Princess Cathy Crowns Herself Queen of Christmas at the Diplomatic Corps Reception at Buckingham Palace

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Princess Catherine once again pulls out the full royal drag; this time, for the Diplomatic Corps Reception. This is one of those annual events on the royal calendar that tend to highlight the absence of Queen Elizabeth, just like any calendar event or holiday in the first year of mourning. For the occasion, Kate hit the newly accessible areas of the royal jewel vault, cracked her knuckles, wiggled her fingers, eeny-meeny-miney-mo’d it and landed on the Lotus Flower tiara, which originally belonged to the Queen Mother. She also did something that would appear to be a first, or at the very least, a rarity for her: wore her hair down with a tiara.

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The dress is very pretty and festive, but the design is basic to the point of generic. Then again, when you’re sporting not only several pounds worth of sequins but several pounds worth of diamonds, you probably don’t want a fussy frock. Kate has two gifts that really allow her to excel at this job in a way very few members of the royal family do: She has a great smile and she’s one of the few people currently alive who can wear a tiara. Princess Margaret once marveled at her sister’s ability to wear a tiara by noting that she was the only person she knew who could put one on with one hand while walking down a flight of stairs. We don’t know if Kate’s quite at that level yet, but she really has a knack for pulling off these fusty old things. Camilla, bless her heart, just doesn’t have the ability to pull them off. We’ll go even further and suggest that the previous Princess of Wales only rarely managed to make them work for herself and the Queen Mother never really looked right in them. Margaret and Elizabeth always looked, if not great, then correct in them and a big part of that had to do with their signature helmet hair. A tiara does best with some sort of hair frame that feels appropriate to it. What’s of slight interest here is how much volume Kate’s hair has in order to compensate for the tiara. It not only looks great, it’s really smart styling that takes its cues from two of the last masters of tiara-wearing.

Style Credits:
– Jenny Packham ‘Elodie’ Floral Bead-embellished Gown
– Lotus Flower Tiara
– Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Frame Earrings

[Photo Credit: Victoria Jones/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images]

• Catherine Duchess of Cambridge
• Catherine Princess of Wales
• Jenny Packham
• Kate Middleton
• Royal Watch