A glittering Duchess and the very smartly-dressed Duke arrived at Buckingham Palace in a chaffeur-driven car.
Hosted by Her Majesty the Queen, the white-tie reception is one of the most glamorous events on the royal calendar with the royals donning their most formal attire - gowns, jewels and Royal family orders are worn.
There was quite the royal presence tonight with the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Cambridges in attendance.
Below we see Charles and Camilla arriving.
It's Tiara Time! Kate arrives for the Queen's Diplomatic Reception this evening #Kate #Tiara #Royal pic.twitter.com/1TiMiYtkJZ— James Whatling (@JWhatling) December 8, 2016
Below we see Charles and Camilla arriving.
In a break with tradition (and perhaps due to the persistent pleading of royal fans) Buckingham Palace released a photo from inside the reception with the six senior royals. It's a lovely opportunity to see the monarch, two heirs and their spouses together at such a formal event - the present and future of the Royal family. Reporters described the decision to release the photo as "remarkable".
The Mail Online offered a brief rundown of everyone's attire. The breeches worn by the male members above have garnered a giggle or two :)
There are over 170 foreign missions accredited to the court of St James's in London (St James's Palace is still the senior palace and official residence of the sovereign). Each year Her Majesty throws a reception in their honour, and members of the Royal family in attendance make a point of meeting with each one. Upon arrival, guests are welcomed to the palace ballroom. At 36.6m long, 18m wide and 13.5m high, the ballroom is the largest multi-purpose room in Buckingham Palace. It was opened in 1856 with a ball to celebrate the end of the Crimean War. It is used by the Queen for state banquets. Below, a look inside the ballroom at the 2015 state banquet William and Kate attended.
- The Queen - Her Majesty wore the Belgian Sapphire Tiara and the George VI Sapphire Suite with an Angela Kelly dress, Garter sash and Royal Family Order.
- The Duchess of Cornwall - The Duchess is wearing the late Queen Mother's Boucheron Honeycomb Tiara, also known as the Greville Tiara, Royal Family Order and a white beaded Burce Oldfield gown.
- The Duke of Edinburgh - White Tie, and as a Knight of the Garter he wore the Order of the Garter, with Garter sash, with knee breeches.
- The Prince of Wales - HRH wore the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the Most Honourable Order of the Bath and his diplomatic medals.
- Prince William - White Tie, and as a Knight of the Garter he wore the Order of the Garter, with Garter sash, with knee breeches.
There are over 170 foreign missions accredited to the court of St James's in London (St James's Palace is still the senior palace and official residence of the sovereign). Each year Her Majesty throws a reception in their honour, and members of the Royal family in attendance make a point of meeting with each one. Upon arrival, guests are welcomed to the palace ballroom. At 36.6m long, 18m wide and 13.5m high, the ballroom is the largest multi-purpose room in Buckingham Palace. It was opened in 1856 with a ball to celebrate the end of the Crimean War. It is used by the Queen for state banquets. Below, a look inside the ballroom at the 2015 state banquet William and Kate attended.
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Tonight marks the third time the Cambridges have attended the reception. For their first outing in 2013 Kate wore a bespoke McQueen gown and the late Queen Mother's Papyrus/Lotus Flower tiara. It was a very memorable event as it marked the first white-tie reception the couple had attended and Kate's first tiara appearance since her wedding.
Last year, Kate surprised us all when she elected to wear the iconic Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara for the reception.
Photos from the reception were not released, but thanks to the fabulous Our Queen at Ninety documentary we got a proper look at the tiara on Kate, and her very princessy icy-blue McQueen gown.
Kate's dazzling red gown and sparkling jewels need no introduction.
The Duchess wore the red sparkling cap-sleeve Jenny Packham she debuted for the Chinese state banquet last year. For that event, Kate wore it with the Papyrus Tiara and the Queen's Chandelier earrings. It's such a beautiful, flowing gown, it's lovely to see it have another wear at the prestigious diplomatic reception.
Tonight, Kate selected the Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara once again.
The tiara, which is steeped in royal history and is so closely associated with William's mother, looks beautiful on Kate. It's a stunning piece and one I expect we'll see the Duchess wearing throughout her life. The tiara features elements of the Gothic Revival style. The circle of the Cambridge Lover's Knot is made up of a lower semi-circular band, set with a row of brilliant cut diamonds. Where two adjacent arches meet, a pillar-like structure is formed that rises up and ends in a round diamond, forming a diamond spike. There are nineteen diamond spikes of this nature and the size gradually decreases from the centre towards both ends.
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A quick recap on the history of the piece: the sparkler was commissioned from Garrard in 1913/1914 by Queen Mary, Queen Consort of King George V, using jewels she already had in her possession. Mary wanted to have a tiara created based on the design of her maternal godmother Princess Augusta of Hesse, the Duchess of Cambridge's 'Lovers Knot Tiara', whence comes the name. The original was a striking piece, and back then, lovers knot bows were very popular, so there were several similar ones made.
After Mary died in 1953, the tiara passed to Queen Elizabeth II who wore it on a number of occasions in the early 1950's, but the Queen decided to put it into storage.
In 1981, the day before Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer, Her Majesty gave her soon-to-be daughter-in-law a red leather box, and inside lay the tiara. According to various media outlets young Diana exclaimed, "I have Brenda's rocks", referring to a nickname the British press had given the Queen. The Cambridge Lovers Knot became her go-to piece, however, the princess found it quite heavy and headache-inducing - reportedly the reason she wore her family's Spencer Tiara instead. Following Charles and Diana's divorced in 1996 the tiara was returned to the Queen, as Diana was only able to keep personal gifts, not official ones, and as the tiara is part of the Queen's Collection it is classed as official. It remained in the royal vaults until last year when Kate wore it.
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Most recently, the tiara has been remade for Netflix's excellent drama The Crown. Below we see Princess Margaret, played by Vanessa Kirby, wearing the Cambridge Lovers Knot. It's a fictitious addition to one of the later episodes of the series as Margaret never really wore the piece.
Kate teamed the tiara with Her Majesty's Diamond Pendant earrings, which she first wore for the Place2Be Awards last month. Her Majesty's Jewel Vault reports: "This pair of diamond pendant earrings includes a pendant of separate stones hanging within a diamond frame. These appeared at the 2012 State Opening of Parliament, but have no publicly known provenance as of yet." I anticipate we may see Kate wearing these with some frequency moving forward.
The Duchess wore The Queen's Wedding Gift Bracelet (also worn at the 2015 State Banquet). Prince Philip gave the piece to the Queen as a wedding present. It is encrusted with diamonds from a tiara which belonged to Philip's mother. Kate also carried a red clutch.
An unforgettably regal look for the Duchess. Kate looked poised and confident - every inch the future queen. What do you think of Kate's look tonight?
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In other news - William, Kate and Harry carried out two private engagements for the Royal Foundation yesterday. The trio attended a board meeting at 5 St Mary Abbots Place, and later in the evening a reception at Buckingham Palace. With thanks to Cepe for sharing the news!
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The Irish Guards Band shared a photo of their Woodland Quintet who performed at last night's reception (with thanks to Scarfie). BP is looking very festive!
This morning, the Duchess received Julie Beatti from her patronage the Art Room.
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Finally, Emily Nash, royal reporter for Hello! revealed Pippa Middleton and James Matthews wedding will take place on Saturday, 20 May 2017 at St Mark's Church with the reception taking place at the Middleton family home in Bucklebury. There was much talk on possible locations for the nuptials and I think Pippa's choice of hosting for what promises to be the wedding of the year speaks volumes about her wishes for the big day. I imagine it will be a lovely day for family and friends to celebrate.
You can read Hello!'s article here.
