Queen Mathilde Brings Royal Sparkle to Greece

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde arrived in Athens on Monday morning to begin the three-day state visit. They were accompanied by a delegation of ministers, business professionals, academics and industrialists who will be working with their Greek counterparts on diplomatic areas of shared interest during the trip.

Philippe and Mathilde were welcomed to the presidential mansion (which was, prior to the abolition of the Greek monarchy in 1973, the Royal Palace) in Athens by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou. Love her modern gold earrings.

The President and the royal couple exchanged official decorations as a part of the welcome ceremony. The Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, Belgium’s highest order of chivalry, rests on the table behind King Philippe. Behind President Sakellaropoulou, I spot an order with a light blue ribbon, likely the Greek Order of the Redeemer.

The royals also called on Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his wife, Mareva Grabowski, during the initial round of meetings and audiences at the start of the visit.

For her arrival in Greece, Queen Mathilde wore a pleated dress in bold shades of orange and hot pink. She carried a matching purse, wore a coordinating hat, and donned shoes and gloves in a neutral shade of tan. Mathilde has worn this dress on previous occasions. She’s even wearing it in the family portrait pictured on the Belgian monarchy’s official Twitter account.

She wore a familiar pair of earrings from her jewelry box: glossy pink cabochon gemstone drops set in a frame of gold filigree. I don’t think we know precisely what these gems are, but my guess is rose quartz. There are also three more small, round cabochon gems in the gold setting of each earring. I’d wager that these darker stones might be garnets. (EDIT: They’re cabochon rubies.) She wore the same earrings in Oman during the couple’s recent trip to the Middle East.

Stay tuned: we’ll have more on the jewels from tonight’s evening event later on today!