In a gracious move, Queen Camilla has returned a fashion favour to US first lady Melania Trump at a White House state banquet held in honour of the royal visit with King Charles.
In a bold fuchsia Fiona Clare dress, Camilla redeemed Melania’s much decried decision to wear a canary-yellow strapless Carolina Herrera dress with a lilac belt to Windsor Castle last year, alongside President Donald Trump.
Melania’s bold choice drew criticism on social media, with one of the kinder rebukes coming from Vogue contributor Melanie Kwei telling the BBC that the garish gown was “not the expected colour to see at a high state banquet”.
At Tuesday’s night’s banquet, Camilla evened the playing field in retina-searing fuchsia, with the equally blinding Kent Amethyst necklace and earrings, which originally belonged to the mother of Queen Victoria who wore them to a royal wedding in 1858.
While sticking to her shoulder-baring style with a single strap, Melania played it safer in a pale-pink Dior haute couture gown, which gathered in gentle folds at the waist, worn with white opera gloves.
Camilla refrained from donning a tiara, having cemented her regal credentials earlier in the day on the White House south lawn wearing the priceless Cullinan V brooch and carrying a £25 ($47) clear plastic umbrella.
The 18.8 carat Cullinan V brooch was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth II, but it was the clear plastic umbrellas that increased the late monarch’s popularity with the British public. The clear styles, often with matching trims, were ordered by Elizabeth from 2003, becoming part of her signature look on wet days.
Rather than commission a pale-pistachio trim, to match her green silk dress by Fiona Clare, Camilla stuck with basic black detail on her brolly.
For an exchange of gifts, where Melania received a brooch made by British jewellery designer Fiona Rae, and Camilla accepted a set of monogrammed Tiffany & Co teaspoons, the first lady wore a fitted white Ralph Lauren suit with a wide-brimmed straw hat by milliner Eric Javits.
In the afternoon at US Congress, where King Charles delivered a speech, Camilla continued her brooch onslaught, wearing a carved rock crystal, diamond and enamel brooch, that was a prize procession of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. In 1927, the Queen Mother wore the brooch pinned to the brim of her hat for a tour of Australia as Duchess of York coinciding with the opening of Parliament House in Canberra.
The brooch was pinned to a white Anna Valentine dress with exaggerated black blanket stitch trim details.
Camilla has worn the dress before, for the state visit of the Emperor and Empress of Japan to the UK in 2024 and VE Day celebrations at Westminster Abbey in 2025.
Whether the bold fuchsia gown which Camilla wore to the state banquet enters her wardrobe rotation remains to be seen. Melania’s strapless yellow dress from last year has never been spotted again.
Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox every Monday.
