Sophie debuts sparkling gift as the Royal Family meet at Buckingham Palace

Several members of the Royal family were wearing a special gift when they attended the State Banquet for the Amir of Qatar at Buckingham Palace.

For the first time, a range of royals were seen with the family order of King Charles III. The Royal Family Order is presented to female members of the British Royal Family at the discretion of the Monarch. It is presented in private and recipients are not publicly announced; the only time it is revealed that a member of the Royal Family has received the Royal Family Order is when they wear it to a white tie event.

Queen Camilla was the first to wear the order but now others, including the Princess Royal and the Duchess of Edinburgh, have been presented with it.

The portrait of King Charles on the order was painted by miniaturist portrait artist Elizabeth Meek from a photograph taken in 2023 by Hugo Burnard.

A deviation from past Royal Family Orders saw the King decide to have his portrait painted on polymin rather than ivory. Polymin is a synthetic material similar to ivory.

In the portrait, The King is wearing the uniform of the Admiral of the Fleet in his portrait, with the collar of the Order of the Garter, the Royal Victorian Chain, the broad riband of the Royal Victorian Order, and badges from the Order of the Bath and the Order of Merit.

The pale blue ribbon was designed by Philip Treacy, which was inspired by King George VI’s Royal Family Order. The portrait is framed with diamonds and features a diamond and yellow gold-framed Tudor Crown at the top.

In the United Kingdom, Royal Family Orders date back to the reign of King George IV in 1821. His order was blue. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert issued a joint order that was white. King Edward VII based his order on his racing colours, which were blue and red with a gold stripe. King George V’s order was pale blue; King George VI’s was pale pink. Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Family Order was pale yellow.