State Visit from the King and Queen of Spain: July 12-14, 2017


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wow! what a splendorous banquet tonight!

letizia looks fantastic. red is her colour and that tiara is my favourite. even letizia with her tiny frame and head can make it work. it looks stunning - totally fit for a queen! she should use this one more often and ditch her 'starter' floral tiara.

and kate does not disappoint herself. that tiara, paired with the earrings and that stunning necklace is gorgeous. the dress is perfect to show off the beautiful necklace . i hope we get better pictures of her dress and the necklace.

the Marchioness of Cholmondeley! how interesting to see her at this banquet. is she a regular invitee to state visit banquets? i see in one of the pictures a lady in white near kate, so my guess is that she and her husband arrived with kate and william. given their friendship, maybe they are staying with them in london and arrived together to BP?

and another tiara event tomorrow, yay! we are in for a treat again. i suspect letizia brought another of her big guns tiaras. i am suspecting she will use the princess Victoria Louise of Hanover's Prussian Diamond Tiara or the mellerio shell (la chata), or her own ansorena tiara. however, the optimist part of me is hoping to see the tiara Cartier that cristina worn at the wedding of victoria and daniel, or (catch me if i faint!) the russian tiara that letizia never wore (belonging to sofia).
 
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The Marchioness of Cholmondeley is there in her capacity as the spouse of her Husband 'the Lord Great Chamberlain', the most senior post at court.
 
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What does perfect mean anyway ? I think that, if you listen to his speech to Parliament, where he spoke much longer in English, you will get a better sense of his fluency, It is quite obvious that the state banquet setting is rather intimidating (do you remember Philippe of Belgium at the Danish state banquet ? )..


Just what I was going to say. Listen to his address to Parliament. He's fluent as they come.


Anyone notice how Prince Charles bows to King Felipe, but not to Queen Letizia. Any idea why? He did it twice -- at the hotel and at Clarence House. I've noticed that Denmark's Crown Prince usually doesn't bow to any of the monarchs closer to his age (King Willem-Alexander & Queen Maxima, for example).
 
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The Queen looks really small next to petite Letizia. Even Prince Philip seems to have lost his heigth.
 
The Queen looks really small next to petite Letizia. Even Prince Philip seems to have lost his heigth.

She's never been a tall woman to begin with and the effect you describe ("losing your height") is a common phenomenon in older people. I don't think anyone cares about that. On the contrary, seeing the Queen in her advanced age attending a state banquet in the evening in a long gown and matching jewelry and speaking so fluently in her speech only boosts one's admiration of her devotion to service.
 
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I am pretty sure there is a second breast star, could it be a Spanish Order.

If it is I am really confused as to why Harry would get one and not William, perhaps he did and we just haven't seen a photo yet.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pX6c26Sg...B-0yKE0x_3ACLcBGAs/s1600/Banquet-screen-9.jpg

There's a gif on the order of splendour blog showing the royals walking in, harry defo has two different badges on. Interestingly they are next to each other and the other men who have two stars wear one on top of the other, my understanding being that the most 'senior' is worn on top. So can we guess Harry's other badge is the same or close in rank as the RVO?
 
I get the feeling The King did give members of the royal family an order.
 
There's a gif on the order of splendour blog showing the royals walking in, harry defo has two different badges on. Interestingly they are next to each other and the other men who have two stars wear one on top of the other, my understanding being that the most 'senior' is worn on top. So can we guess Harry's other badge is the same or close in rank as the RVO?



If we look at The Duke of Edinburgh he has his Spanish star next to his Garter Star. So I'm guessing you wear foreign stars side by side.
 
Harry's second order looks like Charles's Spanish order to me.
 
The Marchioness of Cholmondeley is there in her capacity as the spouse of her Husband 'the Lord Great Chamberlain', the most senior post at court.

Interestingly, given his relationship with William, Cholmondeley will not be Charles' Lord Great Chamberlain, but will be William's. The office is split between multiple holders, who each hold a share. Cholmondeley holds half of it, but the other half is split between 12 people.

Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby holds half of that allotment. The other 11 people all hold between 1/20 and 1/100 share in the office; of those, only 3 hold 1/20 (Nicholas Llewellen Palmer, Rufus Keppel, 10th Earl of Albemarle, and Capt. Harry Russell Legge-Bourke). Charles' Lord Great Chamberlain will be one of those four.
 
The biggest surprise by far (for me) is Lady Gabriella Windsor at the dinner. Prince Andrew must be blowing a gasket over that.

Maybe the York girls have no interest in state banquets. I mean, Bea (I think) works in NY and Eugenie has a job also. Maybe they don't really want to have to sit through boring speeches with a lot of old people. Lady Gabriella is a different story given the mother she has.

I don't know. I just think if either Bea or Eugenie wanted to go to state banquets there would be no problem getting them an invitation from their grandmother.
 
I had a look at the video thanks! I'm more inclined to feel that he is wearing the Garter and the Thistle stars but it really is almost impossible to tell!

I think you're probably right. Certainly they seem to be the same shape as the two stars he was wearing at last year's diplomatic dinner.
 
I am lost here. What would be Harry's "first order" anyway ? I thought he had none.

The Queen appointed Harry to the (KCVO) Knight Commander of The Royal Royal Victorian Order in 2015. He's wearing the orders badge along with another order.
 
I think you're probably right. Certainly they seem to be the same shape as the two stars he was wearing at last year's diplomatic dinner.



The mystery of why Harry gets an order (if indeed that is the case continues!).

I'd love to just ring BP in the morning and ask lol
 
I think you're right ! Camilla is an avid Van Cleef collector.

perhaps 70th birthday gift from Charles? they are spectacular and like nothing really in the royal vaults
 
Thanks for the photos and videos!

Prime Minister May wore a beautiful hat.

It was rather surprising to find Princess Michael and Lady Gabriella to be a part of the royal procession.
 
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Prince William has the Garter and Thistle. He hasn't been awarded the KCVO.

But still indeed the same question applies re Harry!



William isn't likely to have a Victorian Order because it's in service to the monarch and he is a future monarch. Charles doesn't have it either.
 
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