With just weeks to go until King Charles and Queen Camilla are set to head to the US for a State Visit, final preparations are being made. The trip is expected to include a State Banquet, the only moment during the trip that The Queen could wear a tiara. However, two historic jewels are already out of the reckoning and one has symbolic ties to the UK’s relationship with President Donald Trump.
Given President Trump’s fondness for royalty, there’s every chance Queen Camilla will wear a tiara for the State Dinner. Queen Elizabeth II always wore a diadem for such banquets during her State Visits to Washington which is another indication that full royal sparkle will be initiated.
(Royal Collection Trust)
This time round, though, Queen Camilla has a more limited choice of tiara as two of the major jewels available to her are now on show in London. The Brazilian Aquamarine Tiara and the Burmese Ruby Tiara are both part of the brand new exhibition, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, which has just opened at The King’s Gallery in London.
Both were designed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and both can only be worn by a queen. And while Queen Camilla has never worn the Aquamarine Tiara, which has only ever been used by Queen Elizabeth II, she has been seen in the Burmese Ruby diadem.
(The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
In fact, the ruby tiara was the one worn by Queen Elizabeth II when President Donald Trump carried out his first State Visit to the UK in 2019. When he returned in 2025, Queen Camilla wore one of her own personal favourites from the queen only collection of tiaras – the sapphire diadem from the George VI suite of jewels. That tiara, which was again a creation of the reign of Elizabeth II, transformed a Belgian sapphire necklace into a tiara.
It also has US links as Queen Elizabeth II wore it to the State Dinner held for her during her visit to the country in 1991. Other picks for US State Visits included the Queen Alexandra Kokoshnik, a towering piece made of diamonds, and the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, another all diamond diadem and one which was said to be a favourite of Queen Elizabeth II.
Queen Camilla has worn both those tiaras in the past so they remain favourites for her to take this time as well. The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland was chosen by Queen Camilla for one of the biggest events of her husband’s reign, the dinner given in their honour following the Coronation. The Queen Alexandra Kokoshnik was worn to a State Banquet.
There are, of course, a number of tiaras that The Queen could choose if she does wear one to the White House during the Visit. The glittering dinner will be one of the high points of the visit which comes at the end of the month and which is designed to cement relations between the UK and the US.
