When the king of the Netherlands meets the Queen of the UK, who bows/curtsies? I don’t know – I suspect neither of them bows or curtsies. But when the Prince of Wales meets a foreign king, Charles has to bow. This is all happening right now in London – King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima have arrived for their state visit to the UK. They received the full state visit pomp, with an outdoor ceremony with the Queen and an inspection of the British military. Then King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima arrived at the Dutch Ambassador’s residence, where they were personally greeted by Charles and Camilla. The official photos from the greeting even show Charles bowing and Camilla curtsying!
For what it’s worth, it seems like Charles and Camilla are pretty friendly with the Dutch royals. Maxima seemed to greet Camilla with a big hug, and King Willem seemed very happy to see Charles. When Maxima greeted Queen Elizabeth, she also bent down to give Liz a kiss on the cheek:
The Queen welcomes King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands on state visit – live updates: https://t.co/6YQhRxBIBn pic.twitter.com/lrHgMVNh2b
— HELLO! (@hellomag) October 23, 2018
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if this Dutch state visit was part and parcel of the long-winded Brexit shenanigans, wherein the British royal family are being used to shore up their diplomatic, cultural, trade and financial ties to former European Union partners. This, to me, just seems like “busy work,” but I’m sure it’s important in the long run.
I haven’t seen any designer IDs on any of these outfits. Maxima’s blush-colored suit looks vaguely Chanel-ish to me but it’s probably not. Camilla’s suit is rather striking, and Queen Elizabeth always looks amazing in purple. Also: Maxima and Willem-Alexander are super-tall, right? They look like giants next to Camilla and Charles.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Good lord, I hate that suit. Awful.
The suit might not be *so* bad without that huge belt. A thinner one might’ve done the trick.
Apparently Kate wasn’t so “off” with her headband hats. Guess they’re a “thing” now? Very 50s look.
It gives the outfit, especially with that bizarre almost skin color, of being a giant truss.
Queen Maxima is goals! Shes’s very smart, beautiful, and highly respected in her country and around the world. I love her! PS: Didn’t realize that Charles and Camilla are so tiny.
It seems Dutch people are tall, especially the women compared to other women around the world. I’m probably the shortest dutch person ever LOL
But Maxima is from Argentina. 😉
I had no idea! I was born in Holland to Dutch parents but since moved away. Thanks for the info about Maxima, I wasn’t keeping up on Dutch royalty. She’s still freakishly tall and I’m still the shortest in my Dutch family LOL
At 5’11, I was so happy to visit the Netherlands! I was just a normal sized person there.
So I’m super confused now. It’s like an Escher painting. Surely Charles and Camillla are tall? Will and Harry are tall, so Charles must be, and Camilla holds her own next to Charles, but maybe these Dutch royals are the tallest people ever?
ETA: Google says Charles is 5’10” and Camilla 5’8″…Maxima is wearing higher heels than Camilla but she’s gotta be well over 6ft.
Dutch people are the tallest in the world. I live in the US but in a highly concentrated area of Dutchies. At 5’8 I routinely am the shortest in the room! I think Camilla is around my height!
The Scandinavians and the Dutch are statistically among the tallest people in the world. When I lived in England I discovered that I was as tall or taller than most British guys – even in flats.
ORANJE! I think the Dutch King is about 6 feet tall. The queen is a couple of inches shorter, but she’s wearing high heels.
Maxima is not dutch, she’s argentinian. But yes, she’s rather tall and wears high heels quite often.
Charles and Camilla must have shrunk a bit with age. Happens to everyone.
Love seeing Maxima featured here! She is a great combo of smart and blingy
She certainly looks very lively and engaging.
Felt sorry for old Charles still waiting to be King.
Prince Charles’ suit is fantastically tailored.
Charles and Phil are such snazzy dressers. Dutch people are very tall. I’m 5’9 and am the shortest in my family on the Dutch side.
I’m 5’6″ and super short on my Dutch family side
dutch people are very tall indeed. just got back from a couple weeks in holland and i’m just a couple inches over 5 feet and i felt like a shrimp around the men in particular!
Oh Charles is the most elegant of men, I wish he sons would sit up and take a bit more interest in looking stylish.
Wow, I had no idea Camilla especially is so small. The Dutch are giants! Geez.
I love the Queen’s grumpy face.
TQ is THE QUEEN of RBF lol (resting b*tch face). Remember George’s grumpy face when he was little?? Sigh… good times..
The suit is great but I don’t like the oversize headband. I thought it was a hat at first until we got pictures of her profile and I realized it was a headband. It’s just odd looking.
Camilla is pretty predictable in her fashion in the sense she always a wide-brimmed hat slightly tilted, often a long coat with the silhouette she is wearing, and a pearl necklace with a jewel in the center (she has worn that necklace on multiple occasions).
Camilla definitely has a uniform for these day events (not unlike the queen I guess) but I think it works for her so I don’t really mind. I like her evening looks better because she always wears lots of jewels haha.
From her Majesty’s Jewel Vault says Maxima’s suit is by Claes Iversen. The Queen and Camilla are wearing repeats.
I think they get caught in an endless circle of bowing until someone gets woozy and faints. Maxims is a very pretty woman but that suit is all kinds of fug!
But Maxima is from Argentina, right? Not Dutch. Still, she’s super tall. She totally embodies Queen to me.
Yes, correct. Even though dutch people are one of the tallest in the world (I felt like dwarf while in Amsterdam), Argentina has very tall people too. From my immediate circle of friends, 3 are over 1.75 m tall. Two of them are 1.8 m tall, in flats. Their partners are taller.
@Rianic, have you ever seen her in photos of Willem’s inauguration to king? She looked MAGNIFICENT in a royal blue gown with cape and the most gorgeous diamond and sapphire tiara (my favorite tiara of all royal tiaras). She was the epitome of what a Queen should look like.
The belt makes it overworked, but otherwise I like the color and structure.
@Veronica S. ITA – the wide belt is just, well, a belt too far. Otherwise I like the suit’s tailoring and color.
As for the Stuart tiara – omg. I don’t think “like” or “dislike” are adequate to convey feelings about that thing.
Regarding protocol. Kings and Queens don’t bow or curtsy to each other as they are equals in the royal hierarchy.
I actually like Maxima’s outfit though I’m not too keen on the headband-hat. The colour and the cut suits her. She worn quite a bit of Claes Iversen (Danish-Dutch designer based in Amsterdam) and I think his designs really suit her.
As always Maxima brings the bling, which I really appreciate.
I really like Maxima’s suit. I’m meh on the headband – is that style of headpiece coming back in style? (Not that it matters, I don’t ever have an occasion to wear something like that lol.)
I think Charles and Camilla are definitely shrinking a bit.
Queen Maxima suit is awful. That belt practically under the breast is terrible.
I adore Maxima sense of style. It’s usually either incredibly stylish or totally whacky (sometimes both at the same times). And she has the best hat game out there. Never a dull moment.
For exemple, I should dislike this suit but somehow she makes it work and makes it look non-boring even with the beige shoes. What is this magic?
Huh. I think that headband is very difficult to pull off nowadays. Kate’s take on it is far too matronly; while Maxima’s styling is better, it still looks a bit weird to me. I don’t know, maybe it’s a matter of the headband being too dated/old-school to have a modern, stylish flair on it.
At least her suit fits perfectly. Willem Alexander needs pants intervention! Take sartorial tips from Charles, WA!
The Queen of England wears Royal Purple and I die
Get excited for the bling tonight at the State Dinner, Maxima is supposed to be breaking out the super big, super blingy Stuart tiara. It’s so full of diamonds that it was too heavy for helmet-haired Queen Beatrix to wear, it supposedly gave her migraines. As a result it hadn’t been seen since the early 70s until Maxima dusted if off a few months ago and wore a modified, smaller version in public.
The centerpiece is a large removable 40 carat top diamond that hasn’t been seen out in years. Let’s see if she wears it with this piece on top, as it was originally designed.
Eh, I hate the Stuart Tiara in its full setting! The diamonds on the top, especially the Stuart Diamond are too big for a well-balanced tiara design – the whole thing look top-heavy. It is just plain ugly. Not as ugly as QEII’s Aquamarine Tiara but close.
The Stuart Tiara is ok in the pared down setting but with the big stones on top it is an eye-sore – firstly, because it looks unbalanced and top-heavy and secondly, because the conversion does something to the central scroll-work so its negative spaces no longer match the rest of the tiara in a way that isn’t visually pleasing.
Very big stones are rarely suited for tiaras because it comes to a clash between two opposed design principles. With tiaras, the structure is paramount because it is essentially an architectural form of jewellery. When it comes to very large stones, the design is usually created around the stone to set it off to its best advantage.
The Stuart Diamond is simply too large for a successful tiara design – and putting so many very large stones on a tiara is rather gauche.
Best scenario would be the pared down version of the tiara with the Stuart Diamond worn as a pendant – as it originally was intended.
Agree with you re the uneven design and gauchness. It’s like they took the three biggest diamonds they had and mounted them on top of an already large piece just because they could. But you have to admit it is blingy and spectacular.
The 1st photos of the dinner just came out and Maxima wore the whole shebang: the Stuart with all three top hob diamonds; the matching huge earrings; and the gargantuan ribbon brooch, on her midsection. Somehow she manages to pull the whole thing off, she has such large open facial features and is so tall. The tiara looks like it weighs a ton, very heavy setting.
Kate is in the Cambridge Lovers Knot and Camilla the Boucheron Honeycomb. Queen appears to wear the Girls of GB tiara.
The tiara sits oddly on Maxima’s head, quite unlike the pared down version which sat upright on her head. You can literally see that it is too heavy the way it tilts backwards.
The diamonds are fabulous – but the Stuart Diamond was originally a pendant and it would be better if the Stuart and the other top stones were converted into a necklace instead.
The diamonds are impressive but I am curiously unmoved by them. Very large gemstones actually annoy me because they are rarely well-integrated into a coherent design. A beautiful design will leave me in raptures the way an enormous diamond just won’t. Guess I’m the odd one out among royal watchers today. Everybody else are in the 7th diamond heaven because Max wore the full Stuart. I’m just wincing.
@TheOtherSam – photos are up on the DM and Maxima DID wear the Stuart tiara. If there’s video, y’all will need sunglasses.
All those tiaras are blinding. I think Maxima looks fabulous. She has the stature to pull off all of that gorgeous bling. There’s a wonderful picture of TQ walking by TK and her RBF is in full force. Also, after I told my daughters in law one of my favorite fantasies, they gave me a rhinestone tiara and bubble bath for my birthday so that I can soak amid bubbles while wearing my tiara. It’s so much fun!
Charles looks quite natty.
I absolutely hate Maxima’s suit: so fussy, multiple horizontal lines framing a heavy middleaged bust, and practically cowgirl fringe. How can y’all like it?? I really like Camilla’s outfit, though. She usually dresses streamlined, but with at least one jazzy element. Here it’s the striking pattern. The Queen is gorgeous, and Charles is dressed SO divinely. He really cuts quite the dapper figure.