As soon as I saw the news that the Duchess of Edinburgh wore the Lotus Flower Tiara to the state banquet for Japan’s emperor and empress, I knew that something shady happened behind the scenes. As I explained yesterday, once a royal woman wears a specific tiara to a state occasion, that tiara is associated with that royal for years, at least that’s how it was during Queen Elizabeth’s reign. QEII was stingy with tiaras, and Sophie was basically only allowed to borrow two aquamarine-and-diamond tiaras during QEII’s reign. Then, suddenly, Sophie turns up in the Lotus Flower Tiara, a piece which has been worn multiple times by the Princess of Wales? A message is being sent. As I said yesterday, it felt like Sophie’s whole suite of jewelry was supposed to be for Kate too, not just the tiara, but the necklace and earrings too. The whole jewelry look was very “Kate.” Well, here’s something equally weird: out of nowhere, Sophie skipped a dinner last night (Wednesday night) for the Japanese emperor and empress.
The Duchess of Edinburgh skipped Wednesday evening’s banquet with the Japanese Emperor, despite her expected attendance. Naruhito, the Emperor of Japan, was expected to be joined by Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh for a Banquet at the Guildhall on Wednesday evening.
However, only the Duke of Edinburgh, 60, was in attendance to represent the British Royal Family.
The Banquet at the Guildhall was held by the Lord Mayor and City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor and the Japanese Emperor are both expected to make speeches at the end of the banquet.
It is unknown why Sophie, 59, was not present at the event despite her expected attendance.
GB News has approached Buckingham Palace for comment.
Prince Edward was photographed beside Emperor Naruhito, the Lord Mayor of London Michael Mainelli, and his wife Elisabeth Mainelli at the banquet.
If the point of the jewelry was that Sophie was the second-highest-ranked British royal woman at the state banquet, why did she then skip the event the next night which would have seen her as the highest-ranked British woman? Was there a fight behind the scenes over tiaras? Did someone not want the image of Sophie, decked out in more jewels, representing the family at this second dinner? What’s really going on? The Edinburghs have really entered the “something really weird is going down with the Windsors” chat.
I should also say this: this Guildhall dinner sounds exactly like the kind of event which should have been assigned to the heir. This is exactly the kind of thing Charles used to do when he was Prince of Wales. I hope Emperor Naruhito wasn’t offended that he only got one relatively low-ranked prince at this dinner.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh centre, arrives for the Order of the Garter service, which is held at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Monday, June 17, 2024. The Order of the Garter is the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry, established by King Edward III nearly 700 years ago. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool),Image: 882372575, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Pool, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Avalon
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- Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and her husband Prince Edward wave at the crowds after the attended the Order of the Garter service, which is held at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Monday, June 17, 2024. The Order of the Garter is the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry, established by King Edward III nearly 700 years ago. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool),Image: 882392246, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Pool, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Avalon
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- Image Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. 17/06/2024. Windsor , United Kingdom. Prince Edward and Sophie, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh , leaving the Garter Day service at Windsor Castle,United Kingdom.,Image: 882397070, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Licenced to i-Images Picture Agency. All Rights Reserved. UK copyright law applies to all print & online publications. i-Images space rates apply to all images. Magazines contact agency for fees before use. Images Single use only then repro fees apply. Info@i-images.co Tel: 07860204379, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Stephen Lock / i-Images / Avalon
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- Camera Press Rota 04604421. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and Prince William attend the Garter Ceremony at Windsor Castle.,Image: 882605140, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Camera Press Rota, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: David Dyson / Avalon
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- London, UK, 25 June 2024: Queen Camilla, King Charles III, Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at the state visit banquet in Buckingham Palace in London.,Image: 884662929, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock / Avalon
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- London, UK, 25 June 2024: Britain’s King Charles III, right with Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako, and Queen Camilla pose for the cameras ahead of the State Banquet during the State Visit to Britain of the Japanese Emperor and Empress in Buckingham Palace in London.,Image: 884675869, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Pool, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Avalon
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- Ms Julia Longbottom, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duchess of Edinburgh and H.E. Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone make their way along the East Gallery to attend the State Banquet for Emperor Naruhito and his wife Empress Masako of Japan at Buckingham Palace, London, as part of their state visit to the UK. Picture date: Tuesday June 25, 2024. . NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 884750370, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Ms Julia Longbottom, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duchess of Edinburgh and H.E. Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone make their way along the East Gallery to attend the State Banquet for Emperor Naruhito and his wife Empress Masako of Japan at Buckingham Palace, London, as part of their state visit to the UK. Picture date: Tuesday June 25, 2024. . NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 884750370, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Ms Julia Longbottom, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duchess of Edinburgh and H.E. Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone make their way along the East Gallery to attend the State Banquet for Emperor Naruhito and his wife Empress Masako of Japan at Buckingham Palace, London, as part of their state visit to the UK. Picture date: Tuesday June 25, 2024. . NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 884750370, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
If the velvet on the tiara base had been changed to match Sophie’s hair, then I would think that the choice was suspicious. Since she wore it with Kate’s dark velvet, I think it was a last-minute loan.
It is odd, though, that she was a no-show for the Guild Hall.
Kate may have been upgraded to something bigger and flashier.
Maybe I got the timing wrong, but I assumed the black velvet meant the lotus tiara was for Anne and then she pulled out due to the riding injury?
Anne owns her own tiara, a gift from the good ol’ days of important people christening big boats with champagne bottles and getting jewelry for acting as godparent to the ship.
It’s pretty much the only tiara she ever wears, these past…few decades?
Might have been nothing more than a headache.
Well maybe someone was upset about the tiara and a spat occurred or she decided if Can’t can miss six months than she can miss a dinner.
Now QE2 has gone we see the true laziness of the royals
They are proving more and more that things can roll on without royals. Wonder if Sophie has fallen ill now.
So, Sophie was supposed to be there, wasn’t there, and no explanation was given for her absence? Maybe they’re going to disappear all the Windsor women married-ins.
Out of all of them, does anyone else think she and Edward have the happiest marriage? I remember when she wore a really glamourous, un Sophie, dress to a big red carpet event. It didn’t quite work and she couldn’t quite carry it off, but when she got out of the car and stood beside her husband, he looked SO proud of her. I appreciate one appearance doesn’t guarantee a happy marriage, but I sense they have a togetherness the others don’t, and she is more secure than other marry-ins.
Yeah, I think they have a good marriage. I noticed their children feel easy around them too because there is no tension between their parents. They look at each other like any normal loving couple.
They might be happy but it is definitely a marriage of convenience . But maybe they are friends and genuinely like each other . Like a lot of the royals I don’t think Edward is interested in women .
This family is so awful that in any other situation you would just assume it was something innocent like Sophie not feeling well but with the Windsors our first thought is that there was a big fight about a tiara. Lol and they want Harry and Meghan to miss this nonsense. Personally I had wondered if Kate had wanted to come to this (tiaras and new gowns!!!!) but was shut down. Then Sophie appears in her tiara……girlies are fighting!
Edward was there and not Sophie? With no explanation? And they wonder why conspiracy theories flourish on this family.
💯
Why did they even bother with this visit? ONLY Edward showed up?
I believe she decked herself out like this as a message of support for Kate rather than anything more sinister. That’s what I’ve read since. (I know! People will say I’m gullible, as per.) More surprised she skipped it, having commented on her work ethic elsewhere. I wonder at her health. Looking more closely, she looks incredibly ruddy in the face?
If she wasn’t feeling well, showing up here is a huge misstep. At least among my relatives, you mask up and don’t inconvenience others.
Good point as ever, ML. Which got me thinking. It could be something non infectious or something mental health? I hope it’s neither.
ps Must add, mental health issues don’t of course make one ruddy in the face. But perhaps feeling overwhelmed, even tearful, could account for a heavy makeup and preoccupation. She doesn’t look right here imo.
The Emperor and Empress… surely to goodness the senior royals should have been there… Camilla AND Willi… for them not to be there is a total disgrace. No Charlie ok he is probably doing too much, no Anne she is given a pass obviously, but Willi is just lazy… I am ashamed of them, even more so than usual.
This was the Lord Mayor’s event. The BRF sent a minor royal so as to not upstage him.
No sorry at the secondary event which usually happens several senior royals turn up… it used to be Charles, often the Gloucesters and Kents who I imagine are now too old to do two long late nights. Of course Anne would have been there, but I think Willi should have been there.
It is curious but Edward is the royal who was supposed to show up, which he did.
I was saying yesterday that maybe Sophie was given the Lotus Flower tiara because Kate got the Strathmore Rose but as someone up post pointed out the black velvet base wasn’t changed. This means it wasn’t anticipated that Sophie would be wearing the Lotus Flower tiara.
So yeah this does seem like an event for William, the heir. Does he just refuse? And they sigh and say okay get Edward to do it. As for Sophie’s missing appearance, no idea.
I think, his team just says “no, he isn’t available” to BP’s requests. Sometimes, BP just announces that Will will attend (I suspect, without asking him), which forces him to come out of hiding.
The idea of them just announcing that he is attending something is amazing. I hope they do that. They should really do that more. But they run the risk of William putting out his own notice saying that no he won’t be doing that due to the school runs or spooning broth to his wife or something .
He’s not going to do two boring events in a row. He has the Scotland stuff next week. This man is going to hate being King.
That family is a red hot mess in so many ways.
I just read yesterday’s article (not the comments though), after reading this one. Sophie isn’t exactly interacting or beaming with the emperor?
The Windsors have now been put on notice, if they weren’t aware of the impact the lotus tiara would have on Sophie’s head, that changing jewelry will cause talk. If done because they needed Sophie last minute, this might have been beyond their control due to poor planning. This tiara was last worn for the South Korean visit—maybe someone thought “East Asian dinner—this?” I can’t imagine that Sophie wore this to support K—that sounds wrong.
If shady, message received. K is not in with the popular crowd chez Windsor.
The person she’s walking with is not the Emperor. He looks like the guy giving side-eye when he rode in the carriage with William.
Question… how come the heir can show up and out for Ascot, football.. Taylor but not for a visiting dignitary…
When you pay attention to the events they prioritise, it really is a joke.
It’s a very good question. One they will never answer. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when William is king. Will he just refuse state visits or reduce the number of events during a state visit?
@Keanu’s Kitten – once again I have to question the government in allowing the heir to do all the “glam” events and skip the bread and butter ones. If we’re looking to do some kind of trade deal with Japan then someone from the government should have insisted he attend. The British public are told time and time again that the reason we subside the BRF is because they represent us at these high profile events. I would like just one MP (I don’t care which party) to raise the question in parliament about creating a committee to scrutinise the work rate of the BRF on a monthly basis.
As for Sophie’s non-attendance. It’s been well documented on here (and elsewhere,) the woman will turn up to the opening of a letter so, for her not to attend this high-profile event does (at the very least) raise eyebrows.
If I wanted a trade deal I would make sure William wasn’t there to put his foot into his mouth. A master of diplomacy william is not.
Guildhall banquets are hosted by the City of London, not the royals. And since Empress Masako did not attend, perhaps DOE Sophie also didn’t attend, so as not to highlight Masako not being there? For many years, the Gloucesters have been the royal representatives at these events.
It makes sense that if the Empress didn’t attend then there’d be no reason for a senior royal woman to attend.
Yes, the Gloucesters have been doing this event for yonks. Having Edward do it is appropriate. Hopefully Sophie was just a little under the weather and nothing weird is happening.
Masako wasn’t there ( that was probably planned) so it would also be in response.
Good point
I was wondering the same because I know how they are about dinner party pairs. But the Empress hadn’t ever planned to be there so Sophie shouldn’t have be scheduled either?? Could just be a scheduling oversight and the BM is trying to squeeze some drama out of it.
Okay, I’ll buy this.
So the Empress wasn’t there…we know she is fragile and has to pace herself. Why does that mean a female royal doesn’t go? That sounds incredibly sexist to me, frankly.
During the last couple of decades of QEII’s reign these Return Dinners were mostly attended by Junior royals. For example, for a long time it was usually the Gloucesters that attended. It was not something that Charles, as the Prince of Wales, usually attended. I always viewed it as a bone that Her Maj would throw to lesser Royals to reward them for all their hard work throughout the year! Only more recently did Princess Anne sub for the Gloucesters at a return dinner. Has Charles put the Gloucesters out to pasture? Were the Edinburgh to take their place as the usual return dinner attendees? Did someone throw a fit about a certain tiara worn the night before? Regardless, it was pretty darn rude of Sophie to just not attend without an explanation.
Hmm. Okay so this wouldn’t be something William would be expected to attend. The problem is that the junior royals now do more than the heir which likely wouldn’t have been the case when Charles was the heir. So it now stands out more.
This is the real problem. Do they think no one notices that the heir is routinely out-performed by his aunt, uncle, and uncle’s wife? He’ll be lucky if his engagements reach 1/4 of Sophie and Anne’s this year. They will pad the numbers, they always do, but yeesh.
I’ve long despised this woman without reason.
Because she looks like every mean girl I’ve ever known.
Just resplendent with privilege.
The height of classism and snobbery.
Just realised that she was 59, the PR campaign when she turns 60 is going to be wild. “The truest linchpin to the monarchy to have ever linchpinned.”
Hee hee
I wonder if Khate royally (ha) bitched her out about the tiara and made Sophie so upset she couldn’t face the dinner. Wouldn’t be the first time a fellow in-law was reduced to tears….
Ditto. Remember that garbled gossip about how William didn’t want Meghan wearing a tiara in the Royal collection that Diana had worn? It was weird because Diana had never worn a tiara from the Royal Collection but rather the Queen’s personal collection. I understood the gossip to mean either (or both) that William did not want Meghan to wear the Spencer tiara or a tiara of the Queen’s that Diana or Kate had worn before. For example, he didn’t want her wearing this Lotus tiara, the Pearl drop tiara, or the Cartier halo. If that is the case, then I could see William getting peeved that Sophie wore one of “Kate’s tiaras.”
She’s got the Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara locked down for life, and I still associate that one with Diana.
Yes, @christine I wouldn’t doubt that but I am wondering if she thinks she has the Lotus and Halo tiaras, and any others she wears, locked down for life as well!
Bottom line, this is all such a slight to the Emperor, his wife. William should be at as many dinners as possible sitting at the adult table. His not showing is so disrespectful.
William always reminds me of Prinny, George IV. The peerage and commoners couldn’t stand him, he had a horrible marriage to a worse wife and generally represented the worst of his ilk even for the time.
I can’t wait for the tell all books written by long time staffers and 3rd tier family members about the dysfunction and petty behaviors of the Windsors in the years before their fall. Given how fast they’ve fallen since Betty’s death, I would give it 7-10 years, max.
William doesn’t want it. He said it with his full chest when he was in his late teens. None of his behavior lends itself to someone planning to take the top job when it lands in his lap. In fact, he behaves like someone who does not and will not ever care about the job. I don’t think he wants his children to do the job either. He doesn’t have the courage to say it publicly so instead he behaves passive aggressively behind the scenes in order to sabotage the whole thing.
Or maybe because it was a City of London event presumably filled with city officials (i.e. law enforcement) it would a bit awkward for Sophie (and officials) seeing as her convoy mowed down and killed an elderly citizen…
I never thought I would be in defense of this woman I do not like, but look at her face from yesterdays post. Pinched, tight face, dark under eyes, no conversations with the emperor during their walk, points to migraine headache. So typical, hurts to talk or smile. Nausea? She needs to be home in bed if so.
Agree, Libra. I said above. She doesn’t look well.
Sophie is replacing Kate? Princess Diana memory? but not Camilla?
Or Simply “None of the above”….
Protocol ??
This is why they disliked Harry & Meghan (and especially Meghan), because they actually wanted to WORK.
And in some circumstances that can make others feel very put out.
These people are all LAZY idiots and it’s clear that the family is falling apart and Chuck is completely pre-occupied with his health and Camilla is not the woman to try and keep it all together.
Diana’s words were so damning but true.
I don’t know about England, but there’s a lot of COVID going around in the U.S.
Just a thought: The first session of Summer Term at St. Andrews closed this week. I wonder if she had to move her daughter back home.
It’s surprising that the important statesman William wasn’t itching to attend. (Eye roll.)
The necklace and earrings, Sophie has worn many times before including to other state banquets, so they’re not Kate-coded like the lotus flower tiara. Also, one of the aquamarine tiaras (that can be converted to a necklace, and has one central oval aqua,) seems to be her personal property, not a loan from the Queen.