Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
Royal Fans were disappointed tonight when Queen Camilla failed to wear a Tiara at the State Banquet hosted by the Italian President at the Palazzo Quirinale in Rome, setting an unwelcome precedent that goes against established protocol.
Following several days of engagements, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and his daughter, Laura Mattarella, hosted the anticipated State Banquet for King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Quirinale Palace in Rome tonight, on the evening of their 20th Wedding Anniversary.
Queen Camilla wore her Turquoise Necklace and Modern Diamond Earrings with the Queen Mother’s Cartier Bracelets and a insignia of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
I adore Queen Camilla but it is disappointing when she isn’t fully decked out for such an important occasion, especially when there was so much precedence that she’d be in a Tiara.
Banquets themselves are a rarity these days, White Tie even more so, but Black Tie does not mean that Royal Ladies are exempt from donning their finery, even more so when it was Black Tie worn with the smaller insignia of honours, which is the most formal form of Black Tie.
I don’t blame the Queen, instead I blame the advisors and the media culture that abhors finery while not seeing the benefits that wearing royal heirlooms would bring to the success of a State Visit.
Despite their best efforts, barely any of the coverage of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s State Visit is dominating the headlines at a time the world is plagued by political and economic instability, yet had the Queen worn a Tiara or another new-to-her royal heirloom, it would have garnered much more attention than these less notable jewels did.
When the host nation goes through the trouble of putting on a State Banquet, it is demanded that the guests should honour their hosts by donning their best.
For Royal Ladies, that means a Tiara…
Additionally, Queen Camilla had the perfect opportunity to don royal heirlooms tonight, showing how far she has come in the twenty years since her once controversial marriage.
Unlike what some ‘so-called’ experts will say, it is not a breach of protocol to don a Tiara with a Black Tie dress code, with countless examples of Royal Ladies wearing Tiaras at Black Tie State Banquets going back decades. State Banquets in Italy have been Black Tie since at least the 1980s, when the late Queen wore the Vladimir Tiara on her State Visits to Italy in 1980 and 2000.
More recently, Queen Sonja of Norway wore Queen Maud’s Pearl Tiara for the Black Tie Banquet during the Norwegian State Visit to Italy in 2016, while Queen Máxima of the Netherlands wore the Mellerio Ruby Tiara for the State Banquet during the Dutch State Visit to Italy in 2017, even loaning the base of the Antique Pearl Tiara to their cousin, Princess Viktória of Bourbon-Parma.
Some may argue that Queen Letizia of Spain did not wear a Tiara at last year’s Banquet during the Spanish State Visit to Italy but that is not because it was against protocol, but because Queen Letizia, like her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia, simply doesn’t wear Tiaras on State Visits to Republics, even if the Banquets are White Tie, like for the Spanish State Visit to Portugal in 2016.
Queen Máxima is the best example for other Queens to don a Tiara for State Banquets no matter what the dress code, be it white tie, black tie, or even suit and tie. That rule has been proven last month, when she wore Tiaras for the Dutch State Visit to Cyprus and the Dutch State Visit to Kenya despite the Black Tie dress code, where they proved to be a great honour to the hosts.
Queen Camilla has also worn Tiaras for Black Tie events in the past, but in recent years, we have been disappointed on more than one occasion when she showed up bareheaded at events where the ultimate honour was expected.
Maybe the Palace should issue a clarification that there is a change in protocol, or if, like the retired Empress Michiko of Japan, Queen Camilla will not wear Tiaras due to age or comfort? Some clarity on the situation would help us avoid further disappointment!
Ultimately, today’s appearance sets a dangerous precedent that established rules of protocol regarding royal dress codes are no longer set in stone and we will sadly be disappointed in the future as well, though with less optimism than we had today!