Kate honours both Diana and the late Queen with her spectacular state banquet outfit
Kate attended her first state banquet as the Princess of Wales on Tuesday evening
Her ceremonial attire included a diamond and pearl tiara favoured by Princess Diana and a brooch featuring a portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth in her youth
Camilla, the Queen Consort, also honoured the late Queen by wearing her jewellery set
Find out more about the meaning behind Kate’s poignant choice of jewellery below
The Duchess of Cambridge and Cornwall attended her first state banquet as the Princess of Wales on Tuesday, and made a poignant nod to the late Queen Elizabeth with her choice of jewellery.
The Royal Family welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa to the state banquet at Buckingham Palace in his honour, the first hosted by King Charles since he became the monarch.
Kate, 40, stunned at the black-tie event in a white, caped Jenny Packham gown, which featured embellished detailing along the shoulder line and elegant draped sleeves.
But eagle-eyed fans were drawn to the Princess of Wales’ jewellery choices for the evening, which paid tribute to the late Queen, and Kate’s late mother-in-law, Diana.
The mother of three wore two brooches for the special occasion, including one which featured an enamel portrait of a young Queen Elizabeth II wearing an evening dress surrounded by a diamond frame atop a yellow ribbon.
It shows that the wearer – who normally places it on their left shoulder – has been welcomed into the Royal Family Order, most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked only by the Victoria Cross and the George Cross.
Thought to have been first introduced by George IV in the 1800s, the honour is bestowed upon female members of the Royal Family by the monarch, as women in the royal court were typically not able to receive the same commemorative medals that men did.
Read more: Every time the Duchess of Cambridge and Sussex subtly honoured Princess Diana
Kate, Camilla, Queen Consort, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex were all welcomed into the order by the late Queen and wore the brooch in her honour on Tuesday.
The second brooch – worn at the left hip, above where the Royal Family Order riband crossed over – was the badge of the Royal Victorian Order, a white enamel Maltese cross with a Tudor crown, which the late Queen gave the then Duchess of Cambridge in 2019 “for services to the sovereign”.
On her head, Kate wowed guests in Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara, a favourite of both the late Queen and her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana.
Read more: Every time the Princess of Wales has worn a tiara
Inspired by a tiara owned by her grandmother, Princess Augusta of Hesse, Queen Mary asked the royal jeweller House of Garrard to create the tiara in 1913 out of pearls and diamonds already in her family's possession.
The tiara, crafted from diamonds and 19 hanging pearls set in silver and gold, was left to the late Queen Elizabeth in Queen Mary’s will who wore it frequently herself, before she gifted it to the late Princess Diana upon her wedding to the then Prince Charles in 1981.
Watch: Princess of Wales wears Lover's Knot Tiara to honour Princess Diana at historic state banquet
