Royal watchers - Kate in a tiara (now with pics)

[drloretta]

LOL, I was just going to come in and ask about the Queen's jewels. Is that the sapphire modern tiara? Interesting history.

Poor Kate. She has a look like, "I'm stuck between these 2 guys and George didn't sleep last night."

[drloretta]

Oct 20, 2015 14:45:54 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Oct 20, 2015 14:41:27 GMT -5 drloretta said:

I had always read that it was the Queen Mother's property, then she bequeathed it to Margaret. So I wonder if Margaret's children returned it to the Queen (since they sold off many of Margaret's jewels, including her personal wedding tiara), or if the Queen had ownership of it the whole time and it was always a loan to Margaret and her DIL? 

I read it as they weren't sure if it was going to get auctioned off or if it stayed with the Queen, until it showed up on someone's head.

[drloretta]

Maybe it's because I was expecting the royal order on Kate, but there seems to be something missing, like she needs a necklace of some sort to spiff up her ensemble.

[raangoli]

Oct 20, 2015 14:40:08 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Check the video feed, the royal party is entering the room now. 

No Royal Family Order for Kate

Dude. What gives? What more does she have to do? She already agreed to marry into the family, brought back their waning popularity, produced an heir (and a spare!), and is generally awesome and well loved...by everyone except the Queen it seems.

[mbcdefg]

Oct 20, 2015 14:45:58 GMT -5 genet313 said:

Oct 20, 2015 14:40:08 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Check the video feed, the royal party is entering the room now. 

No Royal Family Order for Kate

How will she get this? 

Whenever the Queen decides to give it to her. It's a personal gift at the monarch's discretion. 

The Duchess of York (aka Fergie) never received one. Princess Diana had one within a few years of her marriage, although this may have been a "token" gift since Diana was then the Princess of Wales and the future queen consort. 

Queen Elizabeth is notoriously stingy with these gifts. Although someone on my Twitter feed pointed out that the ladies in the family who have them (the queen's daughter, cousin, most of the wives of her male cousins, and her two current daughters-in-law) are all full-time working royals, whereas Kate and William are still considered part-time royals. 

Also, it's worth noting that the queen's blood granddaughters probably don't have the Royal Family Order (since only two of the four are royal and they aren't working royals in the first place), so I wonder if she thinks it's not right that a granddaughter-in-law would get it but a blood granddaughter would not. 

Kate will likely get one from Charles once he becomes king, and will definitely get one from William and (assuming she outlives William) from Prince George. 

[raangoli]

Oct 20, 2015 14:52:02 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Oct 20, 2015 14:45:58 GMT -5 genet313 said:

How will she get this? 

Whenever the Queen decides to give it to her. It's a personal gift at the monarch's discretion. 

The Duchess of York (aka Fergie) never received one. Princess Diana had one within a few years of her marriage, although this may have been a "token" gift since Diana was then the Princess of Wales and the future queen consort. 

Queen Elizabeth is notoriously stingy with these gifts. Although someone on my Twitter feed pointed out that the ladies in the family who have them (the queen's daughter, cousin, most of the wives of her male cousins, and her two daughter-in-law) are all full-time working royals, whereas Kate and William are still considered part-time royals. 

Also, it's worth noting that the queen's blood granddaughters probably don't have the Royal Family Order (since only two of the four are royal and they aren't working royals in the first place), so I wonder if she thinks it's not right that a granddaughter-in-law would get it but a blood granddaughter would not. 

Kate will likely get one from Charles once he becomes king, and will definitely get one from William and (assuming she outlives William) from Prince George. 

Oh well...I guess this makes more sense. I still think it's beat. lol

[mbcdefg]

Oct 20, 2015 14:51:52 GMT -5 raangoli said:

Oct 20, 2015 14:40:08 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Check the video feed, the royal party is entering the room now. 

No Royal Family Order for Kate

Dude. What gives? What more does she have to do? She already agreed to marry into the family, brought back their waning popularity, produced an heir (and a spare!), and is generally awesome and well loved...by everyone except the Queen it seems.

I agree. Maybe since QEII has been burned badly by her former children-in-law she doesn't want to take chances? Plus other European monarchs seem to hand out orders at the drop of a hat to new family members so QEII certainly seems nasty by comparison. But I was hoping to see Kate collect a few before she becomes Queen herself - she's got the potential to receive up to four. 

drloretta, I agree, she needs something more on the dress. An order sash and badge would be nice - maybe the Royal Victorian Order in a few years (although Harry only got one this year so probably not from QEII)? Maybe she'll get the Victorian Order from Charles ... or even the Garter, but if not from him then definitely from William. I don't know if China gives out orders when they make state visits ... if this was The Netherlands visiting, for example, she probably would have received one for participating in the state visit. 

She's got a lot of wrist bling, though. 



Extended royal watchers, here are the tiaras on The Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Alexandra:


 

And Princess Anne is in her diamond festoon tiara (which she received as a gift for christening a ship!) The blonde is her DIL, Autumn, who wore it to her wedding. 


 

[jerseyjaybird]

The Duchess of Gloucester! Love her whole look. So elegant.

Two big bracelets and nothing sparkling at or around the neckline seems like an odd choice for a seated event. So says the girl wearing a Target dress and eating a granola bar at her desk.

Love seeing Kate's hair up, and the dress looks very appropriate.

[mbcdefg]

Oct 20, 2015 15:04:47 GMT -5 jerseyjaybird said:

The Duchess of Gloucester! Love her whole look. So elegant.

Two big bracelets and nothing sparkling at or around the neckline seems like an odd choice for a seated event. So says the girl wearing a Target dress and eating a granola bar at her desk.

Love seeing Kate's hair up, and the dress looks very appropriate.

Birgette inherited so many gorgeous tiaras. I really hope she and Richard have made arrangements to have at least some of them transferred back to the Crown upon their deaths, since their kids aren't royals and won't have much use for them. 

I really love the Iveagh tiara from the Guinness family. I hope this one doesn't get auctioned off someday! (Unless they want to sell it to me for, like, 10 bucks.)




Also agree that Kate looks fab with her updo. She should do that more often. 

[Deleted]

I love this thread. Now I want a crown...

[BeagleMama]

Interesting and pretty - thanks for sharing your knowledge and pictures!

[jerseyjaybird]

Oct 20, 2015 15:06:40 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Oct 20, 2015 15:04:47 GMT -5 jerseyjaybird said:

The Duchess of Gloucester! Love her whole look. So elegant.

Two big bracelets and nothing sparkling at or around the neckline seems like an odd choice for a seated event. So says the girl wearing a Target dress and eating a granola bar at her desk.

Love seeing Kate's hair up, and the dress looks very appropriate.

Birgette inherited so many gorgeous tiaras. I really hope she and Richard have made arrangements to have at least some of them transferred back to the Crown upon their deaths, since their kids aren't royals and won't have much use for them. 

Best tiara use:

[mbcdefg]

I really shudder to think of the things that Prince Philip could have uttered tonight. 

[drloretta]

I LOVE that necklace the Duchess of Gloucester is wearing. I hope this gets big coverage tomorrow, as I've become a total tiara history nerd.

[msmerymac]

Oct 20, 2015 14:45:54 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Oct 20, 2015 14:41:27 GMT -5 drloretta said:

Yes! I was reading the history and was all, "How did Kate get it if it went to Margaret's kids?" Then I saw it had shown up on Kate in 2013, and was considered perfect for a young royal.

I keep getting a 404 error on the live feed. Bummer.

I had always read that it was the Queen Mother's property, then she bequeathed it to Margaret. So I wonder if Margaret's children returned it to the Queen (since they sold off many of Margaret's jewels, including her personal wedding tiara), or if the Queen had ownership of it the whole time and it was always a loan to Margaret and her DIL? 

There are a lot of questions about the Queen's jewelry, right? Like, I assume most of her personal collection (except maybe some things she specially bequeaths) will go to Anne, but some pieces are owned by the crown, right? And then Anne's jewelry would go to Zara, but would any of it eventually go back to the crown? Or only if they want to sell it off?

For that reason, I don't know if Kate will necessarily go out and collect new tiaras (especially since the older ones are so cool). When she's queen, she'll probably have a few to choose from. Of course, she might not be queen for decades. But Camilla will probably be cool with lending stuff out to Kate. 

[Deleted]

Oct 20, 2015 15:21:27 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

I really shudder to think of the things that Prince Philip could have uttered tonight. 

I just giggled!

[msmerymac]

I like Kate's up-dos as well, and I think she'll do them more often. She wore a chignon to Charlotte's christening. Maybe she thinks it's a more mature look, or maybe it's just a new style kind of thing for her.

Why is Princess Alexandra wearing the two orders on her right shoulder? And what is the pink one?

[jerseyjaybird]

Oct 20, 2015 15:33:54 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I like Kate's up-dos as well, and I think she'll do them more often. She wore a chignon to Charlotte's christening. Maybe she thinks it's a more mature look, or maybe it's just a new style kind of thing for her.

Why is Princess Alexandra wearing the two orders on her right shoulder? And what is the pink one?

As gorgeous as Kate's hair is, the up-dos are much more mature, I think. I hope she continues wearing them more frequently.

Princess Alexandra also has the order of King George VI, which is the the one on the pink ribbon.

ETA: I think that her sash is the Order of the Garter, and that it's worn on one's left shoulder, moving one's (lesser??) family orders to the right shoulder.

[mbcdefg]

Oct 20, 2015 15:27:42 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Oct 20, 2015 14:45:54 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

I had always read that it was the Queen Mother's property, then she bequeathed it to Margaret. So I wonder if Margaret's children returned it to the Queen (since they sold off many of Margaret's jewels, including her personal wedding tiara), or if the Queen had ownership of it the whole time and it was always a loan to Margaret and her DIL? 

There are a lot of questions about the Queen's jewelry, right? Like, I assume most of her personal collection (except maybe some things she specially bequeaths) will go to Anne, but some pieces are owned by the crown, right? And then Anne's jewelry would go to Zara, but would any of it eventually go back to the crown? Or only if they want to sell it off?

For that reason, I don't know if Kate will necessarily go out and collect new tiaras (especially since the older ones are so cool). When she's queen, she'll probably have a few to choose from. Of course, she might not be queen for decades. But Camilla will probably be cool with lending stuff out to Kate. 

I'm interested in the brooches and other jewels she's received as gifts over the years ... were they given to her as Elizabeth, or her as The Queen/Crown? I would imagine that that will play a role in what she bequeaths to her descendants. And I think that they don't have to pay taxes if they do a sovereign-to-sovereign transfer, so I imagine that the Crown (Charles, by then) will receive a lot of QEII's stuff simply for financial purposes.

ETA: It's probably in their best interest to do a sovereign-to-sovereign transfer anyway, since then the monarch can loan them out to working royals at will ... if family members personally inherit stuff, then you'll have things in non-royal hands after a generation or two. Look at all the random people who own Queen Victoria's jewels, and now since they're not attending royal banquets it doesn't see the light of day. I'm looking at you, Sapphire Coronet. 

I don't see Kate buying tiaras for herself, or even William buying them as gifts for her the way that George VI bought them for the Queen Mother. She seems to have a really basic style, plus in this day and age I'm sure the public would grumble about them going out and buying expensive jewels when they've already got tons of stuff in the vaults. I'm sure they're sitting on lots of tiaras that haven't been seen in decades (I mean, look at Queen Mary and all the stuff she collected). I also think Will and Kate are eager to avoid any actions that scream "We're rich royals!!!"

Plus they could "recycle" and have the royal jewelers redesign existing tiaras (like how QEII had the ugly-ass Burmese Ruby Tiara cobbled together from the gorgeous Nizam of Hyderabad tiara), or put together a new tiara from other jewels (Sophie's wedding tiara was supposedly created from Victoria's jewels). 

I agree, Camilla likely won't have a problem loaning Kate almost anything she wants. Camilla seems happy with the Boucheron, and she only wore the Delhi Durbar once but her big hairstyle can handle it. The Papyrus/Lotus Flower and the Cartier Halo are great for Kate as a young woman with a simple hairstyle ... a lot of the older tiaras are built for women with retro-style giant hair.

I'd love to see Kate in the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara once QEII is gone, since it's my favorite and it seems light and basic enough to suit Kate, but I don't know if that one has been specifically earmarked for queens so Kate might have to wait for William's ascension for that one. I think that, as Princess of Wales, we might see her in the queen's fringe tiara and Queen Alexandra's Kokoshnik tiara, since they're simple but currently QEII is the only one wearing them. And probably the Cambridge Lovers Knot tiara that Diana wore, but that may be too heavy-handed a reference - plus Diana said it gave her a headache. 

[msmerymac]

Oct 20, 2015 15:44:45 GMT -5 jerseyjaybird said:

Oct 20, 2015 15:33:54 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I like Kate's up-dos as well, and I think she'll do them more often. She wore a chignon to Charlotte's christening. Maybe she thinks it's a more mature look, or maybe it's just a new style kind of thing for her.

Why is Princess Alexandra wearing the two orders on her right shoulder? And what is the pink one?

As gorgeous as Kate's hair is, the up-dos are much more mature, I think. I hope she continues wearing them more frequently.

Princess Alexandra also has the order of King George VI, which is the the one on the pink ribbon.

ETA: I think that her sash is the Order of the Garter, and that it's worn on one's left shoulder, moving one's (lesser??) family orders to the right shoulder.

Impressive! She must have been quite young when she got it. Or else he wasn't so stingy. I just read that Elizabeth II has given it out 14 times, I believe. And most of the recipients are no longer living. 

[mbcdefg]

Oct 20, 2015 15:44:45 GMT -5 jerseyjaybird said:

Oct 20, 2015 15:33:54 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I like Kate's up-dos as well, and I think she'll do them more often. She wore a chignon to Charlotte's christening. Maybe she thinks it's a more mature look, or maybe it's just a new style kind of thing for her.

Why is Princess Alexandra wearing the two orders on her right shoulder? And what is the pink one?

As gorgeous as Kate's hair is, the up-dos are much more mature, I think. I hope she continues wearing them more frequently.

Princess Alexandra also has the order of King George VI, which is the the one on the pink ribbon.

ETA: I think that her sash is the Order of the Garter, and that it's worn on one's left shoulder, moving one's (lesser??) family orders to the right shoulder.

Yup, Alexandra has the solid blue Order of the Garter (she's a blood princess - the queen's cousin). Birgette, the Duchess of Gloucester, has the lesser Royal Victorian Order sash, which is worn on a different shoulder. 

I guess the positioning of the Royal Family Order when worn with a sash could be personal preference? Alexandra switched her orders to her other shoulder; the Queen is wearing hers (pink is her father George VI as jerseyjaybird said; white is her grandfather George V) on the same shoulder as the sash.




And, WOAH, if this is all true then this is a pretty nice compliment from the Queen to Kate ... 

Kate's right bracelet looks to be Queen Mary's choker necklace, which was later converted to a bracelet for the Queen Mother: i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02181/19750804-portrait-_2181521k.jpg 

Kate's left bracelet looks to be Prince Philip's gift to the Queen for their wedding day. It was made with diamonds taken out of a tiara given to Philip by his mother, Princess Alice of Greece: orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2012/04/queens-top-10-diamonds-5-her-engagement.html 

ETA: Royal bloggers are saying that the Queen Mary bracelet hasn't been seen since the Queen Mother wore it, and QEII's diamond wedding bracelet has never been worn by anyone except the Queen herself. So even though Kate didn't receive the Royal Family Order, the Queen has still given her a pretty big stamp of approval by loaning her those bracelets, it seems. (And I believe that Kate's earrings are also on loan from the Queen.)

[sfy]

mbcdefg, do you like Camilla?

I'm just being nosy.

[mbcdefg]

Oct 20, 2015 15:48:44 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Oct 20, 2015 15:44:45 GMT -5 jerseyjaybird said:

As gorgeous as Kate's hair is, the up-dos are much more mature, I think. I hope she continues wearing them more frequently.

Princess Alexandra also has the order of King George VI, which is the the one on the pink ribbon.

ETA: I think that her sash is the Order of the Garter, and that it's worn on one's left shoulder, moving one's (lesser??) family orders to the right shoulder.

Impressive! She must have been quite young when she got it. Or else he wasn't so stingy. I just read that Elizabeth II has given it out 14 times, I believe. And most of the recipients are no longer living. 

I read somewhere that she may have gotten it from George V for his Silver Jubilee in 1935? I'm pretty sure she and Margaret each got a string of pearls for that occasion, too. 

It looks like she is wearing it in the pics of her parents' coronation in 1937. I mean, she obviously would've had to received it by then since George V was dead by Jan. 1936. Maybe he wasn't as stingy as Elizabeth II is now, or maybe since he was in poor health he knew that it was a "now or never" situation and gave it to them as young girls. 





sfy, I actually do like Camilla! She seems like a hard worker for the family, and a down-to-earth person. She and Charles seem really happy together. It's a shame that everything went down the way it did between them, but whatever. I'm by no means a Diana loyalist. 

[msmerymac]

mbcdefg The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara is fabulous. It's the one I actually know, lol. I know it has a separate base and removable pearls, and that QEII has worn it without the base and usually without the pearls, but I like it that way. I think it's so pretty any way it's worn.

Since it was given to Queen Mary for her wedding, and she has a lot of similarities to Kate (well, marrying the grandson of the monarch who was second to the throne at the time), I would love for Kate to wear it. Also, it skipped a generation, since Mary gave it to QEII for her wedding. Seems like she's not eager to part with it, though!

[msmerymac]

I was going to ask if the monarch automatically gets to wear the order of the garter, but duh. The monarch would have been given it prior to becoming monarch by his or her parent.

[jerseyjaybird]

Personally, I think that Camilla seems like way more fun than anyone else in the family (except Harry).
She and Charles must have a very strong connection, with everything it's weathered.

[mbcdefg]

Oct 20, 2015 16:06:55 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

mbcdefg The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara is fabulous. It's the one I actually know, lol. I know it has a separate base and removable pearls, and that QEII has worn it without the base and usually without the pearls, but I like it that way. I think it's so pretty any way it's worn.

Since it was given to Queen Mary for her wedding, and she has a lot of similarities to Kate (well, marrying the grandson of the monarch who was second to the throne at the time), I would love for Kate to wear it. Also, it skipped a generation, since Mary gave it to QEII for her wedding. Seems like she's not eager to part with it, though!

This one's my favorite too. If she was handing them out I'd gladly take it off her hands. I really hope I get to see Kate wear it someday. Or Camilla, but Kate wearing it would make my day. 

I actually like it a lot without the base. QEII wore it that way for years without realizing that there was a base to it.




And it's on the money! 



As long as she's handing out jewels, I'll also take the King Faisal necklace, TYVM:

[mbcdefg]

Oct 20, 2015 16:08:08 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I was going to ask if the monarch automatically gets to wear the order of the garter, but duh. The monarch would have been given it prior to becoming monarch by his or her parent.

Yeah, but the monarch is also sovereign of the order ... so if, say, everyone from Elizabeth down to Charlotte spontaneously explodes and now Harry is the new king, he'd probably have it automatically. 

Elizabeth II got it from her father, Charles got it from his mother, William got it from his grandmother. They also worked it out so that William is member #1,000. 

[Deleted]

Omg I love everything about this post!

[moolarkey]

I love the queen's sapphires, so great to see something that hasn't been worn in awhile. I can't imagine having all that jewelry to choose from.