Can I complain about something random? Ever since the Windsors began hosting state banquets at Windsor Castle, there’s been a wide disparity between photo quality from state visit to state visit. When the German chancellor visited last fall, the photos looked like they had been screencapped from a poor-quality live stream, shot on someone’s ancient iPhone. And then these photos, from last night’s state banquet for the Nigerian president, are hyper-saturated, good-quality photos where you can see every little detail. It’s weird. They also don’t have a consistent photo-staging setup in the castle for some bizarre reason. Like, it feels like photographers are just placed wherever on a whim.
Anyway, as you can see, the Prince and Princess of Wales attended the banquet last night. Kate wore a dark green dress by Andrew Gn. This is a bold return to Kate’s “flag-dressing” past – the green resembles the same shade of green on the Nigerian flag. Additionally, Kate paired the Gn dress with the Queen Mary Lover’s Knot tiara. That’s the one Kate has borrowed the most, which makes sense because Princess Diana borrowed it frequently as well. Thoughts on the dress? It’s an improvement on the stewardess ensemble she wore earlier in the day, but that’s setting the bar pretty low. I like the idea of this dress but I would have made some edits. Like, there’s no reason for the dress to have a turtleneck. It should just have a high neck. And the sleeves are too billowing. Overall, the effect is so dated.
Meanwhile, Queen Camilla wore white Fiona Clare, and she picked out the Belgian Sapphire Tiara, with matching sapphire earrings. The diamond serpent necklace is from her own personal collection. Incidentally, Prince Edward was third-wheeling with the Keens because Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, skipped the dinner. No reason was given for her absence. Princess Anne and Tim Laurence were there as well.
I’m also adding a photo from earlier in the day, where Charles and Camilla once again pushed William and Kate off the dais. It’s absolutely hysterical that William and Kate are always placed “outside the tent.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- 18/03/2026. Windsor, UK. The Prince and Princess of Wales greet The President and First Lady, on behalf of The King, at the Fairmont Hotel Windsor. Their Royal Highnesses travelled with The President and First Lady to Datchet Road, Windsor, where The President and First Lady received a Ceremonial Welcome.,Image: 1084135391, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: © Kensington Palace. This image is free for use but may only be used for news or editorial reporting purposes. This image must NOT be used for any commercial or other use, save for news or editorial reporting and cannot be altered or amended in any manner or form whatsoever. All rights reserved., Model Release: no, Credit line: Pete Maclaine/Avalon
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- Britain’s Queen Camilla, Britain’s King Charles III, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and Nigeria’s First Lady Oluremi Tinubu arrive to attend a State Banquet in St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on March 18, 2026, on the first day of a two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom by Nigeria’s President.,Image: 1084165773, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Britain’s Queen Camilla, Britain’s King Charles III, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and Nigeria’s First Lady Oluremi Tinubu arrive to attend a State Banquet in St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on March 18, 2026, on the first day of a two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom by Nigeria’s President.,Image: 1084165773, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Britain’s King Charles III, Britain’s Queen Camilla (L), Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and Nigeria’s First Lady Oluremi Tinubu (R) arrive to attend a State Banquet in St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on March 18, 2026, on the first day of a two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom by Nigeria’s President.,Image: 1084165847, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Britain’s King Charles III, Britain’s Queen Camilla (L), Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and Nigeria’s First Lady Oluremi Tinubu (R) arrive to attend a State Banquet in St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on March 18, 2026, on the first day of a two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom by Nigeria’s President.,Image: 1084165847, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales (C) and Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales (2R) arrive to attend a State Banquet in St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on March 18, 2026, on the first day of a two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom by Nigeria’s President.,Image: 1084165874, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales (C) and Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales (2R) arrive to attend a State Banquet in St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on March 18, 2026, on the first day of a two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom by Nigeria’s President.,Image: 1084165874, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Britain’s Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (L), Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales and Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales arrive to attend a State Banquet in St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on March 18, 2026, on the first day of a two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom by Nigeria’s President.,Image: 1084165921, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Britain’s Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (L), Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales and Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales arrive to attend a State Banquet in St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on March 18, 2026, on the first day of a two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom by Nigeria’s President.,Image: 1084165921, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Britain’s Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (L), Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales and Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales arrive to attend a State Banquet in St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on March 18, 2026, on the first day of a two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom by Nigeria’s President.,Image: 1084165956, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Britain’s Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (L), Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales and Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales arrive to attend a State Banquet in St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on March 18, 2026, on the first day of a two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom by Nigeria’s President.,Image: 1084166075, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
Kate looks so slight and that dress doesn’t hide it. She is struggling and no one is helping her. What a terrible place to be.
Well, to start with a positive – that’s a good color on her, and her hair looks much better than it did for the trump dinner. But the tiara would look so much better with her hair up. this looks better overall than the Trump dinner – hair and tiara – but it still boggles my mind that after 15 years of wearing tiaras she hasn’t figured out how to do her hair properly for them. If anything she’s regressing.
The dress is fine. I feel like its a silhouette we’ve seen from her before but i am not sure we actually have? She must be thrilled that she can wear green both for the Nigerian flag AND St. Patrick’s Day. I also feel like this would have been an appropriate occasion to wear a Nigerian designer, but alas. It’s also clear increasingly obvious that she’s dressing to hide her thinness.
Camilla looks fine. Very camilla like. I feel like QEII had that same dress lol.
Also the tent thing will never not be funny to me. charles is so petty. There was a moment on the platform – before they had to get off – where Kate curtseys to Charles who just looks through her and smiles kind of vaguely and that’s about it. Camilla gave her the double kiss thing but Charles, nope.
The tent is so petty. What if it rained? You know Charles would have them standing there with umbrellas outside that tent.
The promotion of Carole in the media did not help matters. She with her behavior hugging Camilla and anne would irritate thecroyals to no end. Plus calling Carole a royal in that article
And you know if it rained, William would have had the umbrella and Kate would have gotten the wiglet wet.
I remember when they tried to recreate the magical Sussex umbrella photo and did it with TWO umbrellas, completely missing the point lol
I don’t understand why she’s wearing her hair loose with a tiara when in the past she had it up and it worked better with the tiaras. The beachy waves thing makes it look more causal and she needs to cut off six inches because the hair doesn’t look that good.
And she’s definitely dressing in a way that makes it obvious she trying to cover things up. There are obvious issues here and with William barely acknowledges her on top of that this is only going to get worse.
Kate’s eye makeup is so heavy it looks like she has bruised eyes in some of those photos.. other than that she looks ok, that dress looks like something a person who loves coat dresses would pick out.. reminds me a little of the gunne sax style especially with those sleeves.
Her makeup looks atrocious. It reminds me of the makeup gun from The Simpsons (iykyk).
It’s funny Charles makes his contempt for the “Global Statesman Willy TM” baloney so clear. If I had an heir who was constantly briefing that he couldn’t wait for me to die, but not before I did mean things to my nieces and my son and his family so he wouldn’t take the blame he’d deserve, I’d probably do the same. That picture of the Waleses outside the tent is hilarious.
You know William has a mental battle before every state visit. Standing outside the tent is demeaning, but if he refuses to go the press will ask why. Love this for him.
Kate! For the love of God, WEAR YOUR DAMN HAIR UP! It’ll camouflage those ridiculous extensions, look more elegant and grown-up, and provide a better anchor for the heavy tiara. Wearing your hair down with a turtleneck is also just such a claustrophobic look.
The extensions really are ridiculous. i’m not sure when she decided this wavey look was good for her – maybe she saw a lot of tiktoks about beach waves and thought yes, thats what these are?? because they’re not. And the whole look really brings her down – as in, it makes her look more rooted to the floor, IDK how to put it.
this exact outfit with her hair up would have looked SO much better.
Her hair is an abomination. Those stupid sausage curls would look juvenile on a 12 year old let alone a grown woman. She has always struck me as immature but in the last years she comes across as addled – the huge grins, the inability to speak at events, not knowing how to interact with anyone, her lack of reaction to her surroundings (standing like an idiot in the rain while children get soaked around her), dressing like a child.
So agree with you re Keens Hair
We wish she would be grown up act her age and put hair elegantly up when a tiara is worn
Think her hair is completely ridiculous
As for her other outfit ..looks like an air hostess uniform.. and that she is about to board aircraft to be waity in sky….
There is no amount of mermaid hair that can distract us from how skeletal she is becoming.
Well, at least they pinned the tiara down so it doesn’t slip off, and brushed Cousin It. Hate her doll hair and too much makeup.
She hasn’t *any* fashion sense whatsoever. She is swallowed in *way* too much fabric. She may think it gives her bodily “volume”, but (to me), it just accentuates her thinness. Ditch the sleeves to begin with, or make them fitted to the arm. The dress has enough going on w/out adding MORE with those huge, floppy sleeves. While I’m sure she is wearing a collar to hide the thinness of her upper chest/neck, if the dress was sleeveless, it would work better. Best (to me) would be to make the neckline like a halter, show her shoulders, AND PUT UP THAT DAMNED WIG/HAIR! At the *very* least, tie it back in a low pony. Add some drop emerald and diamond earrings, and call it a day.
To say one nice thing: I love the jewel tone (though it seems a bit “dark” for this time of year. She looks so much better in rich colors. Pastels just wipe her out.
Her sleeves are as wide as her waist in some of the shots. Doubt shes trying to hide the thinness she worked so hard for, though, and covering your arms may be protocol the way it is in the Vatican or something, and the way the Windsor men are all in that red-trimmed Windsor formal dress? I dunno. But yes, this particular dress has a ridiculous amount of fabric. Perhaps she’s just trying to disappear under the fabric and the hair.
She’s gone without sleeves for state dinners before – actually more times than she’s worn sleeves IIRC, at least long sleeves. she used to wear off the shoulder dresses, dresses with thinner straps, dresses with high necks but short sleeves, etc.
So basically no, she does not have to cover her arms. that’s something she’s pretty much just started doing for state dinners. I can think of one awful look from QEII’s day where she wore long sleeves (that awful pink Marchesa gown.)
The dress really is swallowing her though.
I’ve seen Kate’s left eyebrow gone rogue before. Not sure what that out of alignment high arch is about. Looks weird.
Kate can look stunningly gorgeous most of the time in evening gowns. Just not this one. Not a fan of the dress colour on her but I honour the flag-colour intention. The dress style itself though, so old fashioned looking. Who’s dressing her, I’d like to know.
Regarding her thinness, there is a great resistance to calling it what it is – an eating disorder. She’s had it for years and it’snot improving. But of course, fashion designers love it and going skeletal is the absolute rage everywhere now with celebs. So one could say eating disorders are almost the norm now.
Kudos to Princess Ann re the repurposing dress coat.
Too bad the guys dress the same way all the time. I want to see some red carpet kick-*ss individuality there.
But really, all these silly over the top tags of honour on their clothes. The royals are looking so childish and irrelevant with every passing month. I’m thinking this pomp & ceremony won’t really last past 2027. It’s so embarrassing to look at now. I still get the feeling while looking at William go about his duties that he is out of sync with it himself. He always looks like he’s covering up feelings of awkwardness and embarrassment.
And peg gets new, shiny medals every state dinner it seems, without every being in a war fighting.
I like the colour of the dress but there is too much of it, short sleeves or a low neck, also wearing it with a blue sash is not attractive, I wish the royals would think about their sashes, it is not the first time a sash has spoilt the look of the dress.
I’ve seen Kate’s left eyebrow gone rogue before. Not sure what that out of alignment high arch is about. Looks weird.
Kate can look stunningly gorgeous most of the time in evening gowns. Just not this one. Not a fan of the dress colour on her but I honour the flag-colour intention. The dress style itself though, so old fashioned looking. Who’s dressing her, I’d like to know.
Regarding her thinness, there is a great resistance to calling it what it is – an eating disorder. She’s had it for years and it’s not improving. But of course, fashion designers love it and going skeletal is the absolute rage everywhere now with celebs. So one could say eating disorders are almost the norm now.
Kudos to Princess Ann re the repurposing dress coat.
Too bad the guys dress the same way all the time. I want to see some red carpet kick-*ss individuality there.
But really, all these silly over the top tags of honour on their clothes. Like kids dress up time.
I still get the feeling while looking at William go about his duties that he is out of sync with it himself. He always looks awkward and embarrassed.
It was boring boring boring, and if say, Meghan, got this far and chose not to wear the Queen’s order and only Charles, the papers would never shut up about it.
Keen needs to wear her hair up instead of trying to play Disney princess. Long wigs don’t go well with those tiaras.
Those pictures from the banquet are stunningly bad. Not just oversaturated, but way too dark, and people/things are out of focus in a way I wouldn’t expect for a high level event presumably taken by a professional.
The Lover’s Knot tiara is lovely of course, and agree with others Kate does nothing to set it off with her childish long curls. Assume she thinks it’s clever to match the color of the flag, and wouldn’t be surprised if she thought she’d stand out since Camilla and Anne are wearing white, but that dress is just boring. Camilla’s tiara looks interesting, but hard to see the details in that picture. Don’t think I knew she has a diamond serpent necklace in her personal collection, but how appropriate it that…
Scooters scruffy beard looks worse. The darkness of the photo makes the scruff look darker which makes the beard look more horrible
If her choice of color was an attempt to stand out, it failed at least in pictures. As others have mentioned they are so oversaturated and dark that white, like what Camilla and Anne are wearing, actually stand out and everything and everyone else fades into the background around them.
Photographer really dialed up the contrast when they published these pictures, makes everything look very harsh & badly lit. It is 100% a deliberate choice to do this & a quick way to make people look absolutely terrible, especially people of colour. RF probably sourced the photographer from same excellent talent pool as their public relations staff.
She wore green for Nigeria. The dress is OK. It’s doing what Kate’s wants it to do which is to hide her slender frame. It would’ve been good if she had worn a Nigerian designer.
I love the dress, it looks soft and swishy. My question is why Kate hasn’t been wearing her QEII royal order ribbon (the yellow one). Anne is wearing hers, but Kate is only wearing the one from Charles and so is Camilla. This is weird.
Probably because Kate knows that she only got that order as a consolation prize for sticking with William and keeping her mouth shut after the Rose affair stories.
I still have a sneaking suspicion that Kate also only got that order because she and William got wind of the fact that the Queen had either already presented Meghan with the family order (the way Diana got hers upon entry into the family) or planned to give Meghan one and the powers that be pulled strings to ensure that Kate could be seen to have received one “first”. It is quite likely that Meghan received it during or prior to that joint train journey. It would also explain why they went out of their way to ensure that Meghan never attended a state dinner, because not only would she be guaranteed the front pages with discussions of her tiara, she would be seen wearing the family order and questions would be raised as to why it took so long for Kate to get one.
Camilla never really had any love for the Queen, so it’s little wonder that she shed that order as soon as possible. But also, because the handlers don’t want too many reminders of the previous monarch being prominent during such events. Anne was never going to stop wearing her mother’s order, and the others don’t care enough to prioritise Charles.
Scooter looks sullen. Keen has to grin at Edward while scooter looks straight ahead.
The color is gorgeous and the dress is nice. But yeah gotta echo everyone else. Swimming in fabric comes to mind.
The shape of Camilla’s tiara is unique. Is that the first time she’s worn that sapphire tiara? There was also some discussion of why hers she’s altered the sapphire earrings to be made into clip ons?
The photographs are terrible – way too dark and over-saturated. And they’re not in focus in some shots (check out the second photo – Edward is just a blur). The heavy saturation emphasises Kate’s extreme thinness (her face looks positively skeletal) and William’s glower. Yikes. And that dress does nothing for Kate…Too much fabric swamps her, the sleeves, waistline and neck are screaming 1970’s trad wife, and it’s too dark for the season. It would be a better colour for Christmas, not early spring.
the guest of honour’s face is not visible in the photos. forget about whoever’s dress and whatever else, THAT is the real problem. that racism still calibrates camera settings to white faces. and that noone notices
Yep definitely the biggest issue with the photos
You guys. I feel like Anne is trolling Kate and the press. she’s seen the comments about Kate rewearing things and getting praise and Anne is like, I’M THE OG!!!
her coat from last night? she first wore that in 1969.
i truly love Anne’s sense of style. The woman knows the value of investing in well-made, timeless pieces and stylish accessories with occasional quirky twists. If I was going to raid the closet of any woman in the BRF, I would choose her. Even over Meghan!
I think Elizabeth Holmes posted that the designer stated the dress was from 2021 and retired 2022 so it’s possibly been sitting in her closet for a while. Maybe part of her Covid era shopping spree.
So she didn’t pick it out for this event…..she just thought “ooh green dress, let me grab what’s in my closet”?
The dress is awful. She is still a relatively young woman and that dress ages her. Camilla looked better.
She is trying to look younger with the hair wigs hanging down over her shoulder and diwn her back But it ages her
Message, l think Kate is definitely trying to look younger, Rose has the same hair and is v slight too, but she was always very slim. I mean the hair and tiara , it just looks awful and would of looked much better in a upstyle, dress is very dated and not great to be honest. The Tiara is fine , not stunning just a dated tiara.
Did something go on l wonder, Anne and her husband look.worried and are looking at William, who looks fed up.at this stage, his looks well.though.
Her dress is like those ones you see on bloggers who are into “Modest” dressing for religious reasons. Which is fine for them, whatever, but what’s Kate’s excuse for this? Ghastly.
I usually love green too.
I thought the dress was just a different color of the dress Kate wore to the Jordanian wedding
This is like the second or third time Kate and Camilla have declined to wear Elizabeth’s royal family order, they only have Charles’ on. Anne and the Duchess of Gloucester are wearing both, why aren’t the top two ladies wearing theirs? I thought they liked to wear all the doodads they can manage. Why wouldn’t they wear Elizabeth’s?
Can no one properly take or edit photos? The colours are appallingly bad and they did not light the GUESTS OF HONOUR properly, for gods sake. I just can’t with these people.
As far as Kate’s dress- it’s giving me 19th century prairie girl nightgown, especially with that horrible hair. Except for the colour. I do like the colour.
And the tent situation makes my day.
Did anyone else notice in picture 3 of Anne, her husband and the Wails the look that was exchanged by Peg and Anne? He looked Pissed and Anne looked worried and her husband was harder to read because he always looks that way and Can’ts smile was fading? I noticed the picture last evening in the People article. What was Pegs problem?
So NO official “honours”/ribbons for the Nigerian president? Don’t the British royals usually fall all over themselves to present such honours to favoured heads of state at state dinners? Will the papers later tell us what a snub this was?
They failed to light the President and his wife properly and visually made them disappear in the photos. I think this was both undiplomatic and insulting. It comes across as very colonial.
William look very thin, too. This is going on for a while. I am wondering is it more a “getting fit for the role” like Camilla had to, or more like something else is going on?
He lost a lot of weight during Kate’s disappearance and he obviously suffers from something else that is the cause of his small numbers of work and his disappearance during Kate’s.
I agree with everyone regarding the dress..it’s a good colour on Kate but it is made in a way to hide her disappearing frame. And William is probably angry about it because history is repeating itself. Perhaps, that’s the reason he’s always angry when they are doing engagements together. With each appearance more people remark on her frame and talk about an ED. It’s like a bomb waiting to explode. Cancer could only explain so little and they know it. William is aware that his perfect family image is in danger and can’t hide his anger.
Keen’s dress looks like something a matron would wear on a cruise circa 1970.