For the quarter of a century that she’s been a member of the Royal Family, the Duchess of Edinburgh has kept her tiara appearances rather simple.

We’ve got used to seeing Sophie in a limited number of diadems. There’s the diamond creation she wore at her wedding, fashioned from jewels that are linked to Queen Victoria, and there’s a diamond and aquamarine tiara that has become a regular for the Duchess. But as she joined the Royal Family at a State Banquet for the Emperor of Japan, Sophie gave us a surprise.

The Duchess of Edinburgh attended the State Banquet wearing a tiara usually called the ‘Lotus Flower’. It’s a diamond and pearl creation and it has a rather special place in the modern history of the Royal Family.

For this gem began its regal existence with Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.

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When Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon married Albert, the second son of King George V and Queen Mary in 1923, she received a diamond necklace from her new husband. She later had it turned into a tiara by Garrard and the result was worn by Sophie on a balmy summer’s night in 2024.

It’s had plenty of wearers in between, of course. The tiara was first worn by Elizabeth who slowly put it to one side once her husband became King George VI and she had a grander array of gems to choose from. She passed it to her younger daughter, Princess Margaret, who wore it often as a young woman. And it even took a role as a royal wedding tiara when Margaret’s daughter in law, Serena Stanhope, chose it for her marriage to David, now Lord Snowdon.

In recent times, it has become associated with the Princess of Wales who first wore it for the Diplomatic Reception in 2013 and later chose it for the China State Banquet in 2015.

Now, it has a new chapter in its history as the Duchess of Edinburgh wore it for a State Banquet for an Emperor in the ballroom at Buckingham Palace.