For the second year in a row, the Princess of Wales did not attend the annual Diplomatic Corps reception. The reception was held at Windsor Castle this year (and last) but it’s usually hosted at Buckingham Palace. The multi-year renovation of BP means that they have to host all of the large gatherings – state banquets and major receptions – at Windsor Castle. Meaning, Kate was just a few miles away at Forest Lodge, too lazy to attend this reception. Or maybe she was too tired from her big Business Taskforce on Early Childhood yesterday. Or maybe King Charles, Queen Camilla and Prince William didn’t want Kate’s diplomatic jazz hands and Whitehall Wiglet™ to steal their thunder. Another possibility? Kate and William will attend the Royal Variety show tonight, and Keen simply did not want to go out two nights in a row.
As I said, Charles, Cam and William were all there at the castle last night. The same thing happened last year – Kate stayed home and William went stag to the reception. My guess is William probably would have preferred to skip too, but someone has gently told the rageaholic that his political and diplomatic education is grossly incomplete. God knows, they can’t count on William to read briefing memos. Sidenote: After refusing to wear the red-collared “Windsor dress coat” to a state banquet earlier this year, William got chewed out by the protocol police and he wore it to the Trump state dinner and now this reception.
Camilla made some news because she wore a tiara she’s never worn before, but one which has been seen in the past decade. She wore the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara, which is the same one worn by Princess Eugenie at her 2018 wedding in Windsor. This is, in my opinion, the tiara Angela Kelly used to smear the Duchess of Sussex. Kelly was a major source for several reporters in 2018 – she claimed that Meghan “demanded” a particular tiara and that QEII “refused” to give it to her. Months later, when Eugenie wore this piece, sources claimed that this was the one Meghan wanted but was refused. Personally, I don’t think any of that happened, and Prince Harry described all of the tiara stuff in Spare, and I believe his version of events. Anyway, it’s interesting to see Camilla pull this particular piece out of the vault. It… does not suit her, but I rarely think Camilla looks good in a tiara or crown. She doesn’t have the face for it, to put it mildly. Meanwhile, is that a new haircut, a new hairstyle or a new wig?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- The Prince of Wales during the Diplomatic Corps reception at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Picture date: Tuesday November 18, 2025.,Image: 1053184731, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Matthews/Avalon
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- King Charles III, Queen Camilla and The Prince of Wales arrive for the Diplomatic Corps reception at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Picture date: Tuesday November 18, 2025.,Image: 1053184744, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Matthews/Avalon
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- Queen Camilla during the Diplomatic Corps reception at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Picture date: Tuesday November 18, 2025.,Image: 1053184766, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Matthews/Avalon
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- Queen Camilla and The Prince of Wales arrive for the Diplomatic Corps reception at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Picture date: Tuesday November 18, 2025.,Image: 1053184808, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Matthews/Avalon
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- Queen Camilla (left) during the Diplomatic Corps reception at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Picture date: Tuesday November 18, 2025.,Image: 1053184885, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Matthews/Avalon
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla during the Diplomatic Corps reception at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Picture date: Tuesday November 18, 2025.,Image: 1053184899, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Matthews/Avalon
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- Queen Camilla during the Diplomatic Corps reception at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Picture date: Tuesday November 18, 2025.,Image: 1053184912, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Matthews/Avalon
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- The Prince of Wales during the Diplomatic Corps reception at Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Picture date: Tuesday November 18, 2025.,Image: 1053184930, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Matthews/Avalon
It does not suit Camilla considering her hairstyle. It seems awkwardly placed and sits atop her hair with bangs. Is keen not there because of school runs
Yeah, kokoshnik style tiaras really need pulled back, or very short, hair. Camilla’s preferred big hair is not a style match.
I think it’s just been badly ‘installed’ on her head – you can see the vertical stays or pins or whatever that should hold it in place. Camilla’s necklace, on the other hand, is perfect for her – it’s a snake.
Yeah. I don’t know the names of the parts of a tiara–I am way outside that class of people!–but should the part that rests on the head itself be covered up? That sort of padded with velvet headband bit with the vertical supports? That’s not supposed to be seen, right?
What happened to not wearing a tiara worn by anyone else while that person is still alive? Was that just a QEII thing?
Its interesting right? I said below that I found it notable. It may have been just a QEII thing but since she was queen for so long it just became the norm. Also when she became queen a lot of the royals had their own tiaras or were gifted them so they used those. I feel like that’s not so much a thing anymore – like no one gifted any of her grandchildren a tiara when they got married.
Was that even a thing? The tiara Kate wore to her wedding used to be worn by Princess Anne. I just think the Queen was reluctant to show off all the tiaras she had in the vault. Camilla doesn’t hold that view.
it may not have been official but it was pretty well established. I think by 2011, Anne hadn’t been seen in the halo tiara in quite some time and once Kate wore it, it was considered off limits for other royals. Sharing tiaras would actually help to hide how many are in the vault.
Camilla wears whatever bling she wants lmao.
Yes all the “rules” about jewelry were made up by QEII. She was weirdly stingy about jewels in comparison to previous generations of the BRF
She was. Camilla seems to be stingy as well, but she’s also digging into the vault a bit more than QEII did in the last decade or so. As much as I do not like Camilla, I love tiaras, so I’m hoping she starts pulling out more rarely worn bling.
They are sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars in jewelry they never wear. Why not sell some of it and refurbish the rental properties in the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall?
How long before she wears Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau tiara?
Scoots looks more comfortable without keen there. She probably would have worn another outlandish wig
Yeah, he doesn’t want to be there but he REALLY doesn’t want to be there with his wife.
Could they not have at least TRIED to hide the bit that sits below the tiara? Just pull a few pieces of hair through it?
Kate’s absence was incredibly notable IMO. Is she just refusing to attend, or being benched? Last year this was right around the Qatari state dinner and she was out for that one as well as this event.* This year its even more obvious bc its at Windsor Castle (I think last year was still at BP.)
I actually think Camilla looks nice here, her hair looks good and that dress is boring but her style. I think she usually wears tiaras really well, especially the bigger ones, but here its like her hairstylist didnt’ know how to place it in her hair and we see too much of its base. I also love that necklace she is wearing.
The tiara choice is notable bc the british royal family usually don’t share tiaras – once someone wears one, its usually “theirs” for the duration even if they’re not working royals (which usually isn’t an issue since there were so many for years). But this is interesting. Wonder if we’ll see Camilla wear Meghan’s wedding tiara…or Kate’s. Or something like the Lotus tiara.
And yes the tiara story came entirely from Angela Kelly, like she wanted to be part of the anti meghan campaign too. Why would Meghan demand a specific tiara? she probably had no idea what tiaras the royal family had. My guess is that QEII didn’t realize that she hadnt been offered a tiara, or even an appointment to look at them, and gave Angela a dressing down and she reacted. Can you imagine the optics if Meghan had walked down the aisle in the Spencer tiara???
*For some reason I always felt like this event was in December, did it change or am I just misremembering?
ETA sorry its just all so notable !!!! lmao
The earrings are pretty amazing. I’d be interested to know whether they are from her personal collection or whether they are from the royal collection.
All the earrings Camilla wears are from her personal collection. She doesn’t have pierced ears so can’t wear any of the earrings in the royal collection unless they are refit to eat clips
Yeah, that’s my thing. I don’t get how Meghan was to even know about this tiara much less throw a tantrum about it. And the more we see of Meghan’s personal jewelry style, the more her choice of tiara makes sense. I can’t even see her in this tiara with huge stones now.
I cannot imagine seeing Camilla in Meghan’s tiara but you know what? I can see Kate in it one day.
And yeah it seems like Camilla can wear whatever tiara but that doesn’t seem to apply to Kate or Sophie bc they still keep wearing the same ones.
With all the mess with Andrew, I wonder if this was done to tick him off. See I’m wearing the tiara your daughter wore . That may be over-seeing things though.
Please @becks1 if anyone is going to be wearing Meghan’s tiara it’s going to be Kate. I’m actually surprised they haven’t made that move already
I wonder if she’s asked. We’ve never seen her in her wedding tiara since the wedding day. Seems a shame to have these gorgeous pieces and hide them away for decades.
(never mind I’m sure she’s asked lol.)
We have seen one new tiara on Kate since becoming PoW – the Strathmore Rose, which was such a surprise only bc some thought it was so delicate and potentially damaged that it wouldn’t be worn in public again. But while gorgeous (and one of my faves) its not necessarily a “big gun.” Camilla regularly wore very significant tiaras (in terms of size etc) as Duchess of Cornwall.
Yes, Camilla looks good in tiaras. I think there might be a small wiglet at the top of her head to support the tiara – the hair color is different somehow. And even if Meghan was shown every single tiara possible, I can’t image she would have chosen this one – it’s just too big and solid and obvious.
From what we’ve seen of Meghan’s delicate, understated style, there’s no way she’d choose this tiara, with that big honking emerald front and center. But the style is similar enough to the one she did wear that I can see AK and other malicious people thinking they could push this as one Meghan wanted but wasn’t allowed to have.
Camilla looks good in tiaras overall but IMO, this isn’t a great one for her, apart from the obvious issue with how it’s placed.
@Becks: Now that we know that Meghan was going to wear the spencer tiara it doesn’t make any sense that she would wear that emerald one. It makes much more sense that she would be pick the one she wore because it still had that floral motif. I’d would have loved Meghan to have worn the Spencer tiara, the derangers and press would have had a major meltdown. But it also makes realise how much of an uphill battle Meghan was facing from start with not only KP staff but also the Queen’s staff.
Yes the tiara she picked worked with her already designed veil (could they have waited longer in the process to offer her a tiara?? her veil was designed!)
And I agree, part of me wishes she had worn the Spencer tiara. It would have caused an uproar AND also made it very clear that the no, the royal family was not welcoming her with open arms like they’ve insisted they did. We know they didn’t, but that would have made it clear to the world.
The unspoken contract is definitely working here because there is zero reason for kate to skip this event when it is at Windsor Castle. Of course they are are keeping quiet because it is likely that Charles or William did not want her there.
As for the tiaras, I think Camilla is basically saying she will wear all of them. Maybe not smaller ones like the halo tiara, but the rest will be worn.
And Camilla has control of the tiaras now. Kate is not going to wear anything new unless Camilla is ok with it. Especially since Kate will have her chance eventually anyway. Anne has her own tiaras at this point and Sophie is the only one who needs to borrow them. (Forget what the situation is with the one she received for her wedding.)
Kate can wait. Wouldn’t be the first time anyway.
Sophie has two tiaras if her own. Her wedding one and her aquamarine one. She’s borrowed others on occasion though.
I hate to say it but I usually think Camilla wears the big tiaras better than anybody else in the BRF. This one in particular doesn’t look quite right, like there’s too much space between the frame and the gemstone part, but usually her big head/big hair wears the more substantial tiras well.
I agree. I loathe this woman but she’s worn some of the biggest tiaras and actually IMO pulled it off. I would look ridiculous in them. But these dainty one are not her best look.
I agree too. She has worn others that work well and don’t look like a hairband, which is what Kate has been doing lately and that’s awful.
This one would work better if the base wasn’t obvious. I am not sure what happened there because normally we don’t see this.
I agree. I think Camilla generally wears the bigger tiaras well. I’m not so sure about this one on her but at least she’s trying something different. If I had access to all that bling, I’d be making sure to wear as much of it as possible 😄
I’d wear tiaras to the gym lol.
This tiara suited Eugenie perfectly. It does not look right on Camilla with that hairstyle. It’s also weird to see her wearing it because Eugenie’s marriage was relatively recently, idk it’s just odd to see another woman wearing it. Tacky IMO of Camilla.
So I actually love this tiara, even on Camilla, but obv moreso on Eugenie. I don’t like a lot of tiaras and think they look spiky. So this and Meghan’s are more my speed. It’s interesting how the stone in this lighting looks almost blueish but looked more green before.
Anyways, I don’t understand how Meghan was to even know about the existence of this tiara. Didn’t they just bring her a selection of tiaras and let her pick one so presumably they didn’t even bring this one so how would she even know about it.
I think because Camilla’s hair is so teased, it makes tiaras look like overly ornate headbands on her.
As for Kate missing this event, if the excuse that they’re going to run with is that she’s going to the Royal variety show this evening that’s pretty lazy. She didn’t do anything pretty much all of October, and she did two events for Remembrance. Are we at the point now where we’re literally saying going to a conference in the morning, and releasing a letter is too much work for you to do something at night too? How would have ever survived as a working adult where she has to put in 8 to 10 hour days 5 days a week?
And yeah I think that Angela Kelly was definitely the source for a lot of stories, and as we get further away it becomes obvious who a lot of sources for a lot of things were.There’s a real rot from a professional sense in the staffing at these palaces that so many people are sources and it’s never addressed.
What’s weird to me is that so far, I haven’t seen any excuses for her nonattendance. Edward is in Africa, Sophie may still be in South america(not sure), dont know about Anne – not sure if those three usually attend this event anyway.
But its like no one wants anyone to ask where she was. I haven’t seen any comments from RRs with a supposed excuse for why she wasn’t there. has anyone else?
The total silence on Kate not attending an event down the road from her new forever home really shows the media in cahoots. She was in London during the day but gets a full police escort to shut down the roads so the commute back to Windsor would be less than an hour.
They don’t even explicitly say that the speech was why she didn’t attend.
And she could have used the helicopter if timing was a concern.
yikes at that failure to hide the pins for the tiara. that seems like a basic, tiara-wearing 101 rule that they fucked up. A girl wearing a tiara from the local quinceañera strip mall shop would be embarrassed by that, and Camilla is the Queen Consort of the UK. That is literally someone’s job to not screw up, lol.
Is her wig too thick or something? I can’t imagine these antique tiaras were designed to sit in front of a bump-it of 1970’s big hair.
Those visible pins are really bothering me. But then Camilla herself bothers me.
I think her hair color changed. The pale blonde softens her looks.
Are there… stripes in Cam’s hair? Not highlights–horizontal stripes.
I have a fun tiara that I bought for a Halloween costume years ago. When I need an evening of self care I wear it in a bubble bath and watch a favorite classic movie like Laura or Gaslight. I bet Cam does sort of the same, but her tiara is real and gin is involved.
Love this!
So Charles found a way to slap the Windsor uniform on William after all?
What happened to the Other Brother Global Stateman rebellion?!?!
I have another reason why Kate may not want to be at this reception. She never beating those allegations. The stans were looking forward to seeing Kate at this event and were disappointed when she didn’t show up but she’s out tonight so that will be a consolation prize for her missing out on last night’s event. No tiara moment though. There is no doubt when the Queen died Camilla was one of the most happiest persons in family. She got rid of Angela Kelly and now has sole control of the jewellery vault. This tiara doesn’t suit her particularly with her hairstyle. She tried to make it sit taller on her head but it just didn’t work.
You can even see the pins. Gross. Eugenie did it wayyyyy better.
Horsemilla could NEVAH
They couldn’t put the tiara on properly? What type of people do they hire? They send them off with wigs sitting on top of their heads, extensions not incorporated into the hair properly, horrible make-up, and looking like A Little House on the Prairie rejects.
I don’t know, Camilla usually wears the giant tiaras and she carries them off better than any of the other women in the family, including the Queen. I think it’s Camilla’s large head and teased hair that makes them work. She doesn’t seem to have ever chosen a bandeau like tiara in the past. I think there is something not quite right about Camilla appearing in a tiara that many will remember Eugenie wore for her wedding at the same time that all the bad news about Andrew and Sarah has come out. It seems a bit message sending, somehow.
I think both Meghan and Eugenie wore distinctive and memorable tiaras, especially since neither had been worn for quite some time. Kate’s choice was quite generic and didn’t stand out like the other two. To my mind, Camilla is doing her best to “wear the whole vault” and it just strikes me as a bit tacky of her. Elizabeth did appear quite stingy with lending out jewelry and seemed to keep a small number in rotation both for herself and everyone else. Camilla seems to be hoarding for herself, and showing off as much of the vault she can put on in one go.
Almost all the royal women in previous decades has their own tiaras so loaners weren’t needed. The duchesses of Kent and Gloucester as well as Anne had multiple ones. Sophie had her wedding one and, years later, her aquamarine one. She’s borrowed a few times over the years though. Fergie had her own tiara. Diana, Camilla and Kate as the Princesses of wales/Duchesses of Cornwall and Cambridge/Queen consort are the ones who borrowed because they’d eventually have access to the whole kit and kaboodle. Meghan, while a working Royal, likely would’ve received one down the line like Sophie’s aquamarine or had the diamond bandeau on permanent loan as hers. As non working royals, Eugenie and Beatrice only needed one for their wedding. (Beatrice wore her mother’s to the Jordanian wedding when she was there in a private capacity unlike William and Kate.)
One suspects that Kate did those events (hastily scheduled and announced?) yesterday because she knew that she was not invited to the diplomatic reception? It’s like they’ve been trying to sideline her except for certain events and she has been mightily resisting it in various ways, including the return of the embiggening articles. Unless she was invited to the recent dress-up events as a reward for good behaviour… Every time it appears that she has got the upper hand in their perpetual negotiations, something else happens to scupper that. I still suspect that George was not actually “supposed” to the Remembrance event with Kate. Everyone else outranks her when William is not around, but does she outrank them when she is with George?
Kate needs William present to have his rank. Otherwise as a married in George would outrank her.
I think it changes if she becomes consort and then she’s number two in all cases. But prior to that even the princess of wales does not outrank blood royals. Elizabeth had made this because Anne did not want Diana to outrank her.
I don’t particularly care for this tiara. It’s not bad, I just prefer other others. And I certainly don’t think it suits the Farrah Fawcett hairdo.
I’m aghast that you can see the pins that fix it in place. Does no one at the palace know how to do hair or tiaras or wigs? What kind of people do they hire
I really liked Eugene in this tiara but Camilla looks like some sort of dodgy Wonder Woman wannabe.
I like when she wears the big spiky type ones, I think those suit her hair.
LOL at the photograph of that beautiful Black woman listening to Scooter King’s blather. She looks like she’s trying very hard to be polite, but desperately wants to roll her eyes at that idiot.
I had to scroll back up & look. Yeah, that’s definitely her ‘I’m listening’ face! Sorta like Kate’s Nipper face. And William looks like a doorman.
visually, it’s sickening that this worked out for her.