The Princess of Wales returns to her favourite Lover's Knot Tiara for the Oman state banquet

The Princess of Wales stunned in her all-time favourite tiara as she joined Prince William, King Charles, and Queen Camilla to throw a state banquet in honour of the Sultan of Oman on Tuesday evening.

Stepping out alongside the Prince of Wales, Catherine was a vision in a soft yellow Elie Saab gown, which she paired with the Lover’s Knot tiara – by far her most regular choice for such dazzling occasions.

This heirloom piece has immense sentimental value for both the Prince and Princess of Wales. Princess Diana also 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.

It is not the only time that the Princess of Wales paid tribute to her late mother-in-law on this first day of the Oman state visit. When she joined the royal family to welcome the Sultan to Windsor this afternoon – wearing an elegant green Alexander McQueen dress coat and Chanel bag – she completed her outfit with the Queen Alexandra Three Feathers brooch, which dates all the way back to 1863, when it was gifted to Princess Alexandra of Denmark on the occasion of her wedding to the Prince of Wales – who would go on to be crowned King Edward VII.

The brooch – which depicts the ostrich feathers that make up the Prince of Wales’ heraldic badge, surrounded by diamonds and emeralds – was given to Princess Diana when she tied the knot with Prince Charles while he was Prince of Wales. The jewels will have been gifted to Catherine when she was made Princess of Wales by King Charles in 2022 – a way of paying homage to the generations of women before her who have held the title, including her late mother-in-law.

The brooch comes with a drop emerald, which Catherine occasionally removes from the piece when she wears it – like when she wore it for a Commonwealth Day service in 2023. Princess Diana was known to remove and add the emerald to the brooch depending on her outfit, wearing it as either a pendant or a brooch. Queen Camilla has also been seen in the brooch as the wife of the Prince of Wales. And it seems that Catherine felt it was a fitting addition to her all-green ensemble for the Omani state visit today.

Few royals understand the combination of royal history and modern diplomatic dressing that comes with a state banquet quite like Catherine, Princess of Wales. Long may her wardrobe reign!