Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, just wore one of Princess Kate Middleton’s favorite tiaras to a state banquet at Buckingham Palace.
Sophie, 59, was photographed entering the Tuesday, June 25, event — which was held in honor of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan — wearing the Lotus Flower tiara. She paired the glittering accessory with a green floor-length gown, a diamond necklace and matching diamond earrings.
While this is Sophie’s first time wearing the Lotus Flower tiara, Kate, 42, has worn it on three previous occasions. The Princess of Wales first wore it in December 2013 at a diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace. She wore it a second time at an official banquet in 2015, held in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Madame Peng Liyuan. Most recently, she wore the tiara at the Diplomatic Corps reception, which was held in December 2022 at Buckingham Palace.
The Lotus Flower tiara, which was created in 1923 for the late Queen Mother, has previously been worn by the late Princess Margaret and Serena Armstrong-Jones, Countess of Snowdon.
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Notably, Kate was absent from Tuesday’s state banquet as she continues to undergo treatment for cancer. The royal’s appearance at Trooping the Colour earlier this month was the first official public outing she has made since Christmas Day in 2023.
In a statement released on Friday, June 14, Kate revealed that while she is “making good progress,” she is not “out of the woods yet.”
“As anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days,” she said. “On those bad days, you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well.”
Kate added that she is “taking each day as it comes, listening to my body and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal.”
