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


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
No she isn't wearing the collar, she is wearing it on the red bow.

Thanks, I see it now. Maybe the collar was too heavy for her to wear ? Anyway, is there a link to a close-up picture where we can actually see the insignia ?
 
I thought the King's English was near perfect which is pretty amazing given how nerve-wracking it must be to speak in a 2nd language in front of that crowd. IMO he made as many minor mistakes/stumbles as the Queen did in her speech.
Didn't predict any of those tiara choices tbh! Nice necklace on Kate but have to say when she walked in I thought the dress looked horrendous, I'll wait for pictures to judge lol!
Interesting that the Queen mentioned 'difference' in reference to Gibraltar.

I think she used roughly the same words back in 1986 when King Juan Carlos visited her and she also spoke about "differences". In other words, in 31 years, no meaningful progress has been made really !
 
Thanks, I see it now. Maybe the collar was too heavy for her to wear ? Anyway, is there a link to a close-up picture where we can actually see the insignia ?



No I think this is how it is designed to be worn by Ladies.

You can zoom in on some of the DF pics.IMG_0089.jpg
 
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The Duchess of Cambridge is wearing Diana's Collingwood earrings too.
 
Is this the first time she's worn Diana's personal jewelry (other than the engagement ring)?


LaRae

Good question... the Lover's Knot tiara was on loan to Diana, but in terms of personal jewels.... this might be the first time other than her engagement ring.
 
Some information from me:
The footman behind the Queen is Barry Mitford, HM's second most important butler, he is one of her two Pages of the Backstairs.

The other Page of the Backstairs is Paul Whybrew (known as "Big Paul"), HM's most important butler. He was the one who starred alongside the Queen in the James Bond thing during the Olympics in 2012. He is never present at State Banquets.

Prince Philip also has two Pages of the Backstairs - Stephen Niedojadlo and William Henderson.
 
I thought the King's English was near perfect which is pretty amazing given how nerve-wracking it must be to speak in a 2nd language in front of that crowd. IMO he made as many minor mistakes/stumbles as the Queen did in her speech.
Didn't predict any of those tiara choices tbh! Nice necklace on Kate but have to say when she walked in I thought the dress looked horrendous, I'll wait for pictures to judge lol!
Interesting that the Queen mentioned 'difference' in reference to Gibraltar. Also I hadn't realised Juan Carlos was the first foreign monarch to address both houses of parliament, I kept reading it was important to the Spanish that Felipe do so but hadn't realised the history behind it.
I liked Felipe acknowledging the extra turnout in royal attendance, nice touch!

I thought I'd heard it said that King Felipe speaks perfect English. He clearly doesn't, which is fine, I was just surprised in listening to the end of his speech.
 
The Queen didn't wear the two RFOs she has..
 
Can we find a better picture of Prince Harry, during the live feed I thought I caught a glimpse of two breast stars.IMG_0090.jpg
 
How great to see Harry at the Banquet! Finally, I'd say, remember how long it took us to see William and Kate attend state banquets.
 
Which male Prince consorts are you talking about? Prince Henrik did not receive the Order of the Garter and only his wife, The Head of State and Queen, received it. This is the tradition. The Queen only bestows the Order upon Head of States and not Consorts.


All Prince consorts (Claus of the NL, Henrik, not sure of Bernard of the NL - but I´m pretty sure he had abritish order) during HMs reign received the Grand Cross of the Victorian Order, the one Camilla and Sophie got!

May I ask what RFO means?


Royal Family Order, like the ones your female members in Norway all have!

Good question... the Lover's Knot tiara was on loan to Diana, but in terms of personal jewels.... this might be the first time other than her engagement ring.

No! The Duchess of Cambridge has worn it already twice for the diplomatic reception, held in december
 
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I didn't see the Duke or Kent or his younger brother Prince Michael on the guest list?
 
No! The Duchess of Cambridge has worn it already twice for the diplomatic reception, held in december

No, you misunderstand. We were talking about if this is the first time Catherine has worn any personal jewels of Diana other than the engagement ring.
 
No! The Duchess of Cambridge has worn it already twice for the diplomatic reception, held in december

She's worn Diana's earrings twice before? We know she's worn the tiara before. Talking personal jewelry.


LaRae
 
I thought I'd heard it said that King Felipe speaks perfect English. He clearly doesn't, which is fine, I was just surprised in listening to the end of his speech.

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 ? ).

The disappointing points of the evening to me:

1) The procession was somewhat disorganized, I think, and the guests were somewhat unruly as the procession was coming in. I had never seen that before at British state dinners.

2) The Brazilian modern aquamarine tiara is OK, but I think HM should have worn one of the historic tiaras of the House of Windsor instead. Maybe she feels more comfortable with her newer tiaras.

3) As always, we could barely see the guests and especially other royal family members on the video.

4) No Spanish orders for the British ladies. King Felipe spoke of how honored he was to receive the Order of the Garter; he could at least have bestowed a minor order on Camilla as he or his father did to all wives of visting crown princes.

Politically, both the state dinner speeches and the Parliament speech were as expected . I see that King Felipe mentioned twice the issue of Spaniards living in the UK post-Brexit, which suggests that is really a major concern of the EU countries in the Brexit negotiations. The references to Gilbraltar by both sovereigns were roughly identical to what was said in 1986.
 
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The biggest surprise by far (for me) is Lady Gabriella Windsor at the dinner. Prince Andrew must be blowing a gasket over that.
 
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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 ? ).

The disappointing points of the evening to me:

1) The procession was somewhat disorganized, I think, and the guests were somewhat unruly as the procession was coming in. I had never seen that before at British state dinners.

2) The Brazilian modern aquamarine tiara is OK, but I think HM should have worn one of the historic tiaras of the House of Windsor instead. Maybe she feels more comfortable with her newer tiaras.

3) As always, we could barely see the guests and especially other royal family members on the video.

4) No Spanish orders for the British ladies. King Felipe spoke of how honored he was to receive the Order of the Garter; he could at least have bestowed a minor order on Camilla as he or his father did to all wives of visting crown princes.

Politically, both the state dinner speeches and the Parliament speech were as expected . I see that King Felipe mentioned twice the issue of Spaniards living in the UK post-Brexit, which suggests that is really a major concern of the EU countries in the Brexit negotiations. The references to Gilbraltar by both sovereigns were roughly identical to what was said in 1986.



I really don't see point 1. The procession looks as it usually does to my eye and the guests are standing behind their chairs bowing and curtsying as usual. The only people not doing so are the household who are pointing out where people from the procession need to sit.
 
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 ? ).

The disappointing points of the evening to me:

1) The procession was somewhat disorganized, I think, and the guests were somewhat unruly as the procession was coming in. I had never seen that before at British state dinners.

2) The Brazilian modern aquamarine tiara is OK, but I think HM should have worn one of the historic tiaras of the House of Windsor instead. Maybe she feels more comfortable with her newer tiaras.

3) As always, we could barely see the guests and especially other royal family members on the video.

4) No Spanish orders for the British ladies. King Felipe spoke of how honored he was to receive the Order of the Garter; he could at least have bestowed a minor order on Camilla as he or his father did to all wives of visting crown princes.

Politically, both the state dinner speeches and the Parliament speech were as expected . I see that King Felipe mentioned twice the issue of Spaniards living in the UK post-Brexit, which suggests that is really a major concern of the EU countries in the Brexit negotiations. The references to Gilbraltar by both sovereigns were roughly identical to what was said in 1986.

Perfect to me means exactly that, essentially indistinguishable from a native speaker except for perhaps a very slight accent. I'd be interested to hear what his conversational English sounds like.

I agree the video was awful and I was irrationally bothered by the large candelabras blocking the view of some of those at the head table.

I mentioned in one of the fashion threads I don't care for The Queen's tiara but thought it must be relatively comfortable. Some of the more impressive looking ones must feel dreadful on. I didn't realize this was a newer one.

I was irritated by the references to Gibraltar. The issue is settled and both countries have bigger issues to deal with.

Except the Marquess wouldn´t be too fond about it...:whistling::lol:
Not saying it wouldn't be a little awkward! ;)
 
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The biggest surprise for me was that, for once, the Spanish Press got it right and when last week they mentioned that "all the BRF would be present at the dinner", they actually meant it!

That was a great turn out, and everything is, IMo, just perfect. It was worth the long wait ?
 
Neither, I suspect, would Meghan Markle...

Nevertheless, the Marchioness is a stunning woman. I learned from Wikipedia that she was a fashion model, is that right ?
 
The Queen's fashion/jewelry etc:

When you are the Queen of 16 countries, the figurehead of two billion people, served your peoples for 65 years, is the most beloved/popular and famous head of state (many would say person) in the world, is an inernationl icon and is 91, then you can wear what the heck you want in my eyes.

And I think she looks great! (From a 29 year old guy who is not interested in royal fashion at all)
 
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