Duchess of Cambridge dazzles in Princess Diana’s favourite tiara
The British royals were joined by their Spanish counterparts for an extravagant state banquet at Buckingham Palace last night.
The Queen and Prince Philip, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Prince Charles and Camilla hosted Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia during their three-day state visit.
The Duchess stunned in the late Princess Diana’s tiara – a diamond and pearl Cambridge Lover’s Knot crown – which she also wore to her first state banquet last year.
Princess Diana received the tiara as a wedding present from the Queen.
Queen Letizia also dazzled in her mother-in-law’s tiara, called the Fleur de Lys Tiara or La Buena.
Made in 1906 as a wedding gift from King Alfonso XIII to Queen Victoria Eugenia, the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, the tiara has been passed down the generations to Felipe's mother, Queen Sofia.
Meanwhile, the Queen donned her Brazilian Aquamarine tiara, which is a favourite of the Queen's dresser.
It was commissioned by the Queen from the then Crown jeweller Garrard in 1957, to match a necklace and earrings gifted to her by the President of Brazil to mark her coronation in 1953. She liked the set so much she wanted a matching tiara.
The state banquet is believed to be Prince Philip’s last. However, it was Prince Harry’s first as he gradually moves full-time into his official royal duties.