In my opinion, Spain’s Queen Letizia and The Netherlands’ Queen Maxima dress like modern queens should – they highlight their national brands and designers, but they also work with major brands for special occasions. Maxima seems to love fashion and bold looks, where Letizia is more reserved, preferring a more conservative look for her dailywear. I kind of think Letizia isn’t great at formalwear, or dressing for state banquets or what have you. These photos are my evidence. Letizia and King Felipe welcomed the Sultan of Oman on his state visit to Spain this week. Last night was the state dinner at the Royal Palace.
Letizia wore a vibrant purple gown by The 2nd Skin Co, a Spanish brand. The color is lovely, but the gown itself? Yikes. Everything above the waist is completely terrible – the neckline, the bagginess, the seam down her chest, the sleeves and those f–king bows. Those bows turned this gown into such a twee look, inappropriate for a 53-year-old queen. Letizia paired the gown with Queen Maria Christina’s Cartier Loop tiara, which was made in 1886. I kind of hate the tiara too, while I’m bitching about things!
I’m also including a photo of Letizia’s day look on Tuesday, for lunch with the sultan, which was kind of terrible too. This was a rewear – it’s from Pertegaz, a Spanish label.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- Madrid, SPAIN Queen Letizia during a lunch ceremony for the Omani Sultan on the occasion of his official visit to Spain in Zarzuela Palace in Madrid. Pictured: Queen Letizia BACKGRID USA 4 NOVEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: GTRES / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Madrid, SPAIN The King and Queen of Spain hosted a glamorous state dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid to honor the Sultan of Oman during his official visit. Queen Letizia radiated elegance in a sapphire blue gown paired with a dazzling diamond tiara and royal insignia, embodying regal sophistication at the opulent evening affair. Pictured: Queen Letizia, King Felipe VI BACKGRID USA 4 NOVEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: GTRES / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Madrid, SPAIN The King and Queen of Spain hosted a glamorous state dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid to honor the Sultan of Oman during his official visit. Queen Letizia radiated elegance in a sapphire blue gown paired with a dazzling diamond tiara and royal insignia, embodying regal sophistication at the opulent evening affair. Pictured: Queen Letizia BACKGRID USA 4 NOVEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: GTRES / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Madrid, SPAIN The King and Queen of Spain hosted a glamorous state dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid to honor the Sultan of Oman during his official visit. Queen Letizia radiated elegance in a sapphire blue gown paired with a dazzling diamond tiara and royal insignia, embodying regal sophistication at the opulent evening affair. Pictured: Queen Letizia BACKGRID USA 4 NOVEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: GTRES / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Madrid, SPAIN The King and Queen of Spain hosted a glamorous state dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid to honor the Sultan of Oman during his official visit. Queen Letizia radiated elegance in a sapphire blue gown paired with a dazzling diamond tiara and royal insignia, embodying regal sophistication at the opulent evening affair. Pictured: Queen Letizia, King Felipe VI BACKGRID USA 4 NOVEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: GTRES / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
The concept of the gown was fine, it’s the execution that sucked.
Agreed. I like this kind of medieval style, but the cut of the top is wrong.
I was thinking the same medieval but with a hint of modern twist.
Same, I like the effort at “Medieval Cosplay” but the details are all wrong: the bows, the 3/4 sleeves, the blue shade that isn’t elegant or bright enough to be gorgeous but instead lands somewhere on “El Corte Inglés Mother of the Bride.”
But I loooove this big gun tiara, it’s not its fault that Letizia or her dresser did it dirty. She’s taking a page from Kate’s book and letting her hair run free, rather than styling it in a great updo that would show off the best of that gorgeous tiara. And it doesn’t go with the dress at all. Ladies, in a state event there is only one hair choice: Scandis. You can never go wrong with a Scandi updo. And Letizia is a woman of average height who can no longer because of foot problems wear heels, the way to balance that with a big gun is big Swedish hair IMO
I have seen so many high necked and long sleeved gowns that are just stunning. I wonder if the a degree of looseness was required out of respect for their visitor? Those bows were not though. Ugh. She usually nails it too.
OMG those bows are the worst!
Absolutely agree. And the waist is too low, no?
It’s like Queen Isabella (of Isabella and Ferdinand) cosp!ay!!
The long shots look lovely, but close up it looks like a cheap church choir robe.
I think the blue gown is beautiful!
Remove the belt. Burn the bows and make the sleeves either 3 quarter or cap. Make the neckline echo that medal or whatever is around her neck. Then it would be a nice gown.
Ohhhhh I didn’t see the belt. What on earth 😭😭😭
This gown is not doing her justice. It’s making her look older and more tired. The color is nice but is overpowering her.
The color is fantastic, but the volume is WAY too much and too fussy on her slim frame. It’s swallowing her.
Yeah, I think it’s a tailoring issue.
The color is gorgeous and the gown could have been beautiful but it wasn’t fitted correctly.
I don’t mind the gown, it looks “queenly”. Maybe since she was entertaining someone from a Muslim country, she wanted to be very conservative? And I like that dress too, its wacky in a good way.
I like it too! The colour is amazing, the fabric is luxe, and the silhouette is regal. In motion the skirt flowed like liquid. I might have taken the neckline a smidge higher, maybe half an inch? But this is how a modern queen should dress, including the huge tiara.
I actually would really like both without the bows. For the formal dress, that’s a great color (maybe lose the belt too) and I like the cut.
I really like the gray dress!
Speaking of grays….are those gray hairs around her face?? Queen Letizia, she’s just like me!!!
I love that she embraces the gray, and while I think she’s probably had some, ahem, maintenance, she still looks like herself. She’s not desperately trying to fool anyone into thinking she still looks the same as she did on her wedding day. It’s very much “beautiful AT 53”, not “beautiful FOR 53”.
I know, i love it! I’m at the point where my grays are becoming more noticeable and I’m trying to decide what to do and so far I’m just like eff it, I’m almost 44, its fine that I have gray hairs.
and yeah I think she’s having good work done – its obviously something, but its not so much that its freezing her face and preventing her from aging.
I’m sure the choice to be that covered up is because the Sultan is Muslim. Great color, but the sleeves are what ruin the dress.
Yes, that’s what I think too.. But the dress could be so much better.. I understand why she’s dressed so conservatively though
The blue gown is lovely. The bows on the sleeve cuff are a nice, whimsical touch. She looks nice. The tiara is another matter. Way too big and overpowering her look. It’s beautiful, just not for her with this outfit. Back to the dress, I like the slightly contrasting belt. The skirt drapes and hangs nicely.
Agreed on all counts. The tiara is beautiful, but yes, too big. Seems like it should have a dozen pink ostrich feathers poofing out the back, ready to wear on the main stage at the old Stardust in Vegas. It’s a little bit much.
The gown isn’t my favorite – that’s A LOT of fabric – but the second more casual dress is absolutely gorgeous and really suits her.
She wanted to be regal but it ended up feeling costume-ish. The structured, almost armor-like bodice and the heavy, glossy fabric created too much stiffness. The blue washed her out under event lighting and the proportions didn’t help: the skirt’s fullness overwhelmed her frame, and the neckline aged her. Queen Letizia generally excels when she keeps her silhouettes lean and architectural but this ballgown’s volume drowned her. Too shiny, too much gown for a queen who shines in restraint.
See, I would have called this blue and not purple. Anyways, I don’t love it. The color is great but the overall fit is blah and then paired with a curly hair moment. It didn’t hit.
I love the day wear. The evening wear had too much fabric & wasn’t tailored properly. The bows gotta go.
I like the cut of the gown and the color, but maybe a material with no sheen would be better. I think she looks ok, but the makeup is harsh and lifeless. Needs some warmth/bronzer.
ITA about the makeup. There seems to be a lot of this “blonzer” going around lately, thinking you can skip bronzer if your blush is a warmer color. I think it’s because a lot of women want to streamline their process and wear fewer products. It can kinda work for everyday makeup, but tends to look rather harsh when lights and HD video/photos come into play.
Looking closer, she’s also wearing red/pink eye shadow and to me it almost made her look sick/pale? That didn’t help. I usually love Letizia’s style, too.
Maxima has such an interesting vibe but she wears a lot of warm greens /chartreuse type colours that don’t suit her complexion and I find that puzzling. I follow maxima and Mary – who also dresses beautifully and appropriately – on insta. Those ‘bicycling royals’ 🙄🙄 also work consistently – and they have managed to do so even though they have a family! Maybe Kate should ask them how?
Would be nice to see more of the Europeans here.
The bicycling royals really do work consistently. I wouldn’t say they work to the bone. But consistently absolutely. It’s shocking when compared to the Wales.
She’s terribly thin and the dress needed to be tailored better, but the dress just overwhelms her.
It’s a lot of fabric and swamping her. Looks vaguely Elizabethan.
Love the cut of both of those dresses, actually! I would rip off those bows and maybe have some other kind of trim though. Maybe lean into the medieval thing and have embroidery around the sleeves?
Letizia has always dressed pretty conservatively, and she is most at home in a well-cut suit (she was a prosecutor after all). If I had to choose a royal wardrobe to steal, I think it would be hers! Simple, elegant, and modern.
She was a journalist not a prosecutor
🫣 OMG I should have remembered that! My poor brain has turned to mush! I blame years of the Fug Girls talking about how Letizia always dresses like a District Attorney that I got confused. Well, anyway, she does look fantastic in a suit!
The dress isn’t horrible, but the belt with the craft store buckle looks like it doesn’t belong. Maybe a sash? And the fabric seems too stiff for a dolman sleeve like that. I like the second dress – it’s whimsical and fits her very well.
On first glance, I thought it was wonderful until I noticed the seam and the bows. Yikes! I do have to disagree with you Kaiser, as I generally love Letizia’s style, evening and day but I will admit that this is a rare miss for my posture guru!
The tiara is actually what I dislike most. It feels too ornate. I guess the rationale is that the design of the dress is very simple, which normally allows for the jewelry to make a bigger statement, but I think the fabric and volume make the dress seem more substantial than it otherwise would be. Does the Spanish royal family own a kokoshnik tiara (similar to the BRF’s Fringe Tiara, but typically the “spikes” tend to be closer together and not as… spiky)? Most of the northern European royals seem to have at least one in their collections. Something like that would’ve looked beautiful with this gown.
ahhh….a fellow tiara geek!
For a Kokoshnik to be worn nowadays by a major Queen such as Letizia, with Russia politics all over the Continent in the mix, it’s a dicey thing. I could see even QEII who had family ties to the former Russian royal family putting her two Kokoshniks away for a while, much less Letizia who has no reason to wear a Russian-themed tiara to that particular event that I’m aware of (being a married-in, so not related to Russia AFAIK). And it wouldn’t have worked with her Medieval Cosplay dress at all.
If we’re playing Tiara Paper Dolls, I’d say the Fleur-de-Lys big gun would work better with the dress, but only in an updo. Respect, first of all. And nothing says “mutton dressed as lamb” like maiden hair tumbling down your shoulders over the age of 50 at the most formal of formal royal events like a state dinner!
This would have been so much better as a long/formal shirtdress with french cuffs and turned-up/ popped collar.
I am so aggrieved by that seam down the front and the bow cuffs, gah
I have noticed with our royal ladies that the awards they wear usually spoil the look of their posh frocks. In this case I think that award she is wearing, if it is an award, actually improves the dress, but why the seam down the front, it is so easy to make a bodice without a seam.
I absolutely love this gown. Could it be slightly better fitted to her slim frame? Sure. But if we’re gonna have royalty, I like it when they look properly ROYAL. Not like they’re going to an Upper Westside fundraiser. The historic shout out is great. But then, I think it’d be cool if they brought back jeweled stomachers too, and pearl ropes down to their knees. Otherwise, what’s the point of them?
I was reading about/looking at the jewelry of various royal and noble families a while back, and quite a few surprisingly still have stomachers in their collections. I assumed they all would’ve been dismantled and reconfigured into smaller pieces in the early 19th century. I would totally be finding simple gowns to show off the really old jewels if I had access to things like that! It seems rare to see royals wearing any jewelry dated before the mid-19th century.
Couldn’t agree more. Petition to bring back stomachers and jeweled pomade holders with oranges and cloves! Maybe even the lice catcher ruffles…
The center seam of the bodice is a huge spoiler. I don’t mind the bows, but the baggy bodice spoils the look. However, the color is magnificent on her!
The day dress is lovely. I would definitely wear it.
🎶 “Let it go! Let it go! Can’t hold back anymooooooore!!”
First thought looking at it was, “this dress was made for Anna/Elsa and you can’t convince me otherwise.” That tiara even reads “sølje jewelry”! Not sure why the whole look is so Nordically inspired when it’s for an Omani reception.
It’s so bad I love it. Like Waity Katie’s ol’ buttony looks of yore, just so gobsmackingly ugly that I love it again.
I dunno…I just kinda wish we would stop telling adult women what’s appropriate for their age.
As an old, I hear you, I really do. In private life, or even professional life if one is an ordinary peasant, I think a woman of any age should wear or style herself how she wants, knowing at that age that if you stray outside boundaries you own the consequences (if you want to rock a miniskirt and long hair at any age, go for it but understand that your colleagues may not be as enthusiastic. If you don’t want to play by social rules, go be a painter or something)
For me it’s more about what’s occasion appropriate for a woman of Letizia’s rank in the social context where she has reigned for many years now. She is a full-on, real deal, Queen of freaking Spain with all the history behind it. If you don’t follow the rules of what you should wear in that role, then be prepared for others to judge you for it. If you don’t like it, don’t accept that role. That’s what we’re always criticizing Kate for: she wants to do her own thing, only what pleases her, for every situation public or private. That’s not the job.
You make a fair point! For the record, I don’t love the constant scrutiny and criticism of Kate’s clothes and hair either. Don’t get me wrong – not a Kate fan and criticism of her work ethic is totally valid! I just think we are so, so critical of women’s appearances (and I catch myself doing it too – I don’t get a free pass!). But I hear what you’re saying about context of their roles.
I totally agree with you @pamspam. This isn’t a criticism about a woman’s general appearance, like aging skin, or thinning hair, or any of the millions of ways people criticize women for how they look (and like you, I’m guilty of it too – I have commented on Kate’s “hair” many times)…
This is all about the role. I think if you accept such an exalted public role, and are considered to be a leader in your society, then you respect others’ expectations about how you comport yourself and yes, how you look (that goes for the men too, of course but unfortunately no one cares about the men). It’s Letizia and every other Royal woman’s responsibility to look like royalty publicly, along with providing heirs and other things…and that’s even before we get into how they are paid handsomely by taxpayers to do it.
I would have preferred emerald green and a submarine neckline. The necklace looks very heavy. Otherwise, it’s a classic dress, isn’t it?
In that case have you seen photos of Dutch Princess Catherine-Amalia at her last tiara event?
I love her hair and that little touch of gray. I wish my hair would go gray in a cool and subtle way.
It’s funny we are discussing the Queen’s outfit, because Felipe’s trousers are way too short.
I understand why she chose it. It’s conservative but dressy. The seaming is sloppy, making the top look puffy. The bodice needs to be more defined.
I like the white dress much better. She is lovely.