Royal Style: Take the Tiaras out of The Vault! Sparkles aren't just for Christmas!

[Maireas]

Next thread, style mavens!

That purple fabric looks like something Queen Beatrix might wear!

Kate is slender indeed. She's had a tough year, I hope 2025 is kind to her family.

there's a better view of Mary's NY dress in this article- it is rather lovely but I wish she'd not worn it with the white polo neck this time: it detracts from the dress.

www.thecourtjeweller.com/2025/01/more-incredible-new-year-diamonds-for-queen-mary-in-copenhagen.html

Yes Mary's dress would look better without the polo neck but we have no idea if she was unwell and drugged up and rugged up in order to get through the event. I can't believe the polo neck is a fashion choice.

Winter is a time for colds etc and this is a big event in the Danish Royal calendar and her first time attending as Queen. If a thermal polo neck helped her feel well enough to attend then so be it. Margrethe frequently wore the same dress to these events so it wouldn't surprise me if Mary wore it again next year without the polo neck.

Sophie looks good at a community centre visit, where she was presented with a cake ahead of her 60th birthday.

Sophie looks fab for 60!

There's a thing in the Daily HateMail (not linking) about Pss Amalia and her sparkly purple dress, but the thing that struck me is the tiara - in the UK I think the convention is that tiaras are only for married women, but that's not the case in NL, clearly. So I am wondering a. if it's just because she is the heir to the throne, or will her sisters also get to rummage in the vaults, possibly once they turn 18? and b. is it just the UK that has the married women only rule, and where it might have come from?

b. is it just the UK that has the married women only rule, and where it might have come from?

This is a guess rather than any knowledge but it might be that women of a certain status received jewels are part of their dowry either in the form of a tiara or that could be made into one.

It’s not a rule in the UK though - Princess Margaret didn’t get married until she was 30, and she’d been wearing tiaras since she was a teenager. Here she is at age 18 representing her father George VI at Queen Juliana of the Netherland’s inauguration.

Princess Anne, Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra and the late Queen all wore tiaras before they were married. Although the women who married in eg Sarah Ferguson and Sophie were given tiaras as wedding gifts.

Thanks, @Serenster , bit of a cross post!

Any excuse to post pictures of glam Princess Margaret 😀

I think that's what 60 tends to look like now for a lot of women!

Too true, Deftly! (Or so I like to believe 😉)

I always assumed Amalia was pronounced Am-ar-lia, but it’s just suddenly struck me that it could be Am-a-lia. Or Ama-lia. Anyone know?

I tell myself that too @KiIIingMeDeftly - on the rare days with good lighting, some sleep and my favourite mirror!

As a contrast, here is the late Queen at 60. Times certainly have changed!
https://images.app.goo.gl/MJUG6KMjf8hkCLgr6

Sophie has lovely skin. The problem with the late Queen is she adopted a hairstyle in middle age that didn't do her any favours (my mother and aunts who are the same generation had the same style - my mum managed to make it pretty, my aunts not so much) - it was quite helmet-like.

Also the fashion during those years was not flattering to her. She had a very nice figure through her entire life but the clothes of her 20s/early 30s and her later years were way more flattering for her. The 70s and 80s weren't kind.

My mum recalls her granny as a white haired old woman sitting in a rocking chair. The granny in question would have been in her late 50s/early 60s at the time.
My remaining Aunties are now in their late 70s to mid 80s and wouldn't fit that description yet.

The Queen Mother wore lots of pastel swishy numbers, and Queen Mary had amazing outfits. I wonder who advised Queen Elizabeth in her midlife clothes, Angela Kelly and the colour blocks worked well.

I have read The Other Side of the Coin by Angela Kelly. From what I remember she's diplomatic but clear that the people who had previously advised her were stuck in the past/had no taste. It's interesting to read.

I remember seeing a photo of my paternal grandmother who looked like a little old lady in her late 70s/early 80s - but when I worked it out she would have been 57.

https://www.newmyroyals.com/2025/01/queen-letizia-visits-dexeus-womens.html
Leti in red! I love the colour and the style of this dress, but am less sure about the wide black belt and the boots, though.

I don’t mind the boots but combined with the wide belt it’s giving a slightly 80’s feel, and nothing a good way. I’m getting Etam vibes. I think the belt looks a bit cheap for some reason

It's a Dries Van Noten dress, designed to be worn without a belt, I think adding one is the problem.