute.

The guests, who numbered about 150, were welcomed by the Royal Family in the Vita Havet. Unlike previous years, due to the Covid pandemic that hit Sweden hard, there was no handshaking between the Royal Family and the guests. Among the guests were politicians, members from the Diplomatic Corps, representatives from various authorities, science, sport, business and culture, as well as people the Royal Family had met on their visits. Many of them had been invited to the dinner which had been planned in 2020. A list of the guests can be found here.

After all the guests had been welcomed the party moved into the Karl XI Gallery which had been converted to a magnificent dining room. The 48 meter long table had been covered with white table linen – a gift to King Gustaf VI Adolf in 1959. The plates where from a set gifted to King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1996 for his 50th birthday by the Riksdag and the Swedish Government. It had been designed by Karin Björgquist and made by Hackman-Rörstrand Gustafsberg. Another gift to the King and Queen – this time in connection with their wedding in 1976 – from the Riksdag and the Swedish Government was the crystal used. Kosta had used the design by Sigurd Persson to create this wonderful set.

Adding to the beauty of the table was the Brazilian Silver Service, an heirloom from Queen Josephine’s sister Empress Amalia of Brazil. It ended up in Sweden after the Empress death in 1873.

Her Majesty combined her stunning Sapphire parure with a cornflower blue dress by Georg et Arend, a German Fashion House. On her right wrist could also be seen a Diamond bracelet. With this the Queen wore the pale blue Sash and the Breast Star of the Order of the Seraphim. Pinned to her gorgeous gown she also wore the King’s portrait in a Diamond frame.

The honour of escorting Her Majesty to the table had been bestowed on the Minister of Justice, Mr Morgan Johansson. He would in fact only a few days later cause a minor clash with the Royal Court when he published a Government proposal to remove several official flagging days; including the one on Her Majesty’s birthday once Crown Princess Victoria succeeds her father to the throne. His Excellency the Ambassador to Ukraine to Sweden Andrii Plakhotniuk was seated to the Queen’s right at the table.

Her Royal Highness had chosen an elegant red evening gown created by Pär Engsheden. The Crown Princess has worn this at several occasions already and it suits her perfectly. With this she wore the Laurel Wreath tiara and the Queen Josephine Corsage necklace she inherited from the late Princess Lilian. In her ears the impressive Diamond Floral earrings from the Swedish Royal Jewel Collection glittered and the Ruby brooch pinned to the pale blue Sash of the Order of the Seraphim. Rubies seem to feature in the bracelet on the Crown Princess’ right wrist too, a row of them being bordered by a row of of Diamonds on each side. Another Diamond brooch was pinned to the Sash at the back and like the Queen the Crown Princess also wore the portrait of her father the King in a Diamond frame.

The honour of escorting Her Royal Highness to the table befell the Minister for Financial Markets Mr Max Elger. The Minister of Justice was placed to her right at the table.

Princess Sofia wore an emerald green silk gown created by the house of Dagmar. It is not a new purchase as the Princess also wore this to the Nobel Ceremony back in 2018. The rich colour of the creation was a perfect match to the Emeralds worn in her Palmette Wedding tiara and the dark green stones (Emeralds also?) in her earrings. A slim Diamond bracelet graced the Princess’ left wrist. Additionally Her Royal Highness wore an antique Pearl and Diamond brooch with a Pearl pendant and a small Diamond brooch at the back. The brooches were used to fasten the Sash of the Order of the Seraphim that she wore together with the Order’s Breast Star. Pinned to her gown was also the portrait of King Carl XVI Gustaf in Diamonds.

The Ukrainian Ambassador escorted the Princess to the table while the Ambassador of Iceland was seated to her right hand side.

A very nice surprise was to see His Majesty’s sister Princess Christina Mrs Magnuson attend the dinner. Wearing a purple chiffon gown with sequin embroidery and see-through sleeves. She combined the outfit with the Six-Button Diamond tiara, two strings of sizeable Pearls with a Pearl pendant and a Pearl button brooch. Even in her ears she wore Pearl pendant earrings. Crossing over from her right shoulder to her left hip was the pale blue Sash of the Order of the Seraphim with the corresponding Breast Star pinned to her gown. Like all the other Royal ladies she wore the portrait of the King in a Diamond frame. She even wore another honour bestowed upon her by His Majesty and that was the King’s Medal in Brilliants Size 18 on a chain.

Princess Christina was escorted to the table by the Ambassador of Iceland.

The Royal gentlemen all looked very smart in their white-tie and orders. His Majesty and Their Royal Highnesses Prince Daniel and Prince Carl Philip wore the Sash and Breast Star of the Order of the Seraphim and the black Neck-tie of the Order of the Polar Star. The King also wore the Breast Star of the Order of Vasa pinned to his jacket. The other main difference was the medals worn by all three. His Majesty wore five commemorative medals marking: the 90th anniversary of King Gustav V (1948), the 85th anniversary of King Gustav VI Adolf (1967), the 100th anniversary of the birth of King Haakon VII of Norway (1972), the Silver Jubilee of King Olav V of Norway (1982) and the Silver Jubilee of King Harald of Norway (2016). Prince Daniel only wore two medals on his lapel: the Ruby Jubilee (40 years reign) of King Carl XVI Gustaf (2013) and the 70th anniversary of King Carl XVI Gustaf (2016). Five medals were also worn by Prince Carl Philip: 70th anniversary of King Carl XVI Gustaf (2016), the Ruby Jubilee of King Carl XVI Gustaf (2013), the 50th anniversary of King Carl XVI Gustaf (1996), the Wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel (2010) and finally the Uppland Medal of Merit (2008).

The King escorted the Second Deputy Speaker Lotta Johnsson Fornarve to the table. Prime Minster Magdalena Andersson was seated to His Majesty’s left. Prince Daniel lead the Ambassador of Finland Maimo Henriksson to the table and Second Deputy Speaker Lotta Johnsson Fornarve was seated to his left. Prince Carl Philip had the Prime Minster to his right while seated to his left was the Ambassador of Denmark Vibeke Lauritzen.

Mr Tord Magnuson was also in white-tie and could be seen wearing a few orders too. Although no Swedish Orders have been awarded to Swedish citizens since 1975 Mr Magnuson was created an officer in the Order of Vasa in 1972 and thus wears the badge around the neck in the Order’s green ribbon. In addition he wore the King’s Medal in the 12th Size in a ribbon around his neck in the same pale blue colour as the Order of the Seraphim. Pinned to his jacket could also be seen the badge as an Officer in the Order of the Legion of Honour (France). 

Menu

Steamed Norwegian king crab, marinated rutabaga, grapefruit and aromatic herbs

*

Baked Icelandic monkfish, fresh lumpfish roe, butter-baked white asparagus, Sandefjord sauce and chives

*

Braised spring lamb from Mälardalen, lamb gravy with wild garlic and glazed celeriac

*

Lemon meringue, citrus sorbet, juniper berry oil, last year's elderflower, fennel pollen and French meringue

*

Wines

Château Coucheroy 2015 Pessac-Léognan
Château Mancèdre 2010 Pessac-Léognan
Château du Juge 2011 Cadillac

The official dinner in Stockholm was not the only tiara event this week. In the Netherlands the King and Queen welcomed the President of India for a State Visit. As is usual the first day ended with a State Banquet at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. Luckily it was a white-tie event, which meant tiara sightings, and not the rather low-key suit and tie dresscode which was observed in Belgium two weeks ago when the President of Austria visited Brussels.

To read more about the State Visit, you can press here. It will bring you to the page created on this blog on the Indian State Visit.

1 2
Weekly Reviews

My thoughts on Royal events from week 12/22

Regal EventsLeave a comment

Austrian State Visit to Belgium

When I heard that we would have a State Visit happening this week I naturally got excited. It was announced that the Austrian President would pay a three-days State Visit to the Kingdom of Belgium. I was hoping for a State Banquet with a lot of glitter and splendour now that the strictest Covid restrictions had been lifted in so many countries. There is of course the ongoing terrible war with Russia having invaded Ukraine, but the announcement of the State Visit taking place was actually made after the start of this war. So if it was felt that a State Visit might not have been totally appropriate considering the situation one would perhaps have expected a postponement. Then I read somewhere on the net that the King and Queen of the Belgians would host an official dinner on the first evening of the visit. This immediately dashed my hopes for a grand State Banquet.

In addition to hoping for a glittering State Banquet it was also the fact that this could maybe have been the Duchess of Brabant’s debut at a Royal event of this importance after reaching her majority. The Duchess had been seen accompanying her father the King the previous day on his visit to the emergency services and the site where a car ran into a group of carnival celebrators, killing six people and injured many others in Strepy-Bracquegniesnother.

However, when the photographs from the official dinner were published it became very clear that not only was the dress code suit and tie (not even black-tie!). It also showed that the number of dinner guests had been kept to a minimum. Only 16 was seen sitting around the table and, sadly, none of them being the Duchess of Brabant.

It has to be said that the Covid virus has not yet disappeared. So it made sense that the number of guests would be somewhat reduced at the dinner. But I guess that since we have been deprived of Royal glitter for so long now the expectations were higher than maybe they would have been under normal circumstances. And it is of course not the first time the dinners hosted during a State Visit to Belgium have been void of tiaras, white-tie, Sashes and Breast Stars.

For instance when the President of Turkey visited Belgium in 2015 with his wife no State Banquet, or in fact any dinner as such, were held at all. Instead a “State Luncheon” was hosted. And in both previous reigns of King Baudouin and King Albert II there were occasions when tiaras were left resting in the vaults when Head of States visited. However, in those cases the dress code was usually black-tie and not the “business-like” suit and tie.

So we will just hope that things will soon return back to “normal” and that more white-tie State Banquets will be hosted at the Belgian Royal Court in the near future!

Another thing that I found a bit odd was the matter of honours. King Philippe is clearly seen wearing a pin fastened to his lapel. It is, however, difficult to make out which order it is the King is wearing. But it is not in the recognisable purple colour of the Belgian Order of Leopold. So it must therefore be the Austrian Decoration of Honour that he is wearing. So far, so good. But when then looking over at the Austrian President he is not wearing any pin on the lapel of his suit. For a short time I thought that maybe there had not been any exchange of Orders at all and that the Order worn by His Majesty was one that he had received previously. But then when checking other photographs of the President at various day events during this visit he is indeed seen wearing a pin with that purple colour of the highest Belgian honour. So there must have been an exchange of Honours which made the fact that the President was not wearing any during the dinner but during day events a bit strange to my eyes.

Queen Mathilde looked very elegant though, even with it only being a suit and tie event. And although she left the tiara in the vaults she did wear some very nice jewellery. The pink earrings matched perfectly the pink ring and picked up the pink / purple colours in the floral motives in her gown. Purple is also, as already mentioned, the colour of the highest Belgian honour, the Order of Leopold. So all in all a very suitable choice for this event.

Crown Princess Victoria – Sweden

After the disappointment with the dinner offered by the King and Queen of the Belgians it was thus a nice unsuspected surprise to see the Crown Princess of Sweden attending an evening event in Stockholm where they had indeed kept the standards high when it came to dress code. It was a white-tie event, although without tiaras. The occasion was the annual celebration at the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, Sciences and Antiquities.

Though I had preferred it had the Crown Princess worn a small tiara to this event I was happy to see that she was wearing the pale blue Sash and Breast Star of the Order of the Seraphim. She also the portrait of her father King Carl XVI Gustaf in Diamonds pinned to her elegant midnight blue tulle evening gown. As for jewels she didn’t actually wear much; only a pair of long earrings, a couple of small bracelets on her left wrist and holding the Sash in place a small Diamond Floral brooch. Even so, it was great to see Her Royal Highness dressing up for the occasion and that the more elegant dress-code prevailed in Sweden.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – The Platinum Jubilee Tour of the Caribbean – Jamaica

Another event which served as a sort of comfort to me after my disappointment with the dinner in Brussels was the banquet held in Jamaica for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. A lot can be said about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Jubilee Tour of the Caribbean as representatives of Her Majesty the Queen, and much has been said already, but I chose to concentrate on the glittering events rather than all the other Royal engagements on this blog. And even though the visit to Jamaica is the one that has been talked negatively about the most (I believe) it was here that the most glittering Royal event took place: the Governor General’s State Dinner.

Again, it was a missed opportunity for a tiara appearance for us who rather kind of like that sort of splendour. But at least the dress code was black-tie with Orders. This gave the Duchess the chance to wear her Family Order of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (2017) and the Breast Star of the Royal Victorian Order (2019) pinned to her stunningly beautiful green evening gown. Again very little jewels were worn, but those Emerald earrings looked perfect with the gown. As already noted by many these earrings have of course been worn by Her Majesty the Queen on several occasions ever since she received them as a gift in connection with a State Visit to the United Kingdom.

The Duke of Cambridge, dressed impeccably in black-tie, wore the Breast Star of the Order of the Garter pinned to his jacket. In addition he wore the miniature medals from the three last jubilees of Her Majesty; the Golden Jubilee medal (2002), the Diamond Jubilee medal (2012) and the latest, the current Platinum Jubilee medal (2022).

The host for the evening, the Governor General Sir Patrick Allen, also wore a few medals pinned to his jacket. He wore the miniature medals of the Jamaican Order of the Nation(2009), the Jamaican Order of Distinction (2006) and the Order of Saint John (2013). He has also been awarded the Order of St. Michael and St. George by the Queen in 2009, but he chose not to wear that. I believe he could have worn the Breast Star of the Order, just like the Duke of Cambridge wore the Garter Breast Star.

Also, although it was not an evening event with glitter and gala I find it worth adding a link to photos from the military parade which also took place in Jamaica. Just because. His Royal Highness looked very smart in his white uniform!