Well your guess is as good as anyone's I suppose but I think its safe to say that we may see more pieces that are not reserved for Queen Camilla on other royal ladies, which is a big improvement. I wonder if it also has something to do with the changes at court. Some courtiers were known to be rather inflexible and traditionalist and may have blocked requests or offering of loans through the years....
Creating a pool of jewels that can be worn by multiple royal individuals seems like a perfectly sensible thing to do. I am also wondering what will happen with the grand pieces owned by the cousins.Their children will hardly have use for them... Luckily we saw that magnificent Indian inspired Cartier Tiara on the Duchess of Gloucester!
The passing of the Lotus Tiara makes me think there is almost an unofficial Jewel Foundation.
I hope I can phrase this correctly. I wonder if the disbursement of the late Queen's jewels went something like this:
1. Jewels left to specific individuals
2. Jewels left to HM The King for the Queen's exclusive use (not the Crown)
3. Jewels left to HM The King for custodianship and allowed to be in a pool of borrowed jewels. (Like the the Lover's Knot Tiara, left to HM QEII, but given as a lifetime loan to Diana.)
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Yes, I think you may be right. Seeing the Princess of Wales in the Strathmore Rose late last year was our first sign that things are changing, or at least there is some initiative to dig into the vaults for some inspiration.
Agree that leaving Sophie with just her pieced together wedding tiara for decades was unjust, but seeing glimpse of a redesigned wedding tiara may actually make that thing wearable going forward.
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Or perhaps times are finally changing.... Letting senior royals choose from the impressive number of tiaras that are not worn by the current Queen consort make every sense. Sophie had rather poor hand in choosing or receiving tiaras. Starting with that horrible contraption they threw together for her wedding. I'd like to suggest someone puts those elements back in the box in which they were found and let them rest in the back of the vault for eternity. The Aquamarine tiara (the one with that middle element set on a fork) didn't convince. Weird looking thing. She has one signature piece and thats her Aquamarine necklace tiara. Love the colour of that huge central stone, The tiara is elegant but does not really impress. Its wonderful to see her with the Lotus tiara. Suits her better than Catherine. Honestly I hope this is the start of something good here: better use of almost forgotten tiaras.
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It is unusual for the monarch to loan the same piece to two different members of the family. Could this mean the Lotus Flower tiara now is given to the Duchess and won't be seen on the princess of Wales anymore?
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Posted on the Royal watcher!
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As we all know there will be a glittering State Banquet tonight in Buckingham Palace in connection with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako's State Visit to the United Kingdom. Sadly, as we also knew, the Princess of Wales will not attend the banquet. And with Princess Anne's accident yesterday I think it is pretty safe to say that there will be even one more tiara less at the banquet than originally planned. From what I read in the news the Princess had only suffered minor injuries, so I hope she will recover very soon.
So this leaves us with the Empress, the Queen, the Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Gloucester (unless we will have an exciting surprise with one of the York Princesses taking Princess Anne's place for tonight!)
I suspect that we will see the Empress in the Meiji tiara. What I will be looking out for is the brooch(es) worn by the Empress during this State Visit. According to newsreports back in 1971 Empress Nagako received as a gift from the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh a "sunburst brooch" in Gold and Diamonds. It would be a very nice touch if the Empress wore this at an event this time around.
What about Queen Camilla? With the colours of the Japanese flag being red and white will we again see a Ruby tiara adorning Her Majesty's head? I actually wouldn't mind that as I really liked the previous outing of Queen Elizabeth II's Ruby tiara.
I suspect we will see the Duchess of Edinburgh in her Aquamarine tiara. Though we might be treated to a surprise.
As for the Duchess of Gloucester I hope she will wear the Cartier Sapphire tiara and that we get a very good and clear photograph of her wearing it.
on June 25, 2024, 4:22 am
Was any explanation given for their absence? 
