The Duchess of Cambridge pictured arriving at the Diplomatic Reception. She was seen arriving at Buckingham Palace in chauffeur-driven Bentley. The Duchess appeared to be wearing matching earrings and a white dress. It is the first time she has been seen with a tiara since the Royal wedding. She had her hair in a half up, half down style to show off the diamonds
It is the largest - and one of the most glittering - annual receptions the monarch holds at Buckingham Palace. Little wonder, then, that the Duchess of Cambridge was determined to shine. Arriving
at tonight’s Diplomatic Reception in a chauffeur-driven Bentley, Kate
sported in public for the first time since her wedding a dazzling tiara,
believed to have been loaned to her by the Queen.
With her long, dark locks swept back
in a half-up half-down hairstyle to show off the delicate diamonds to
their best advantage, the Duchess, 31, looked more regal than ever. The Duchess was wearing a bespoke evening gown by Alexander McQueen.
Kensington Palace confirmed tonight that the tiara had belonged to Princess Margaret. It is a
particularly delicate diamond tiara of fanned motifs crowned by floating
diamond arches and studded with two pearls at the base and a central
top pearl.
It was made from one
of her wedding gifts, a necklace of a Greek key pattern with pendant
diamonds and pearls given by her husband, the future George VI.
Jewellers Garrard dismantled it and created a tiara instead.
The
Queen Mother often wore it as a young woman before handing it down to
her youngest daughter, Princess Margaret, who also loaned it to Serena
Stanhope for her wedding to Margaret’s son Viscount Linley.
Although
Prince William and his wife have studiously avoided attending any state
banquets since their wedding (when a tiara is obligatory), claiming
they are left to senior working royals, tonight’s reception was
something of a three-line whip.
There
are 172 Foreign Missions currently accredited to the Court of St
James’s in London, because St. James’s Palace is still the senior palace
and official residence of the Sovereign.
Each
year the Queen throws a lavish reception in their honour, where members
of the royal family make a point of meeting and greeting each one.
A piece of history: The beautiful tiara was owned by the Queen Mother
and handed down to Princess Margaret. Kensington Palace confirmed that
the Queen loaned it to the Duchess for tonight
Family heirloom: The Queen Mother is pictured wearing the tiara in a
picture from 1930, left, while Princess Margaret is seen wearing it to a
state dinner, right.
