Royal Tiaras at the Korean State Banquet

Hello everyone and welcome back to a new episode of the World Watcher podcast

Today, Sam and I are going to be talking about the spectacular tiara as we saw during this week's

state visit to the UK from the South Korean President and First Lady

That really brought us quite a lot of surprises. I mean, yeah, that starts putting it lightly

It was the sheer bonanza of tiara surprises. and I think everyone's still reeling from it

Yeah, definitely. It's been quite a interesting few days where we, I think, had stopped expecting new stuff

And then just when we got it, it was quite a big surprise. Yeah, 100%

So at the beginning of the state visit, we actually got a bit of a sense that this is a bit more special

than we were used to. And Queen Camilla was wearing a massive

sapphire brooch, which we call Queen Mary's Russian Sapphire brooch, but there's a lot of

kind of speculation that it's not actually Russian. Oh, I don't know

I think it is. Just because it's set, the way it's set, it's the double, the double row of diamonds

Yes. But our friend Beth, she has a different theory that it was acquired by Queen Mary in

34, but from British Baroness. so and there is a kind of significant paper trail to back that up as well so we never really know

which kind of maybe she might have a quarter from the Russians herself so there may be a Russian

too yeah and then the Princess of Wales was also in Sapphars wearing Princess Diana's

saffar earrings and I think this is one of those jewels that she's been wearing quite a lot

recently I think she wore them last week as well and they're

most kind of interesting part of this is that Princess Diana only wore those in the evening

but Kate has primarily worn these for daytime events. So even though they're pretty substantial

she's worn them for like quite casual things like plane journeys and stuff. So it's an

interesting way like she's adapting the jewels for her own use rather than how they can use in the

past. Yeah, I can't say I was a fan of this particular look. As I said on my Instagram, one of my

You can see on the next slide what you're talking about. Kate wore this

I actually like the idea of the cape, but the three layers made it seem a lot more bulkier than it kind of what they were intending for, I feel

Yeah. Maybe they thought it would be colder. It's actually quite mild in London at the moment

Oh, really? Because looking at the outfits, I was like, it must have been freezing

No, no, no, no. And then we all got that bit of a daring moment from Kate when people got a glimpse of her legs while she was exiting the car and half the internet went into a meltdown

Some for a good reason and some for not so good. But it was

And well, you know, what can we do. But I think with Queen Camilla and the Prince of Wales, both of them were really an accorded effort

And they were trying to replicate the colors of the Korean flag through their jewel. and their clothes, which I finally

one of those, like, very in-your-face ways of diplomatic dressing. Yeah, yeah

They do often, I mean, they do often do that, don't they? So, wear the national color

We've kind of gone away from, in the past, Catherine used to wear, like

whatever country they were visiting or visiting them. They'd wear, like, a designer from that

country, but now she's very much more focused on British fashion. and this is the sort of nod we get now rather than highlighting those local designers

Yeah, well, good. Yeah, but enough about the day's jewels. I think in the next side, you can see what we've been waiting for

which was that spectacular state banquet at Buckingham Palace that evening, where we saw the king and queen with the president and first lady here

And before we get to the jewels, the king was the only royal who got a Korean order

and on his coat you can see the three diamond stars of the order of the back, the pistol and the garter

with his Korean order and star on the other side. And the placement is actually quite weird because he should have worn the breast star on his left side

but instead he's wearing it on his right, which is technically incorrect

Okay. I didn't even know Korea had orders. No, actually they do

and in Sweden they gave their lower order, which has a pink sash to the queen

crown princess, and Prince Daniel. And if the Brits had given the First Lady in order

I feel that they would have won the lower orders as well, but their order exchange is so kind of all over the place these days

that the fact that the king got one is quite a miracle in its own right

Yeah, and then in the next side you can see what we've been waiting for as that Queen Camilla wore the Burmese Ruby Tiar for the first time

She did. She did. That was a very nice surprise. I was hoping to see the rubies on Catherine, given the big red outfit during the day

But now I shut my mouth. They were busy. They were busy that night

Yes, they were. And I actually do. So I used to hate this tiara

And I think anyone who read The Order of Splendor has the same kind of prejudice against it

but the past couple of years it had been growing on me and to see it worn now

I think I do really love the way Queen Camilla wears it more open and you can see she's made some changes to the frame overall

but it suits her face shape much better than ever did the late Queen and her iconic hair stuff

Yeah, that's what I was saying. Camilla does have pretty good tiara here, you know, for being honest

And I think so far there's never been a tiara that she hasn't pulled off

like it made and that's all due to her. Yeah, and I think it's just the fact that

she's opening the tiaras out more whereas the queen might have had

hers more enclosed. Again, like you said, it might have been a hairstyle thing

but it looks so much better opened out than it does enclosed as it was on the late queen

Definitely, no, and I'm excited in the next rain, and I mean, the Twitter

haters thought me for saying that, but to see it on Queen Catherine one day

because Camilla's hair is kind of iconic in own right, but Catherine has

she kind of, her hairstyle still varies by bit. So we can may see it like with different hairstyles

and see how it looks with hair up or hair down. Yeah, and I kind of see it more and darker

So that would be very interesting to see later on. Because Camilla

now that's open, how it look on Catherine, because Camilla can wear large tiaras very well

but Catherine has, even like smaller tiaras look quite big on her

so it'll be definitely like something to look forward to. Definitely. And then with that she wearing the crown ruby necklace also for the first time And that actually one of my favorite pieces and it means that we not too far off from an appearance of the Oriental circle at Tierra I hope Oh yeah that would be nice Well we did think maybe that was a possibility

They're not big with rubies, the British royals. So it's nice to see that they're being rolled out again

Yeah. I mean, the queen barely wore them. I think she wore it with this necklace because the queen mother had it for 50 plus years. Yeah

even though I've handed them over, but the queen wore them a couple of times in her old age

but not too frequently. And now that Camilla has it, it does suit her very well

And I kind of like it without the pendant a bit more. It makes it seem more kind of accessible

where the pendant kind of makes it look more stish. Yeah, I see what you're doing with that

Yeah, and then the earrings, these are Camilla's earrings that she received from a Saudi prince in the mid-2000s

and actually they have three kind of hanging elements but she's removed one of them

and they're shorter than the original form but they also because the rubies are

in the tiara the necklace and the earrings are all different shades but they do somehow complement each other

they do that's one of the wonderful thing about rubies they do come in such a lovely range of

hues as they call it yes so I know I was very loved

what did you kind of like best about this look and what do you think she could have maybe changed um to be honest i think this is

one of her most regal looks um i was never a fan didn't even not like you said that tiara never even

grew on me i just couldn't stand it but it just it looks better on her just because it's fanned out

in a kind of way that just it didn't didn't work with the late queen um what i like is that we've

actually got several uh generations of rubies here. So the necklace is from Queen Victoria. The tiara is from Queen Elizabeth. And then

the earrings are Queen Camilla. So that's quite a nice touch. Bringing three of them together

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a wonderful look and, you know, it goes very well with the dress

Exactly. And the mixing and matching of different styles and eras, it does seem to really

complement each other very well. So no, that was quite lovely And like you said

Probably her most regal look to date I like this much better than seeing her in the sapphires

Yes, no more sapphires please Till next year maybe Yes Let's get some emeralds next Yes

And in the next slide we also got a very rare surprise From the Princess of Wales

Which is the iconic Strathmore rose tiara That people have been dying to see

For the past 90 years at this point Yeah. It's really lovely. It's, I think, in a sense, smaller than what I expected, even though I shouldn't be that surprised, but it is a bit smaller than, especially like the way it was worn, because I'm the queen mother because she worked so low on her forehead. It made it seem like it would probably have a much wider frame that would fit around her head. But this, it's definitely suitable for an event like this, where it's a Republican

state visit, it's not too grand in the long term. And with

Camilla wearing a big tiara, the other ladies definitely wore smaller tiara. So it

fit in with that theme. Yes, it was, I mean, I was

weirdly out that night so I wasn't checking social media as much as I should have been

But yeah, when I finally did sort of get onto Twitter, it was an amazing surprise

to see that the Strathmore A still exists and B was being worn by Kate

I think that's a fantastic tribute and some are saying perhaps a subtle sign about you know Kate's positioning

within the royal family is she going to take after the Queen Mother more than perhaps

the late Queen so you know the fact that she's been given given sorry access to these very

old jewels and very sentimental jewels because King Charles was very close to his grandmother

you know is it a sign of things to come Yes, very much

And the fact that she paired in this way with the queen's earrings and this tiara

it was a very almost understated look. And it allowed Queen Camilla to shine

You can really tell the ladies had put a lot of effort into coordinating their looks to allow Camilla to take the star

And even though they did debut kind of interesting jewels, they were not really the star of the show

No, the only thing I will say, and it's just a little thing, her hair, but you know what I'm like with tiara hair

I think the hair that she had for the, was it the diplomatic reception where she wore

the red gown with the lotus flower and it was more of like a, yeah, do you know what I mean

Like early like wedding looks. Yeah. That sort of big hair down to your moment

Yes, that's the only drawback that you're going to get out of me for this one

But yeah, next time. No, I like the gown. I saw from someone who on TikTok

who we are both definitely not friends with, but they stated that this gown may have been made for the coronation

because it has the same heraldic motifs, and they also believe that there were two gowns for the coronation itself

So the fact that there were so many different kind of coronation gowns

and we saw still be repeated hers, but this is like, I am a bit kind of curious

how many white gowns with kind of similar silhouette tape sleeves do we need

Yeah, I mean, I don't know, maybe they buy in bulk for these things

Like, you know, she's going to have plenty of occasions to wear it

She might as well start. Maybe they've got the, you know, while you're at it, yeah

because you need me five more of those. Yeah, maybe, I mean, when she starts doing the state

state openings of parliament, she'll have like a dozen white dresses to rotate every year

Yeah, but who knows? It knows, but no, it was a nice look

I liked it. Prince William looked nice. Not much to say about the orders

Everything kind of typical. No family order yet from King Charles because they say it's under construction, basically

It's not ready yet. There will be one, but who knows what

Yeah, which will be interesting because there's no way. he would have, they're usually painted, and they're usually painted on ivory

There is no way in this day and age, and especially given William and Charles's ecological

And Kate got hers made on glass, so they wouldn't have done ivory anyway

Exactly. So I'd love to know what is taking so long. Yeah. I mean, they could reuse a couple of the old frames and that sort of thing

And do something they're really concerned about being economical and making diamond frames in this day and age

but yeah I mean if if the rumors are true not only are there vaults loads of

tiaras under Buckingham Palace there also mountains of loose stones so oh yeah I would not doubt it yeah um that sounds like a very kind of conspiracy theory What up Uncle thing to say but they did have a lot of calling in a while

Yeah. So, well, let's move on to the next tiara, which was Princess Anne

who wore her diamond festoon tiara with the festoon necklace and her bow brooch

And this is actually something that I find really interesting, because I recently covered Anne's, the 50th anniversary of Anne's first wedding last week

and she got the tiara right before the wedding she got that brooch for

as a wedding gift from King Charles and the necklace was an 18th birthday

gift from the Queen's parents and again one of those none of these jewels were kind of bought together

but they do make such a nice pairing with each other. They do, yeah, they make a very lovely perure

And that gown that she's wearing she debuted for her 70th birthday portraits

and Anne looked lovely and I think this is her first tiara event

in like four years. But I was struck by like how much older she looks

and you can really tell that the past few years have been quite stressful for her. Yeah

I mean, yeah. She is like so busy and still like one of the hardest working members

of the Royal family, but time does take it still. Yeah, but these two portraits

people in Sierra are 50 years apart and she still has the same

iconic hair stuff. I like it. No, You know what you get in

Yes. No, she knows exactly like what she is and she's not about to change that

Exactly. I don't know. She was the same age as me in that picture

So the thing that I have the same hairstyle in 50 years. It's scary about. Yeah, no, let's move on to the next slide where we saw the Duchess of Edinburgh

who wore her awkward marine necklace tiara with her. her coronation gown

And I must say, compared to all the other tiaras and jewels and stuff

this was a bit overwhelming for me. Yeah, I don't, sorry, I've just noticed that nice air cruise in the back

Sorry, I got distracted there for a second. Yeah. No, I've never been a fan of this one

Never been a fan. I get it. I mean, I'm inspired other awkward-marine flower tiara she wears at her wedding tiara

but still. It's just not for me. Never liked it. Never been a fan

I mean, I understand it was kind of after Diana, the thought of giving the daughter-in-laws

anything historic was kind of like, oh, let's see if they make it. Sophie's made it now

Let's give a key to the vault. I mean, Sarah got that tiara

which is much better than this. Yeah. So, I mean, she's worn a lot of, like

power rulers and stuff from the Queen's collection over the years. And I kind of wonder if they might even inherited something because, like, she had a lot of modern necklaces that Sophie and a group, but like, it would have been a good opportunity to wear them

Yeah, but, you know, as we, as we say, we've, we've got, had two surprises

So maybe they're just gearing up for Sophie's surprise. I know. Let's hope so

Let's hope so. We don't see her at the diplomatic reception, which would be such nice thing because we get some variety for that

no it was a nice appearance overall something someone else said on social media

is that the outfits worn by Kate Sophie and Anne were all white

and they were wondering if maybe that's what they were intending to wear for the coronation

before the no tiara signal was put out there maybe so like what this tier and this was kind of like

the looks that they were planning on okay yeah oh maybe that would have been interesting because like sophy and um kate had no necklace which would have been hidden by the robes of their orders anywhere

at we on the day itself we got this would we have been less disappointed and more disappointed i'm not too sure but

interesting kind of theory to think about yeah and then we can move on to the other tier surprise that we got that

night, which was the Duchess of Gloucester wearing Princess Alice's diamond band-dough

tiara. Which I've, this how vast the Gloucester's collection is, I've never even heard of this one

What's this one? Oh, really? So, basically, Princess Alice's father died like

three weeks before her wedding. Before that, I bought her this tiara

Oh. The clips, so it's has different, like, Art Deco Diamond clips

and the Duchess actually wears them quite often as brooches. and the three main central elements

and she even wear them with diamonds and I believe Emeralds is this one

there's one other option as well so it's pretty versatile piece and if they kind of have a much smaller collection

she would have made a lot more use of it but we haven't seen this since 1974 wow

so that's like estimate to the size of the Gloucels it's like yeah well I think after the main branch

they're the ones with the good stuff still oh very much yeah and then this

emerald necklace and the brooch and it's like the whole collection of jewels is like very

impressive and it's like one of their like sixth or seven like in ranks of Sydney

already like the jewels that they could wear so quite impressive God could you imagine what we would have had if the others

hadn't sold everything it would have been such a pleasure to see that

All those jewels of Princess Marina still hurts I mean, and one of the things I actually found very interesting kind of connection with the Strathmore is that we saw the debut of kind of three wedding gifts at this banquet where Camilla was wearing the Burmese Ruby, which was made from Ruby's given as a wedding gift to the late queen

And Kate was wearing the Strathmore Rose was a wedding gift to the queen mother. And then this was wedding gift to Princess Alice

And then Princess Anne had her wedding gift on. Okay. get it. And who knows, maybe Sophie's tiara was actually winning the gift at some point

Yeah. So it's like very like, there was definitely some sort of underlying theme

And the ladies wearing smaller, lesser tiaras for this event does reflect that

Because in the past, we've seen them kind of where they're, if it's state banquet

they're wearing their largest jewels anyway or their only jewels. But now there's a bit more kind of variety coming into it, which is quite an

change to see. Yeah. Well, we're all for it. And something for us to discuss

Exactly. Keeps us employed. Definitely. So here you can see Princess Alice wearing the TRI in the 50s

and you can see the Duchess wearing it at that aforementioned banquet in 1974. I've been waiting to do an article on this for Princess Alice's 20th anniversary of

her death next year. So to read the full kind of article on that, you'll have to wait for that

But it is quite as interesting. piece. And really one of the most

versatile jewels out there. Yeah well I mean the gross collection as well as being we see it a bit beautiful is unbelievably versatile Definitely And if you move on to the next slide you see what the Duchess

wore the following evening at the Guildhall banquet posted by the Lord Mayor of London, which is

the Gloucester honeysuckle tiara, with a bunch of massive topaz and diamond jewels, which

are they inherited from Queen Mary? Yeah. And as I just said, very versatile. That topaz, pink topaz

the tiara could be swapped out for a big emerald. Am I right

Yeah, big emerald and the original setting is just a honeysuckle. Yeah, as well

So it's got three settings. And I mean, Queen Mary wore that Russian sapphire brooch that Camilla wore in the center here as well

Oh, four settings. Okay. And the Cullen and five brooch, so five settings

Okay. So the fact that Queen Mary had like a good like 20 plus tiaras, but still four

felt the need for them to be so versatile is very interesting. Yeah

But then when you have to wear a tiara every night. That was it

Yeah. That was, yeah. You needed some variety. Exactly. But no, it's a beautiful suite of jewels

I mean, if you can see on the right hand side, if you're watching the video, you can definitely see what happens when diamonds catch the light

It's so beautiful and sparkly. Yeah. And you can see the pendant that's attached from the necklace

the beautiful. pear-shaped topaz. That's actually previously just been worn as a pendant from pearl necklace

This is the first time the Duchess is a package to this necklace. And it's nice that even like after all these years, she's still bringing some versatility into

herm collection. And those bracelets that she has, and she has this one huge topis is a bangle

And there's like a set of four diamond braces on the other arm. And that was a sutoir given to Princess Alice by the city of London in 19

And the banquet They're attending the Guildhall is hosted by the city of London

It is indeed. Her is a touch there and this is actually, it can be worn as a long chain

and also as a smaller necklace and it was worn earlier this year by her daughter

at the coronation. That was one of the few necklaces we got there

Yeah, yeah, no, they do have a very impressive collection and the fact they've managed

to hold on to it. I think they need to give classes. Yes, and let's hope they continue to hold on for a couple generations more

Yes, or maybe I'll get my wish and we'll get a dual foundation set up. Yes, or maybe Sam could become the next Dutch of Blaster and give us a chance to win

Doesn't have any sons to, wait, hold on. We'll talk about this off my, my deviant plans

Let's do that. Okay, moving on, we'll see, we saw quite a lot of noble tiaras at the state banquet as well

On the right hand side, you can see Catherine Lady Brooke, who's the daughter of Lady Susan Hussey

She was wearing the Waldegrave tiara, which comes from Lady Susan's family

Lady Brooke is one of the Queen's companions, and so she attended the banquet in that capacity

Also, there was Lady Sarah Keswick, who we discussed in our previous episode about the State of Green Parliament

and you can just see her wearing the fringe tiara that she wore there

beside her is this lady in an island in Brad and Tiar. She was also in the state opening

of women. I believe she may be Y Countess Hook Hood, who is a cousin of Hugh Grant

Okay. I have a picture from the 90s to confirm. I'll share that with you later

Maybe you can reach some conclusion. No. But she's one of those like big mistresses

There's a pretty nice tiara on, but nobody knows who she has. And then

And so these were the ones that we could identify. These two ladies also had pretty impressive taras on

but we have no clue who the hell they are. Well, I can barely see the one on the right, so that doesn't help

That does not help. But no, quite impressive. And there were a bunch of kind of nobles there

so probably one of those. Yeah. And the fact that lady has the queen

not the queens, but the Royal Victorian Order, and a bunch of medals means

the leading on the right, means that she is definitely courtier. Maybe Princess Anne's lady in waiting

Maybe. Or someone like, maybe the Duchess of Gloucester's lady in waiting

because she has one too. So definitely it could be one of those

And the Tiaro looks pretty impressive despite the book. She was right behind the prime minister

and there's like a billion photos of him, but none of her. Oh, how annoying

Well, if anyone's got one, do send it through. Yes, please. And then I think we would

reached the final slide over here. What did you think about this banquet, Kate and Sam

And how do you think that this kind of sets a tone for the future of King Charles reign

Well, I am, like I say, I got in after having a very eventful evening

And I was just blown away by the variety. The variety of it

The fact that, you know, this thick. I mean, the Strathmore, of all things, was I think the one that blew everyone away

We haven't seen it in 90 years. The Queen Mother wore it once for some wedding photos

The fact that it still exists. I mean, it was photographed in the early 2000s, but, you know, a lot of people were speculating that it was too fragile, swear, which I don't see how, but, hey-ho

So, yeah, I mean, I think it's a lovely sign of things to come that King Charles is not afraid to root around in the vault

and maybe some of our tiara wishes might come true. Yes, please

And one of the things I want to add before we finish is that the Strathmore Rose can

originally be worn with five sapphires in the middle of the flowers

And that would be quite a lovely kind of way to make it more versatile

If Kate, this is going to be like the one of those new tiaras that Kate's going to keep on wearing for years on end is to get like, she has a bunch of nice sapphire jewelry already

and just if that was paired with us it would create like a different kind of

set of stuff that she could wear she could pair them with Diana's

satire's interesting interesting or even the Queen Mother's Sapphire for Inverance that she's worn

a bunch of times this year so there's a bunch of kind of versatility

and the fact that they are playing around with jewels does make me a lot more hopeful

for what we'll see from now on yes same here fingers crossed

when's the next big one diplomatic Yes, and hopefully the next two weeks

We have a lot of TARs look forward to everyone. There's the Nobel Prizes, there's a diplomatic reception

There's the Korean President and First Lady are going to the Netherlands next month

And I will not disappoint. Fantastic. Good to hear. No, it should be quite a lovely kind of state visit

The Brits have rolled out the red carpet for the Koreans. It'll be fun to see what the Dutch do

Yeah, definitely. So wonderful to talk to you today, Sam. You too

You too. Pass Tiara's next time, hopefully. Yeah. Bye