The Princess in Elie Saab and Lover’s Knot Tiara for Oman State Dinner

Tonight, the Princess of Wales chose an Elie Saab evening gown and Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara for a state dinner at Windsor Castle.

The King and Queen hosted the glittering affair in honor of the Sultan of Oman.

Others attending tonight’s gala included the Princess Royal, seen here with His Excellency Sayyid Khalid Hilal Al Busaidi, Minister of the Royal Court of Oman. You can also see the Princess’s husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, just behind the Minister.

The Duchess of Gloucester with H.E. Dr. Hamad Said Al Oufi, head of the Private Office. 

Another view of the Princess as she made her way to the dinner.

A wider shot as other guests processed to the dinner. 
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In this photo, you see the Princess as she was being seated.

She was on the Sultan’s right (our left).The King and guest of honor. 
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This Telegraph story includes details about the dinner. 

Guests, who sat shoulder to shoulder at a 47-metre table stretching the length of St George’s Hall, included for the first time Prime Minister Andy Burnham, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Princess Royal.

They dined on Scottish langoustines, Cornish crab and Windsor pheasant, followed by baked Alaska served with Windsor estate honey ice cream. The traditional post-banquet cocktail was replaced with an adapted version of a traditional Omani spiced coffee called Kahwa, blended with “the very British tradition” of drinking tea.

The sultan, who does not drink alcohol because of his Islamic faith, raised his toasts with a soft drink.

The King, who has long taken a keen interest in the culture and art of the Middle East, began Arabic lessons in 2013.

He admitted at the time that the language “goes in one ear and out the other” but an aide disclosed that he was keen and had been having private tuition for several months.

The King as he delivered remarks tonight. 
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One more shot from the dinner.
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Before tonight’s festivities got underway, Kensington Palace released a photo portrait of the Prince and Princess, taken at Frogmore House.

People magazine has details on the photo in this story.

The Prince and Princess of Wales also turned to a new photographer for the occasion: Greg Williams, a renowned British celebrity photographer known for his intimate, often candid images of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

A familiar presence at the Venice and Cannes film festivals, Williams has photographed everyone from Brad Pitt and Lady Gaga to Meryl Streep and Daniel Craig.

We’ll quickly recap what the royal women wore this evening. Queen Camilla was in a deep blue Fiona Clare gown with the sash and star of the Order of Oman, an honor she received this morning. Her jewelry included the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, bracelets that were the Queen Mother’s, and amethyst and diamond earrings that originally belonged to Queen Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent, per The Court Jeweller. 
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Princess Anne, seen here with the Duke of Gloucester, wore a gold gown and diamond and pearl jewelry from her own collection, along with the Royal Family Orders of King Charles III and the late Queen Elizabeth II. She also wore her Order of the Garter star and sash, and the Meander Bandeau Tiara.
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More about the tiara from this InStyle piece. 

It’s a diadem with special significance for Anne and other members of the royal family. The tiara’s namesake is Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, who is believed to have received the piece as a wedding gift in 1903. Over a century later, the Meander Tiara continues to be worn by Alice’s granddaughter, Anne.

Those who are studied up on the royal family will recall that Queen Elizabeth II’s late husband Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, had Greek and Danish royal ancestry. His mother Princess Alice—also known as Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark—received the Meander Tiara on her wedding day, per Good Housekeeping.

The diamond bandeau features a Greek key pattern with two honeysuckle motifs on either side of a central laurel wreath. In the 21st century, it’s one of Alice’s last surviving jewels.

The Duchess of Gloucester selected a cream-colored gown, the Garter star and sash, and the Royal Family Orders of King Charles III and the late Queen Elizabeth II.
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The Court Jeweller reports the Duchess wore Queen Mary’s Honeysuckle Tiara, featuring a pink topaz central stone, and the coordinating pink topaz necklace and bracelet. TCJ also notes the Duchess used three of her diamond flower brooches as buttons. 

And now, we turn to our look at what Kate wore this evening, starting with her Elie Saab evening gown. 

The dress is crafted from draped silk, with a split bodice descending from a braided neckline ‘collar,’ cape-effect sleeves, a ruched waistband, a pleated full skirt with a flared hem, and a concealed back zipper. Thank you to UFO No More for the gown ID.

Here is how the gown looked on the runway. 
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This image shows the neckline braiding detail more clearly.
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This is not the first time the Princess has worn the Lebanon-based label. In 2023, she chose a blush-colored gown for the wedding of Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein and his bride, Princess Rajwa Al Hussein.

She wore separates by the designer to Royal Ascot in 2019, then repeated them for a 2023 Buckingham Palace garden party.

The Princess wore her “go-to” tiara, Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot, created for Queen Mary in 1914 by Garrard, with 19 ‘lover’s knot’ diamond arches with bows, and 38 drop-shaped cultured pearls.

Here is a short montage of the Princess on some of the previous occasions when she wore the tiara.

Many recognized the earrings right away: the distinctive Greville Chandelier Earrings, along with Queen Mary’s Diamond Choker Bracelet. 

The Court Jeweller offers more about the earrings in this piece. 

The diamond and platinum earrings were made by Cartier in London over a period of years, starting in 1918 and ending in 1929. Initially they were a simple pair of brilliant drop earrings. In 1922, they were lengthened using twelve additional diamonds. The earrings were completed in their present form in February 1929, when ten more diamonds were added.

The Royal Collection notes that each earring features “a lexicon of modern diamond cuts.” These include a trio of pair-shaped diamond pendants, plus diamonds in baguette, baton, emerald, half-moon, trapeze, and square cuts. The ultimate effect is that of a modern girandole or chandelier earring, a technical and unique take on an earring shape that has been popular for centuries.

And more on the bracelet comes via a site I miss a great deal: Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault.

This necklace, featuring a series of diamond bars or links, was one of several diamond chokers in Queen Mary’s collection. It is included in The Queen’s Diamonds book where it is labeled as Queen Mary’s Chain-Link Bracelets, so there’s a bit of confusion between these two similar jewels. Also like the Chain-Link Bracelets, this choker later appears to have been used as a bracelet. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother wore it in her charming 75th birthday portraits by Norman Parkinson (which are among my favorite royal portraits).

Here you see Queen Mary wearing the necklace before it was converted to a bracelet, thus giving the piece its name, and the bracelet as worn on previous occasions.

The Princess wore the sash, Maltese Cross, and badge of the Royal Victorian Order, her Royal Family Order of King Charles III, with the sash anchored to her shoulder by her Bentley and Skinner deco-style diamond brooch. 

We saw the return of an Anya Hindmarch bag: the designer’s ‘Marano’ Clutch in gold-glitter fabric with a gold-tone frame and logo clasp. We first saw the Princess with this bag at the 2020 BAFTAs, and I owe Middleton Maven a thank you for refreshing my memory. 

From what I could see, it appeared the Princess brought back her silver Gianvito Rossi ‘Rania’ Crystal-Embellished Pumps ($2795) in the silver colorway. The pointed-toe style is crafted from silk organza with suede accents and embellished with 4000 crystals. The Princess first wore the style during the Caribbean tour in March 2022. 

If you missed coverage of the ensemble worn earlier today for the welcome ceremonies, you can read it here. 
 VIDEOS: 

The Royal Collection Trust shared a time-lapse video showing preparations for the state dinner. 

The Royal Family Channel has 35 minutes+ of coverage of tonight’s dinner. 

 

Oman’s Royal Family posted this video on social media, running just a bit more than two minutes.

📹 مشاهد من مأدبة الدولة التي أقامها جلالةُ الملك تشارلز الثالث ملكُ #المملكة_المتحدة، تكريمًا لحضرةِ صاحبِ الجلالةِ السُّلطان المُعظّم /حفظه الله ورعاه/، بقصر #وندسور، بمناسبة زيارة الدولة التي يقوم بها جلالتُه إلى المملكة المتحدة. https://t.co/axLKfjRAbJ

— Royal Oman Family (@RoyalOmanFamily) October 20, 2026

 The Sun’s coverage of tonight’s banquet runs about 40 minutes.