Tonight the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended the Queen’s annual diplomatic reception.
The white-tie event is held at Buckingham Palace. It is attended by senior royals, hundreds of foreign diplomats, members of the British diplomatic corps, and other government officials.
The Duchess first attended the reception in 2013, wearing an Alexander McQueen lace gown and the Lotus Flower tiara, also referred to as the Papyrus tiara.
For the 2015 reception, Kate wore the fabled Lover’s Knot tiara and brought back the icy blue McQueen gown. We were able to get a full-length view of it because the ITV documentary Our Queen at Ninety included footage from the reception.
Here you see Kate and William at last year’s reception when the Duchess again opted for the Lover’s Knot tiara. Kate was in the red Jenny Packham gown first seen at the China State Dinner.
Here you see her as she arrived at last December’s event.
The Duchess arriving at the Palace this evening.
The Lover’s Knot tiara.
In addition to the Lover’s Knot tiara, Kate wore a necklace we’ve not previously seen on her, and Diana’s Collingwood pearl drop earrings, so named because they were a gift from Collingwood jewelers. The necklace is a collet/rivière style, described by Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault as a “basic necklace with single round diamonds (of considerable size on their own) in a single row.” It has to be another piece on loan to Kate from HM’s collection.
The Queen wearing one of the collet necklaces for a 2010 event in Abu Dhabi.
Embed from Getty Images
Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault points out it is difficult to tell the different collet necklaces apart.
The Queen also wears collet necklaces, but she tends to stick to one at a time. According to Hugh Roberts in The Queen’s Diamonds, Queen Mary had 8 collet necklaces, and 2 of those were left to the Queen.
…the Queen’s collection almost certainly includes more examples, but these necklaces are devilishly hard to tell apart when in use. They can also be varied in length, as Queen Mary did. Identifications are always up for debate.
We have nary a clue about the gown, other than to say it appears to be white or ivory with hand beading at the neckline. Obvious designer possibilities include Alexander McQueen and Jenny Packham. UPDATED DEC 11: Jenny Packham has confirmed it is their gown. Thanks to Heaven for getting and sharing that info!
Here you see Kate arriving at Buckingham Palace tonight and in previous years.
Thank you to the Royal Order of Splendor (also known as Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault), the Court Jeweller, as well as Carolyn Smith and Luxarazzi for sharing their jewelry expertise.
I will update with more photos and images when they are available. (We generally get a photo or two as guests leave the reception.)
LINKAGE:
- The Daily Mail’s story is here; The Sun’s piece is here; The Daily Mirror’s article is here; The Express coverage is here
- People’s story is here; PopSugar’s gallery is here
That Dec. 2016 photo where she has her hand by her neck is simply gorgeous, but I like this year’s jewelry combination the best. Those earrings are perfect with the tiara and how can you go wrong with a string of big diamonds around your neck?
This occasion always brings out the serious bling, in all the attendees. I do wish we could see the Duchess’s dress, but we’ll have to wait for another occasion. What we’ve seen so far is lovely.
Now those are jewels! It almost doesn’t matter what the gown looks like!
The gown, I suspect another piece from her favorite Jenny Packham…looks like her embellishment work.
I believe that the designer’s rep has confirmed that this was, indeed, one of their bespoke creations for the Duchess.
Thank you for mentioning this! 🙂
Love everything about this look. I do wish her hairstylist would get a bit more creative with her tiara hair, maybe look to Princess Victoria of Sweden as an example? But that’s just me being nitpicky.
I can’t say I have seen a hairstyle of Victoria’s that I liked. Can you reference a specific event?
At the Nobels is where I think Victoria shines, I think her usual hair where she ties it up in a tight bun is waaay too severe. Madeline as well, but she seems to favour looser styles with wispy bits that I can’t see Kate ever doing. Victoria at the Nobels, to me, are similar to what Kate does but a bit more modern and polished (maybe because they are tighter with more volume?). Princess Mary of Denmark gets quite creative with hers. The loose chigon at the base of her neck in hair mesh tends to be her hairstylist’s go to up-do but Kate has such gorgeous hair I’d love to see her branch out. Ah well, there will be time for that..
I will be on the watch this weekend for Victoria’s ‘do. 🙂
Well, lots of serious BLING going on for this occasion. The tiara and earrings look they were designed for each other. The necklace has such giant size diamonds and so many…can’t even begin to estimate its value. This is all royal jewellery as we imagine it.
Hope we get to see the entire dress at some point.
Yes,,,,very serious, stunning jewelry. The tiara and earrings look fantastic together. The Huge Diamonds on the necklace have me admiring, gasping and stunned too. Love it. Cannot wait to see the dress! She looks gorgeous and so so happy !
I think I’ve become too greedy, after having just re-watched the first season of “The Crown”, but I would really love to see Kate in another tiara style again. The Lover’s Knot is certainly a formidable piece and I really like it. However, it was pointed out during one of the previous wearings that Kate seems to wear it higher than intended, causing the pearl drops to hang in front of the diamonds near the side of her head. I can’t unsee it now!
That nitpickiness aside, I have no qualms with anything else we can see. That necklace is so beautifully simple and elegant, and I would love to get a glimpse at the dress with that embellishment.
I just searched pics of Princess Diana wearing the Lovers Knot tiara and the pearls do the exact same thing on her. Maybe it’s more noticeable on Kate because her hair is long and pulled away from the face, thus causing one to notice it more. In Diana’s photos, her beautiful hair distracted from this. That was fun though! I was like, ‘What? Gotta go check that out!” 😁
You’re right! As soon as I posted I came across photos of Diana wearing the tiara while looking at old posts on the blog, and realised it was happening there too. Guess it isn’t as noticeable on blonde hair. I would still like to see a different tiara though, I’d love to get a peek at more of the Queen’s amazing jewel vault 🙂
After you mentioned it, I went poking around, because, I think you’re right — surely the jeweler would have designed it to have the pearls hang more centered. It is a gorgeous piece, and both Princess Diana and Kate look lovely wearing it, but I was curious. I did find this picture that makes me think it was originally intended to be worn more as a crown than a hairband, if that makes sense. ( http://people.com/royals/cambridge-lovers-knot-tiara-princess-diana-kate-middleton-and-more/ ) The Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Augusta Caroline of England has so much hair piled up, the tiara sits more level and the pearls hang straighter.
That necklace is just gorgeous and much more modern than most her other necklace loans from HM. With its simple clean lines it’s much more suited to Catherine’s style and taste. That makes it look fantastic on her. I hope this becomes Her go to necklace for these events. Much better than the Spanish dinner one.
Hair is nice but the 2016 hair swept straight back with no part is her best tiara hair ever.
I think the necklace could be from stella & dot if it’s costume. I bought similar 2 years ago.
So this a bit off topic. Why can’t the Duchess wear colored nail polish. I see when I google it everything says because the Queen only allows “natural” color nail polish. I really don’t see Kate as one that would wear lots of bright color, however there are plenty pics of Diana wearing bright bold colors at what appears to be official engagements. Why the change of heart on the part of the queen…if that is even true that she said only natural colored nail polish?
The first thing I would ask is if the pics of Diana that you see with color nail polish, if those are taken at events that The Queen was in attendance at also? The reason I ask that is that there are also reports that Queen isn’t a fan of Wedge shoes either, but we know Catherine does wear wedges, though if you notice never at an event where The Queen is also in attendance. The same also goes for wearing hosiery. Catherine does do bare legs, but never with The Queen in attendance.
The final observation I would make is that Diana tended to be a bit more rebellious in her personality/fashion especially later in her life versus Catherine. Not that there is anything wrong with either approach, it just show that Diana and Catherine, and for that matter Meghan, aren’t clones of one another but unique individuals each with their own likes and dislikes.
I’d be curious to know when the engagements took place that Diana wore colourful polish to. It’s been my understanding that Diana only ventured into more colourful nailpolish, more low cut dresses, etc around the time of the divorce/her later years within the firm (with speculation it was a bit of rebellion) but I could be wrong. Any more seasoned royal watchers can comment on that?
I think I remember seeing pictures od Diana’s bright nail polish when she and Charles were going through the divorce. When she was first married, it looked like she might have been a nail biter and in some pictures, she kept her hands curled in such a way to hide her nails a bit.
She can wear colored nail polish if she wants to. I don’t think she wears polish much at all, nor does she get regular manicures and pedicures. The Queen as far as I know has never issued an edict on nail polish color. She wears an Essie color called “Ballet Slipper” when she wears polish.
One thing to understand is that if you garden, ride or shake hands a lot, nail polish can be a bother. It’s a reason why you don’t often see the royals wearing polish. Yes, they can get gel manicures, but I’m not sure they are as much in vogue in England as they are in the States. (Someone can enlighten us.)
I wonder if, after the Queen passes away (no disrespect – just curious) and the family adopts more modern practices, Kate, Meghan (who might anyway), et al. will wear colored nail polish. Looked great on Diana and it would be a nice change from the very pale pink Essie colors they wear.
It’s pieces like these that make me wish I were royalty, or Cinderella, for a night! I have loved the Cambridge tiara ever since I was a little girl, seeing it on top of Diana’s head. On the morning of her wedding, when we learned they’d be the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, I had hoped a thousand hopes that this tiara would be under her veil, for both her new title and it being one her MIL used to wear. I was so disappointed because this tiara is beautiful, it deserves to be out all the time, even if Kate was just washing the dishes! So you can imagine how much I waited with bated breath for that moment to happen. I’m so happy she’s worn it four times now, although I wish we had better pictures! haha
And I especially love the earrings and necklace. I love baroque pearls (as I hope I’ve demonstrated with the Cambridge love) and the necklace, perfect. This is the kind of necklace she should have worn with that pink dress at the banquet for the king and queen of Spain. This is a better statement dress than the ruby necklace. Simple but BA BAM! diamonds
NOTE: Very quick admin edit
Statement NECKLACE not dress. And I reread the things I post so there are no mistakes, and I made one anyway! ::slapshead::
Oh, that collet necklace is a stunner. I’ve always loved those. And I love that Kate seems to be making the Lover’s Knot tiara something of a signature piece, such a lovely nod to Diana. I wish we could see the entire look, but what we have seen is a knockout for Kate!
She looks beautiful, but I much prefer her hair half-up, the way it was the first year she went to this event. I realize I’m in the minority, I just find updos so aging, and Kate has such gorgeous hair that it’s a shame to put it up.
The necklace is stunning!
I love the necklace. The past pictures make me long for the strong color of the red dress worn before though…I’m sure the white dress is fine, but she rocked the red one. It particularly pops in comparison to all the other pale colors.
Even though not shown here, I wanted to give a shoutout to Camilla’s tiara. Kind of art deco-y which I like a lot.
Wow. She does look stunning! One can see a bit more of the necklace and dress in a photo at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5149087/The-royals-attend-Queens-Diplomatic-Reception.html .
Thank you for the link to this tantalizing glimpse of a bit more of Kate’s dress – as well as the Duchess of Cornwall and her spectacular tiara. It might be very American of me but I do like tiaras, even though both Kate’s and Camilla’s look like they’d cause awful headaches. The Lotus Flower remains my favorite, but wearing the Lover’s Knot is a lovely homage to some beloved royal ladies past. I hope we get to see more photos of the evening, especially since I keep a “royal order lookout” for the Duchess of Cambridge, even if it’s kind of silly!
Ooooh! Thanks for this :-). The pic taken from Wills’ side has me convinced this is a white version of the blue gala dress that Kate wore (with a shawl) in India.
Since I read this I tried to compare pictures of both dresses next to each other. I loved that blue dress in India and ever since wished I’d see it again.
I agress what we can see is similar but it appeared to me that the India-dress has more embroidery between the embellishment. Similar but not quite the same.
Also while I could not find a picture without the shawl (and therefor am not exactly sure how the sleeves under the shawl looked) they were definitely seethrough all the way up to the shoulder – whis does not seem to be the case with this dress (in the picture you’re referring to).
Anyway, even if it isn’t exactly like my all time favourite evening-gown all I can see is promising to be lovely and I so hope for a re-wear so see the full dress!
What a beautiful, classic necklace! This would be the first style of jewelry on my ‘Borrow From the Queen Wish List.’ I much prefer it to the larger pieces that speak to an older fashion and sometimes distract too much from a beautiful dress.
Really hoping she finds another occasion to wear this gown in the coming months, since it’s not likely to be re-worn at a time when she isn’t pregnant. I can’t believe she doesn’t want to attend the Star Wars premier that was just announced for William and Harry for next week – maybe she’ll throw this back on and pop out there on the red carpet with them! Come on, Kate!
…and perhaps her stylist can work up one of a certain other princess’s classic styles for the premiere. A crown braid is nearly as good as a tiara! One can hope.
I agree! This would be the necklace I’d request to borrow. In my pretend life…
Oh, I do love the promise of sparkly white dress…
*a* sparkly white dress
Is it possible she was gifted the tiara, since that’s the only one we have seen her wear for quite some time?
I echo another poster re: the necklace. It’s fun to see kate in a significant necklace. I also admit that I think kate’s “Big” necklaces are also poor choices for her overall look (thinking back to the Spanish state dinner) but this one seems like one that works for her – it’s definitely “statement” but in an understated way if that makes sense and she seems to pull it off.
Agreed. She doesn’t seem big-boned enough or something for the big heavy jewelry. But this single necklace works nicely on her. This is lovely accessorizing — the tiara, earrings, and necklace look beautiful together and don’t compete.
It would be interesting and make sense if the tiara was gifted to her, as it is also known as the Cambridge tiara. As Duchess of Cambridge, she’d almost have the right to own it.
It’s wonderful to see Kate looking so at ease with her tiara, she seems to be getting quite the taste for bling. It’s also great to see her showcasing pieces that Diana liked, easing her late mother-in-law into the picture.
The gems on the collet necklace look to be awesome, I can hardly imagine a whole series of these worn together now as HM’s Jewellery Vault shows – definitely the fashion of yesteryear.
And Kate’s updo tonight looks fabulous, with the extra detailing in the low bun. Also very intriguing is the glimpse we have of the top of her dress, there’s some promising embellishment there we can only hope to get a full view of some other time.
Those are some gloriously gorgeous jewels!
Wow! One of my favorite tiaras and that necklace manages to be old-world glamourous and modern at once. Truly timeless elegance.
Ring in the celebrations with some sparkle!
Hope we get a photo of the Duchess from head to toe, like we did last year.
I can’t help thinking the men won’t mind missing out on a full photo like last time — what on earth must it feel like having to wear such a costume!
The funniest part is the line of pins or whatever they are that the men wear. Prince Philip’s is getting outrageously long — how on earth does that long bar stay on?
Those silly breeches do make me giggle!
And that pin does look too long. It represents all sorts of honors, but when its that long it looks a bit clunky.
But let’s get back to the gowns and the shimmering jewels!
The long, straight bars going across the top of the Princes’ suits are called racks. Racks hold ribbons, which sometimes have a tiny medallion in the center, or sometimes have a swinging component (so they are more of a small medal.) Ribbons, medals and pins are given to military (and royalty in many cases) personnel as marks of honor when they show heroism, meritorious or outstanding service or some kind of achievement. That’s why some military personnel literally jingle when they walk around in their dress blues. (I’ve always wondered actually, if their left shoulder actually hurts by the end of the day. That’s a lot of hardware.)
Lol! 😀
Her previous dresses for this event did not allow for a necklace, so it’s fun to see her in three substantial pieces all at once! I think the earrings, tiara, and necklace complement each other so well. They are not part of a set, but look meant for each other.
I hope we get to see the dress, especially since she may not repeat it when she is no longer pregnant, but I will not be surprised if we don’t get a picture.
From what we can see of this, Catherine looks gorgeous. I love the drop pearl earrings with the pearls in the Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara– the jewels are extraordinary and her hairstyle complements the tiara. It’s just too bad we can’t see the entire dress!