Every tiara worn at the Oman state banquet

Oh, what a night! As ever, the royal family put on a glittering display of pomp and ceremony for a state banquet at Windsor Castle, pulling out all the stops in honour of the Sultan of Oman. While it was King Charles who officially sent out the invitation, it was the women of the House of Windsor who brought a touch of star power to the proceedings.

How? Queen Camilla, the Princess of Wales, Princess Anne and the Duchess of Gloucester each wore a sparkling tiara. Storied in their histories and glorious in their glamour, these heirloom jewels were the toast of the state banquet. Fortunately, Tatler has everything you need to know about the dazzlers selected for the evening – and, more importantly, why they were chosen.

The Princess of Wales in the Lover's Knot tiara

No surprises here! Cathrine reunited with her all-time favourite tiara for the state banquet on Tuesday, donning the Lover's Knot tiara that holds such sentimental value to both her and the Prince of Wales. How could it not? After all, Princess Diana treasured the tiara, which was created in 1914 by the House of Garrard for Queen Mary, who was inspired by a similar headpiece owned by her grandmother, Princess Augusta of Hesse.

After Queen Mary’s death in 1953, she bequeathed the Lovers’ Knot to her granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II. After wearing the tiara throughout the 50s, the late Queen is said to have loaned it to Princess Diana as a wedding present in 1981. In a somewhat iconoclastic move, the late Princess of Wales instead chose to wear the Spencer Tiara, which had been in her family for decades. Diana did, however, soon become closely associated with the Lovers’ Knot, in spite of the fact that it was so heavy to wear that it is said to have given her headaches.

During her own royal career, Catherine has worn the Lover’s Knot tiara at six such diplomatic dinners, as well as for a 2017 state banquet in honour of King Felipe and Queen Letizia, a 2019 dinner for King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima and a 2025 dinner for President Macron. When the royals gathered to welcome US President Donald Trump to Buckingham Palace in 2019, Kate was wearing her favourite tiara, and she also chose it for her first state banquet as the Princess of Wales when the Firm hosted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2022 and later for the Nigerian state banquet in 2026.

This state banquet marks a return to the Lover’s Knot for Catherine. Though she donned it for the Nigerian state visit earlier this year, she shocked the world in December 2025, when she attended the German state banquet wearing the Queen Victoria Oriental Circlet tiara.

Queen Camilla in the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara

As royal histories go, few tiaras are as prolific as the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, which Queen Camilla wore to host the Sultan at Windsor this evening.

Originally made by royal jeweller Garrard, this piece was commissioned by a fundraising committee chaired by Lady Eva Greville, daughter of the 4th Earl of Warwick, as a gift to Princess Mary before her wedding to Prince Albert, the heir to the British throne – but he tragically died before the nuptials, aged just 28.

But Mary of Teck grew close to his younger brother, Prince George, Duke of York. So close that she married him and eventually went on to become Queen Mary. The fundraising for her wedding tiara was so successful that a £3,000 surplus was donated, at Mary’s request, to the widows and children of 350 lost sailors after the HMS Victoria maritime disaster in 1893.

Designed to be transformable, the festoon-and-scroll diamond tiara can be worn as either a necklace or coronet; Queen Mary requested that Garrard replace the original pearls with diamonds and separate the bandeau from the base so that she could wear it as a headband.

In 1947, Queen Mary gave the tiara to her granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth, as a wedding present, and in 1969 the late Queen Elizabeth II asked for the bandeau and tiara to be reunited, as it remains today. It is seen every day on English coins and banknotes, and was worn in the late Queen Elizabeth’s official accession photographs in 1952. She wore it more frequently for royal duties than any of her other jewels, from banquets at the White House to historic events in Dublin.

Princess Anne in the Princess Andrew Meander tiara

Arriving alongside her husband, Sir Timothy Laurence, the Princess Royal was at her elegant best in a gold ensemble adorned with royal insignia this evening. But the finishing touch was the Princess Andrew Meander Tiara, also known as the Greek Key Tiara, which is a favourite piece in Anne's royal jewellery box.

The tiara holds extra sentimental value as it is one that she inherited via her father, the late Duke of Edinburgh. The full diamond bandeau, which features a Greek key pattern and honeysuckle motifs, belonged to her paternal grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, who was given it as a wedding present upon her marriage to Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark. Supremely elegant, there is a large brilliant-cut diamond encircled within a pavé laurel wreath at the centre of the piece.

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When her son married the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947, Princess Alice gave the Meander Tiara to her daughter-in-law as a gift. Whilst Queen Elizabeth has not been seen wearing the tiara herself, the precious legacy was bequeathed to their only daughter, Princess Anne in the late 1960s. Anne has worn the tiara many times since, including to the State Opening of Parliament in 1970 and the 1988 Guildhall Banquet.

As a touching tribute to her grandfather, Zara Phillips paired her mother’s Meander Tiara with a Stewart Parvin dress for her 2011 wedding to English Rugby player Mike Tindall. The tiara is now synonymous with one of the greatest royal weddings in recent years.

The tiara remains a favourite of the Princess Royal, who also sported it for the Nigerian state banquet in March.

The Duchess of Gloucester in the Gloucester Honeysuckle tiara

The Duchess of Gloucester opted for a treasured family heirloom from the vast Gloucester jewellery vaults to join her royal relatives at Windsor Castle.

The Gloucester Honeysuckle Tiara was originally commissioned by Queen Mary after the succession of her husband, King George V, in 1910. The Gloucester Honeysuckle repurposed the diamonds previously used in Queen Mary’s wedding gifts – the Ladies of England Tiara and the Surrey Fringe Tiara. So significant was the Tiara that it once bore the Cullinan V diamond, cut from the largest diamond ever found.

The Tiara was passed on to the Gloucesters after the wedding of Queen Mary’s son, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, to Lady Alice Montague Douglas Scott in 1935. The new Duchess wore the piece for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and it became a fast favourite for Princess Alice until she passed away in 2004 as the oldest ever member of the royal family.

Illustrious shoes to fill when it comes to a lifetime of royal duty, but a legacy that has been continued with grace by Birgitte, who has worn the Honeysuckle Tiara at numerous royal engagements, including the 1995 wedding of Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg to Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth, and that American state visit in 2019. More recently, she wore it to honour President Macron of France at a dinner at the London Guildhall in 2025 – pairing the tiara with the same smart white ensemble as she wore for the Oman state visit this evening.