How exciting is this: we’ve got a tiara sighting at a state banquet! King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima are currently on a state visit to Germany, and Maxima has pulled out all the stops with her heirloom jewels for the trip. Here’s a rundown of all the jewels we saw during the first two days of the visit.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands arrived in Germany on July 5 for their first major state visit in more than a year. They met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, where they also stopped by the famous Brandenberg Gate with Michael Mueller, the Mayor of Berlin.
Queen Maxima wore a dress printed with colorful vines and branches, as well as flowers and bees. The ribbon pinned to her dress is the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Maxima’s outfit also include a coordinating headpiece, seen here as she signed the Golden Book during a visit to Germany’s national research institute for disease control and prevention.
She accessorized with a really fascinating pair of earrings set with pearls and peridots, plus a pair of diamond bracelets and a slender gold bangle. She also stacked her watch with another bracelet on her left wrist.
On Monday evening, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were treated to a state dinner at Bellevue Palace. (That’s Elke Buedenbender, Germany’s first lady, standing at the top of the stairs; she’s using crutches after fracturing her foot.) Queen Maxima wore one of her most iconic gowns: a purple embroidered dress by Jan Taminiau. The incredible gown was inspired by the wallpaper in the Japanese Room at Huis ten Bosch.
Notable previous appearances of the dress include King Willem-Alexander’s 50th birthday celebration in April 2017…
…and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark’s 50th birthday gala in Copenhagen in May 2018.
Queen Maxima was dripping in diamonds for Monday’s state dinner. She wore the Stuart Tiara in one of its smaller settings for the occasion. This is the third setting of the iconic tiara that she’s worn so far.
Queen Maxima debuted the tiara in another smaller setting during a state visit to Luxembourg in May 2018.
She wore the complete tiara for the first time during a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in London in October 2018.
The incredible earrings that Maxima wore for Monday’s state dinner in Germany are also part of the tiara. The individual clusters are affixed to the tiara when it’s worn in its full setting.
She also wore several other diamond jewels, including a diamond riviere that came to the Netherlands with Queen Sophie in the nineteenth century. The necklace is thought to have come from Russia, and was inherited by Sophie from her mother, Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, Queen of Wuerttemberg. You’ll also spot Maxima’s engagement and wedding rings on her left hand, and her diamond wedding bracelet on her left wrist.
On her right wrist, Maxima stacked both of the Dutch East Indies Bracelets. The two diamond and platinum bracelets were originally part of one much larger bracelet, which had been given to Queen Juliana as a wedding present in 1937 by the people of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). She also wore her emerald-cut diamond ring on her right hand.
On Tuesday, the couple participated in a second day of engagements in Germany, including visits to the Reichstag building and the Chancellery in Berlin.
Queen Maxima wore a summery outfit in shades of tan and beige, with a very leafy statement hat.
If the outfit looks familiar, there’s a good reason: Maxima wore the hat and dress (and even the same shoes, gloves, and bag) at Royal Ascot in June 2019. She accessorized with the large earrings from the Stuart Tiara—the same ones worn for Monday evening’s banquet.
For Tuesday’s engagements, Maxima wore diamonds and pearls. Her earrings feature golden pearl studs, diamond dangles, and white pearl drops.
She wore a distinctive diamond and pearl ring on her right hand, and her diamond wedding bracelet on her left wrist.
On Tuesday evening, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima joined President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and First Lady Elke Buedenbender at the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin for a return gala event.
Once again, Maxima’s dress may look familiar to you. She wore it almost exactly ten years ago for Prince Albert and Princess Charlene’s wedding reception in Monaco. On that occasion, she paired it with jewels from the Dutch Aquamarine Parure.
Maxima wore the aquamarines with the blue lace gown again for the concert on Tuesday, although she left the tiara from the suite back home. She wore the aquamarine briolette drop earrings, plus the suite’s 1920s-era necklace. The necklace was Queen Juliana’s 18th birthday present from her grandmother, Queen Emma.
Maxima also wore one of the family’s antique diamond ears of wheat ornaments in her hair. The ears of wheat date to the turn of the nineteenth century, and they’re also often worn on a tiara frame.
Maxima finished off the look with a few more jewels, including her diamond wedding bracelet, an aquamarine cocktail ring, and the rectangular brooch from the aquamarine suite. Maxima wore the brooch, which was Prince Bernhard’s wedding gift to Queen Juliana in 1937, as a buckle-style ornament at the waist of her dress, just as she’d done in Monaco a decade earlier.
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