This morning in London, Kate Middleton and Prince William met the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, at Buckingham Palace. The Princess of Wales wore a maroon coat dress by Alexander McQueen. It was a tailored—and very on-trend—choice: the moody shade of red has already been described as the color of the season, popping up in recent collections by Gucci, Bottega Veneta, and Saint Laurent. The shade is also the predominant one in the Qatari flag, making it a sartorial symbol of respect.
Yet as au courant as the princess’s designer fashion was, the standout element of her element wasn’t her clothing, but her accessories.
The first piece to note? A quilted Chanel bag with an enamel handle from the French brand’s fall 2016 collection. It was an unusually luxurious choice for Middleton, who rarely wears items that aren’t from British designers and often leans towards more affordable fashion. The other notable accessories? Her jewelry—and more specifically, her Bahrain pearl drop earrings and Japanese pearl choker necklace, both given to her by the late Queen Elizabeth.
As the name suggests, the Bahrain pearl drop earrings have historical ties to the Gulf state: the ruler of Bahrain gave the pearls to the then-princess Elizabeth as a wedding present in 1947. Since inheriting the jewelry in 2022, Middleton has worn them on just a handful of occasions—yet, with their origins in the region, the visit of the Emir of Qatar feels like their most apropos outing yet.
Then, there’s the necklace, which features four strings of pearls and a diamond clasp in the center. The cultured pearls were given to Queen Elizabeth by the government of Japan in the 1970s to commemorate her first state visit to the country, and she then commissioned royal jeweler Garrard to make them into a necklace. Throughout her reign, the Queen often wore it during visits abroad, including during a royal tour of Bangladesh in 1983. Yet towards the end of her life, she began lending it to her granddaughter-in-law. In 2021, Kate Middleton wore it to the funeral of Prince Phillip.
It feels fitting that the Princess of Wales is wearing the family heirloom in the same way the late, great monarch did—for visits that involve soft diplomacy. That seems to be the royal way.
