Queen Camilla sports sentimental sapphires at the US State Banquet

Queen Camilla looked stately in a sapphire set of jewels for Tuesday evening’s State Banquet at Windsor Castle.

The Queen, who’d battled against acute sinusitis on Tuesday—missing the Duchess of Kent’s funeral in order to rest—played host alongside King Charles for the US President and First Lady for their historic second state visit, and first at Windsor Castle.

Queen Camilla wore the Belgian Sapphire tiara, which dates back to the late 1800s, from Princess Louise of Belgium. The royal lived a scandalous life and was forced to sell her jewels to get by. The sapphire necklace that made up Princess Louise’s parure was sold to Queen Elizabeth II in 1963, and she used it to make a tiara to accompany her own sapphire parure, which had been a gift from her father, the late King George VI.

Queen Elizabeth had a sapphire necklace and pair of earrings from Carrington & Co., which she received as a wedding gift from her father in 1947. In 1963, she was able to add a tiara, thanks to Princess Louise’s necklace, and wore this sapphire and diamond tiara with regularity for the rest of her life.

To celebrate her Sapphire Jubilee—of 65 years on the throne—in 2017, Queen Elizabeth II posed for an official portrait in her sapphire suite.

Since Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, Queen Camilla has been the sole royal to wear the Belgian Sapphire tiara. She first wore the tiara for the 2022 South African State Banquet and again at the Diplomatic Reception that December.

Queen Camilla paired the Belgian Sapphire tiara with the Diamond Festoon necklace, three rows of large diamonds on a necklace crafted by Cartier for Dame Margaret Greville in the 1920s. Upon her death, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother inherited her jewels, and she personally wore the Diamond Festoon necklace for the rest of her life.

Upon the Queen Mother’s death, Queen Elizabeth II inherited her jewels and gifted it to her daughter-in-law after her 2005 wedding. Queen Camilla has been its sole wearer ever since.

Queen Camilla completed her jewels with a pair of diamond earrings and several bracelets, the Royal Family Order of King Charles III, and the sash and star of the Order of the Garter.